Hooper Undergraduate Research Award
Urdea Undergraduate Research Award
Student-led Projects in the Arts, Creative Activity, and Scholarship (SPArCS)
The Student-led Projects in the Arts, Creative Activity, and Scholarship (SPArCS) program solicits applications from full-time NAU undergraduate students in the arts, letters, humanities, photography, and film. The SPArCS program encourages undergraduate students to pursue academic interests outside of their regular coursework by providing funding that will enable them to work on special projects of their own design.
Applications will be accepted February 1 – March 1, 2025.
Announcements about the 2025-2026 SPArCS award recipients will be sent by April 7.
Purpose
The intent of the Student-led Projects in the Arts, Creative Activity, and Scholarship (SPArCS) is to encourage greater participation of undergraduate students in the arts, letters, humanities, photography, and film supervised by a faculty mentor.
Eligibility
NAU undergraduates must be:
- enrolled as a full-time student in an undergraduate program for both the fall and spring semesters of the award year; and
- in good academic standing at the time of application and during the period in which the project is funded.
Award
- The maximum award is $5,000 for 1 or 2 students; $7,500 for 3 or more students
- SPArCS recipients must register for at least one hour of academic credit in undergraduate research, independent study, field work, or another appropriate course for their SPArCS project each semester that they receive funding.
- Compensation for student personnel is $16.50/hour.
- Applications will be accepted February 1 – March 1, 2025.
- SPArCS notifications will be sent to all applicants the week of April 7, 2025.
- Projects can begin as early as June 1, 2025 and end as early as December 13, 2025.
SPArCS Application Workshop
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| December 3 | 4:00-5:00 pm | Sycamore room in the Union |
Application process
Guidelines & Instructions Accordion Open
You should thoroughly review the information found in the SPArCS Request for Proposals (RFP) and understand all application requirements. If you are proposing a project that involves human subjects, please be sure to pay particular attention to the IRB special instructions in the RFP.
The student’s application portfolio, including the faculty mentor recommendation, is submitted using an online submission portal.
- Use the SPArCS Application Template to create a single Word document that includes the project description/narrative, timeline, and resume(s).
- Use the SPArCS Budget Worksheet to create an Excel document outlining your budget.
- For 1 or 2 students, use the SPArCS Budget Worksheet
- For 3 or more students, use the SPArCS Group Budget Worksheet
- Sign in to the online submission portal using your Louie login and upload the Word and Excel documents. Additionally, you will need to provide your faculty mentor’s name and email address. An automatic request to complete a recommendation form will be emailed to the faculty mentor.
- You can log back in to the submission portal at any time to make changes to your application or check to see if your faculty recommendation has been received until March 1. It is your responsibility to ensure that your faculty mentor recommendation is submitted no later than March 1, 2025.
Application Forms Accordion Closed
The 2025-2026 application forms below should be downloaded and saved to your computer.
- SPArCS Application Template (.docx) NOTE: The project summary, personal statement, methods, roles of participants, dissemination plan, timeline, references, and qualifications of applicant(s) should be included in your application document.
- The budget template must be downloaded separately.
- For 1 or 2 students: SPArCS Budget Worksheet (.xlsx)
- For 3 or more students: SPArCS Group Budget Worksheet
Additional Resources Accordion Closed
If you’re interested in applying for a SPArCS award, you are strongly encouraged—but not required—to:
- Complete review the PowerPoint Presentation with tips and advice about preparing a competitive proposal
- Attend our in-person workshop (see above), and
- Consult with the Lumberjack Writing Center for assistance with your application.
For 2024-25 Award Recipients: Required Project Reports Accordion Closed
It is the responsibility of the 2024-25 SPArCS award recipients to file these required project reports in a timely manner.
Interim progress report (due December 13, 2024)
- Use the interim report template provided here
- Describe and assess progress toward outcomes compared to timeline included in application
- Review project timeline and budget. If budget modification is warranted, you need to submit a new budget spreadsheet to request a reallocation of your funding into different categories. Use your original approved budget spreadsheet, edit the numbers in the budget lines, keep the original justification and add a justification for the requested revisions. Email your revised budgets to ug-research@nau.edu.
- Photos of you working on your project, if available
Final report (due May 9, 2025)
Submit your online final report by May 9, 2025. The report includes the following questions on:
- Description extent to which the goals and objectives of the project have been achieved
- Description of the outcomes/results of the project and how they were disseminated
- Statement describing the benefits to the student of participation in the research project
- Summary of how funds were used (e.g., budget vs. actual)
- Summary of the departmental and/or other contributions to the project
- Photos of you working on your project, or presenting your results, if available
- Feedback and post-assessment