ORCA FAQS & GENERAL INFO

What is an ORCA Grant?	How can I find a mentor?
What are the requirements if I get one?	How can I increase my chances of receiving a grant?
What kind of project can I do?	How can I make my proposal better?
Why mentored learning?	How do they choose winners?
Do I qualify?	Do they award a certain number for each school?
How Do I Apply For a Grant?	How Much Money Can I Ask For?
Can I apply if I have a Stafford Loan?	Can I Include Travel in My Research?
Do I need a mentor?	Notes on Using Human or Animal Subjects

What is an ORCA Grant?

ORCA, BYU’s Office of Research and Creative Activities, offers $1,500 grants to help undergraduate students work with faculty in a one-on-one setting to conduct research, field studies, or create unique projects in their discipline.

Students may use their ORCA grant to reimburse themselves for time, supplies, and/or other expenses involved with conducting an academic project.

Students may either design their own project or work on a professor’s ongoing research. Some approach faculty with their own ideas while others receive ORCA grants for work they are already doing as a research or teaching assistant. All students must work with a mentor.

What are the requirements if I get one?

ORCA recipients must work with a faculty mentor and complete their proposed project by the deadline specified (usually one year after the award announcement). They must also submit a two-page final report to ORCA.

What kind of project can I do?

Students in all majors are encouraged to apply, and ORCA projects from all disciplines are funded. Talk to your mentor about what kind of research or work is being done in your field.

Click here to see what other students in your major have done.

Why mentored learning?

ORCA grants are funded by donations to the University in order to promote mentored learning across campus.

Mentored learning lets students work with professors outside of the classroom to gain hands-on experience in their field.

Some benefits of mentored learning include:

• Advanced graduate school preparation
• Headstart in a career
• Personal rewards
• Internships and professional opportunities
• Relationships with faculty
• Getting published

Click here for success stories and student advice.

Do I qualify?

Qualifying applicants must:

• currently be enrolled as a fulltime undergraduate student
• have at least two semesters before graduating. This includes the semester during which you apply for the grant (students applying this year can graduate no earlier than April 2010).
• be in Good academic standing
• find a faculty mentor who is willing to work on the project.

Sophomores and Juniors are especially encouraged to apply.

Click here for detailed qualification and application information

How Do I Apply For a Grant?

You must find a faculty mentor, and you must submit a two-page research proposal. In the proposal, you will explain your idea and how you will carryout your project.

Applications are due October 30, 2009.

Click here for a list of sample proposals.

Click here for detailed application guidelines and conditions.

Click here to apply now.

Do I Need a Mentor?

Yes. Your ORCA application cannot be processed without a mentor endorsement from a faculty member.

Only full-time faculty members automatically qualify as mentors; contact ORCA at 422-3841 or email byu_mentoring@byu.edu to inquire about special permission for part-time or other faculty.

How can I find a mentor?

Many students are surprised at how eager professors can be to work on projects with them. Knock on some office doors and find out if you can help on research that your professor is already doing, or find a professor who is interested in your project and work out a plan to accomplish something together.

Talk to your department about which professors are interested in mentoring. Look for professors who share academic interests -- you may have taken a class or two from them – and approach them about mentoring an ORCA project.

How can I increase my chances of receiving a grant?

• Find the right mentor: Look for a mentor now. Talk to professors about their research and seek those who share your academic interests. Look for someone who is interested in your ideas. Don’t try to find a mentor at the last minute.
• Start your proposal early: Write and edit several drafts of your proposal. Don’t throw your proposal together the night before it’s due.
• Build a professional relationship with your mentor: meet with your mentor frequently to discuss your project before you submit your application, but don’t expect them to do everything for you.

How can I make my proposal better?

Start your proposal early and seek your mentor’s advice, criticism and guidance.

ORCA offers free proposal writing workshops to students interested in applying for a grant.

Click here to signup for a writing workshop.

Click here to download a PowerPoint presentation from the workshop.

How do they choose winners?

Proposals are separated by academic department and scored by a review committee made up of professors and experts from the mentor's college. Since applicants are ranked within their college, they are not compared to students in other fields.

Scores are based on the BYU Principles of Mentoring and the following Judging Criteria:

• Is the proposal well-developed and articulated?
• Do the stated hypotheses and/or creative focus have merit, or in other words, are they valid, significant questions or focus and will the work be a contribution to the student’s discipline of area of study?
• Is the methodology appropriate to the hypothesis and/or creative focus?
• What is the applicant’s potential for accomplishing the proposed project or expectation that the applicant is capable of successfully completing it? How strong does the mentoring relationship appear to be?

Do they award a certain number for each school?

ORCA strives to award at least 1/3 and often 1/2 of the applicants in each college every year.

How Much Money Can I Ask For?

All ORCA awardees receive $1,500. Each student may only apply for one grant per year.

An additional $300 of the $1,800 award goes to the faculty mentor.

Can I Include Travel in My Research?

Yes. Please indicate in your proposal if your project involves travel.

International travel is subject to University restrictions. Contact BYU International Travel Registry or the International Study Programs office (280 HRCB, isp.byu.edu, (801) 422-3686) for more about University travel restrictions.

NOTE ON USING HUMAN SUBJECTS

In order to use people in your research, you may have to get compliance approval from the Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects (IRB) , a safety board designed to protect human subjects.

Visit the IRB page to learn more about using human subjects in your project.

NOTE ON USING ANIMAL SUBJECTS

Animal research at the University is federally regulated. Please visit the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) homepage If your project will involve animal subjects.

Can I apply if I have a Stafford Loan?

Yes. An ORCA Grant could, however, affect your Stafford Loan because the grant is considered income. Check with Student Financial Services to see how an ORCA Grant may affect you.