ORCA Grant
What is an ORCA Student Mentoring Grant?
BYU's Office of Research & Creative Activities (ORCA) offers $1,500 grants to help undergraduate students work with faculty in a one-on-one mentoring setting. Grants are only awarded annually and proposals for the 2017-2018 academic year are due Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 11:59 PM MST.
Students may use an ORCA Grant for anything they wish. Some use the funds to reimburse 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. All students must work with a mentor.
How to apply for the ORCA Student Mentoring Grant
Find out if you are eligible
Decide on a project
- We fund research and creative based projects all across campus. Whether you are a Dance major choreographing a ballet based on Russian technique or a Neuroscience major researching the effects of dopamine on the brain, we can fund you!
- Look at examples of projects students have done in the past:
Journal of Undergraduate Research Get a Mentor
- Your mentor must be a full-time tenure track faculty member at BYU.
- If you are looking for a mentor in a specific field, look to college websites that list professors and their areas of study here.
- Talk to the person you would like to be your mentor as soon as possible as they are only permitted to mentor 3 applications per year. If they are willing to be your mentor they will be able to help you fully develop your project idea.
Attend one of the Grant Writing Workshops
- Come to any 1 of the 4 sessions to help you prepare for writing your ORCA Grant Proposal. Each session is held in the Varsity Theater in the WSC.
- The workshops have past. You can view the slides and past workshops here.
Write and submit your proposal
- The proposal needs to be 2 pages and submitted as a PDF
- The format is found in this template
- Make sure you review the proposal with your mentor
- When your proposal is finalized fill out the application where you will submit your proposal as a PDF file
- The submission deadline is Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 11:59 pm. No late applications will be accepted. NO EXCEPTIONS.
- Please submit your application well in advance in order to avoid any technical issues.
What to do if awarded
- You will be notified February 2, 2018 whether you have been awarded or not
- Visit the ORCA Grant Recipient page to see what you will need to do before you pick up your check.
- Submit the Final Report. Visit Final Report Guidelines for instructions
- Make sure you are aware of all Dates & Deadlines
- Still have questions about the application process?
- Check out the FAQs
- Call, email, or come into our office. We are happy to talk to you about any questions you may have.
byu_mentoring@byu.edu
801-422-3022