UROP provides the merit-based Entering Research and Creative Work (ERC) funding opportunity to motivated UHM undergraduate students with little to no research or creative work experience who successfully submit an ERC Funding Application. It provides a stipend of $1,500 per semester, up to a maximum of $3,000 for two semesters and is intended for students early in their academic careers who have more than 60 credits remaining in their bachelor’s degree program.
Students participating in ERC must be guided by a mentor who will guide students through a new or existing research or creative work with specific activities and learning objectives. This could include:
- Initiating or helping with a project in a preliminary stage
- Assisting with ongoing research or creative work in a variety of capacities
- Becoming more familiar with pertinent literature
- Learning specific tools or techniques in the discipline
In addition to learning research skills and techniques, students will engage in critical readings and discussions of related conceptual material. Ideally, student participation in ERC will spark deeper engagement in research or creative work scholarship and inform long-term academic and professional interests.
UROP welcomes and encourages undergraduate students in all disciplines of study on campus to submit an ERC Funding Application. Components of a competitive application include:
- Applicant interest in exposure to research or creative work
- Evidence of mentor commitment
- Potential learning outcomes for the applicant
This page contains information regarding the ERC Funding Application that all interested students should review prior to applying for funding. For other UROP funding opportunities and an at-a glance comparison, see Programs & Resources. Do not hesitate to reach out to UROP with any questions that you have by emailing us at urop@hawaii.edu.
The Basics
- Enrolled as a classified undergraduate student at UHM in the semester following the application semester
- Have more than 60 credits remaining in their bachelor’s degree program at the time of application
- Mentored by a UHM mentor who meets the eligibility criteria (see the “Mentor” tab)
- Plan to graduate from UHM
- Submit no more than one application per ERC funding cycle
- $3,000/two semester limit per student
- Have no more than one active ERC funding at a time (previous ERC funding recipients must satisfy all ERC completion requirements in the completion semester prior to receiving more ERC funding)
UROP offers two ERC application cycles each academic year:
| Application Cycle | Application Open | Application Deadline | Funding Disbursement |
| Fall | 9/9 | 10/10 at 5pm | Following Spring |
| Spring | 2/2 | 3/3 at 5pm | Following Summer or Fall |
Once an application has been submitted, it will automatically be forwarded to the listed mentor with a prompt to submit an ERC Mentor Form on behalf of the applicant (due 12 pm, March 13 in the Spring semester and 12 pm, October 20 in the Fall semester). As such, it is very important for applicants to confirm faculty mentor’s commitment and support before submitting an ERC Funding Application.
UROP will initiate full application review once the applicant and the faculty mentor submit the ERC Application Form (student) and ERC Mentor Form (faculty mentor).
UROP’s review process takes approximately two months. Upon completing the review, UROP will notify applicants with the funding decision via email in:
- December for Fall applicants
- May for Spring applicants
An ERC timeline must include at least one Fall/Spring semester or Summer after the semester of application (e.g., if a student applies in Spring 2023, they must be enrolled during Summer 2023 and/or Fall 2023).
Applicants may request to participate in ERC for one ($1,500) or two semesters ($3,000). Note that for a student applying in the Fall for two semesters of ERC funding, the first semester would be the following Spring and the second semester could either be that Summer or Fall semester).
UROP will automatically disqualify applications requesting funds for the application semester, as well as those proposing to do the majority of work during the application semester (e.g., a student cannot apply in Spring 2023 to do work that is expected to be completed in Spring 2023).
All ERC funding recipients must address all ERC completion requirements in the ERC completion semester by the designated deadlines:
- Late-April for Spring completion
- Mid-August for Summer completion
- Late-November for Fall completion
If accepted for funding, Fall applicants will receive their funding at the beginning of the following Spring semester and Spring applicants will receive their funding at the beginning of the following Summer or Fall semester. Funding disbursement is contingent on an applicant meeting all pre-funding requirements (see Pre-Funding Checklist). UROP disburses funding to students via myUH as a “scholarship” that is subject to the following financial aid regulations:
- Applicants must be enrolled in at least one credit in the semester of disbursement (including summer) to receive UROP funding
- Applicants may not request ERC funding for time spent on satisfying academic credit (i.e., coursework, independent research, practicum, etc.). If an applicant’s expected ERC activities overlap with a course, the applicant must ensure that the time they spend on ERC activities must exceed the expected number of work hours per credit (3 hours per credit per week) for that course by 100 hours (the minimum expected number of work hours for ERC per semester).
- For example: If a student requests to participate in one semester of ERC for $1,500 that overlaps with a 1-credit course, the expected time spent on coursework is 45 hours for the 1-credit course (1 credit x 3 expected number of work hours per credit x 15 weeks = 45 credit hours). In this example, the student must work at least 145 hours on ERC activities.
- UROP stipend hours do not overlap with students’ on-campus, paid job work hours (e.g., via SECE). In general, students are encouraged to manage their commitments inside and outside of the classroom in order to ensure realistic and manageable workloads, and proper attention to academic requirements.
Please refer to the Disbursement page for more details on how UROP distributes funding via myUH accounts.
UROP requires ERC applicants to have a mentor who meets at least one of the following criteria, and who is willing to attest to their commitment to this mentorship by submitting an ERC Mentor Form on your behalf prior to the submission deadline (due 12 pm, March 13 in the Spring semester and 5 pm, October 20 in the Fall semester):
- UHM faculty (I/R/S/B/A/J/M tenured, tenure track, and non-tenure track faculty)
- Have submitted and been granted a Mentor Eligibility Petition
Students should check with their current/potential mentor to ensure that they meet at least one of the eligibility criteria.
While an applicant’s UROP mentor could be affiliated with any UHM department, please note that the application reviewers consider the mentor’s expertise and its relevance to the applicant’s proposed work when making a funding decision. Therefore, UROP highly recommends applicants to work with a mentor whose expertise aligns with their research or creative work interests as expressed in their ERC Funding Application.
UROP requires the mentor to work with their student selected for funding to meet all training and research compliance requirements by the following deadlines below. See detailed guidelines on the Required Training & Research Compliance.
- Fall: October 15th at 12pm
- Spring: February 27th at 12pm
- Summer: June 25th at 12pm
UROP encourages leveraging funding across multiple sources where feasible. In the ERC Funding Application, applicants must disclose all outside sources of funding (in-hand or pending) for the work that is being proposed and must show how both UROP and external funds would be used (regardless of funding status). This includes both pending and awarded funds for the activity at the time of application. Additionally, applicants must disclose to UROP if they receive any additional funding for their UROP work after submitting an ERC Funding Application to ensure that no applicants receive funding twice for the same item or task.
Note: IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) funding recipients cannot receive funding from both INBRE and UROP for the same project. If funded by both INBRE and UROP, the recipient will be required to choose one source of funding. Please contact INBRE for further information.
Submission Requirements
For funding consideration, all of the following must be submitted by the deadline:
- ERC Funding Application, components include:
- Resume (attachment, optional)
- Combination Transcript (attachment, downloaded from STAR)
- ERC Pre-Survey
- ERC Mentor Form (once an application has been submitted, an ERC Mentor Form will automatically be forwarded to the listed mentor with a prompt to submit an ERC Mentor Form on behalf of the applicant (due 12 pm, March 13 in the Spring semester and 12 pm, October 20 in the Fall semester)
Resources
Below are additional resources that applicants might find helpful in preparing their ERC Funding Application: