EIU Department of Biological Sciences

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Grant (BSURG) Program

The Department of Biological Sciences provides monetary awards for undergraduate students to participate in research or learn essential research techniques in their particular area of study.

Eligible projects: Research projects must be supervised or co-supervised by a Department of Biological Sciences tenure-track faculty member; however, the application and proposal must be written by the student. Students may co-author proposals with other students, but the award will be shared among the project team members. Students working on different aspects of a larger research project are encouraged to prepare separate proposals that specify the unique nature of his/her project. Projects can focus on specific research questions or provide opportunities for students to learn essential research techniques.

Eligible expenses:  Expenses for any activity related to the student’s research that occur during the current fiscal year, such as equipment and supply purchases, publication page charges or meeting travel expenses. Page charge and meeting expense requests must show that an attempt was made to obtain other sources of funding (for example, page charge waivers from publishers or funding from other grants), but that efforts were unsuccessful.

Funding amounts: Awards are limited to $300. Students receiving funding must present their research findings at the Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Seminar prior to submitting another proposal.

Research reporting:  Each student that receives funding through the Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Grant program is required to present their research (via poster or oral presentation) at the Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Spring of the school year for which they received the grant. Students should use this opportunity to give an update on the current state of their research, with the understanding that projects may not be fully completed before the symposium.

Award deadlines:

October 24, 2025

February 27, 2026

Application submission: To be eligible on-line applications must be completed on or before the specified due dates.

Questions: Please contact Dr. Paul Switzer (pvswitzer@eiu.edu) if you have any questions about the program.