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The Gantz Family Undergraduate Research Award

Thanks to the generosity of the Gantz Family Foundation, an opportunity has been created for Penn students to undertake a research project each summer. These funds are for a student to conduct independent research in Israel on some episode, topic, or event of importance in the Arab-Israeli relationship, with a preference for a project studying how the United States, Israeli, and Arab media cover identical events in the Middle East. This competition is open to Penn freshmen, sophomores and juniors in the College.

Research Support

Research support from the Gantz Family Undergraduate Research Award will be awarded in accordance with the following principles:

• Projects having no other funding source are particularly encouraged. When other funding sources can be identified, shared costs or matching funds will be encouraged whenever possible.
• Each project must have a faculty advisor.
• Projects may involve more than one student.
• Examples of what may appropriately be requested in a budget include: research supplies, travel, and computer time. Books, software and capital equipment are almost never funded. Items costing $500 or more with a useful life of one year or more must be purchased with a University purchase requisition and will remain the property of the University. Salaries, benefits, and overhead are not to be included.

Proposals

Prepare your proposal in consultation with your faculty research advisor and with the undergraduate chair in your major department or your major program director. Prepare a single .pdf file that must contain the first four components in this order:

1. Short abstract (on a separate page; no longer than 100 words)
2. Objectives and Methodology (2 pages maximum)
   1. State the objectives and relevance of the proposed work in terms intelligible to an educated non-specialist.
   2. Evaluate existing knowledge and work in the area and provide a brief background summary to the proposed work.
   3. Describe the design and procedures to be employed and provide a timetable and implementation plan for completion of the project.
3. Itemized Budget, plus total (on a separate page). List each budget item in order of priority and justify it in terms of the work proposed. The amount given may be less than requested.
4. An electronic version of your Penn InTouch transcript (Create an electronic copy of your Penn transcript by copying and pasting your Penn InTouch transcript into a Word document and typing your name and Penn ID number at the top of the page and save it as a pdf.).

Once you have all these materials combined into a single .pdf file, fill out the application form here: Common Research Grant Application Make sure to upload your supplementary materials in the appropriate field.

The faculty advisor must send a letter of endorsement certifying the feasibility of the project and the adequacy of the student’s preparation to undertake it. The Advisor’s Recommendation Form includes the optional waiver of right to access to that letter.

Submission Procedure

Proposals must be submitted to the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships by March 1.

Submit your application using the Common Research Grant Application.

Research involving animal or human subjects or hazardous materials must also be submitted at the same time for approval by the relevant University oversight committees. Students should consult with their advisers to correctly complete those forms.

Deadlines and Timeframes

Completed applications and letters from advisors must be submitted by March 2. (When that is a weekend, applications will be accepted on the following Monday before 10 am.) Applications with late material risk being not considered. Proposals will be reviewed before April 1 by a faculty committee designated by CURF. (In no cases will expenses incurred before this date be reimbursed). All applicants will be notified promptly of selection results.

Funds will be transferred to the student’s departmental business administer (BA) along with a copy of the budget. The BA will be asked to reimburse students for receipts they present which reasonably match the amounts and purposes listed on the budget.

Contact

215-746-6488