See below for information on research awards, grants, and program opportunities available through the university that may be of interest to current CCJS honors students.
See here for more information on awards and grants specifically through the Honors College.
Honors Research Grants
Who should apply: CCJS honors students with at least one semester of the honors program remaining who need funding to support their research for their honors theses
Spring Deadline: Feb. 26
Fall Deadline: Oct. 1
About: A limited number of grants of up to $500.00 each are available to Honors students each semester. Selection is based on academic merit, quality of supporting materials, and financial need. Once awarded, grant recipients will be asked to submit an electronic copy of their final thesis, including an abstract, to the Honors College.
Background and Rationale: The Honors Research Grant Program has been established to support the research efforts of students in the departmental and college Honors programs. Students may apply for grants up to $500.00 for any legitimate purpose that would enhance their research efforts. For example, grant money could be used toward travel to conferences or special research collections, or for the purchase of equipment unique to the student’s project not covered by a mentor’s grant. Normally, grant money is not awarded for the purchase of common laboratory equipment. A student may receive the award once.
Eligibility
1. Students must be admitted to a college or departmental Honors program.
2. Students must be actively engaged in a research project that will lead to the writing of an individual Honors thesis.
Application Process: You will be asked to provide:
1. Narrative Description of your Honors thesis project
2. Detailed Budget
3. Confidential letter of support from Faculty Mentor. (An additional letter of support from your college or department Honors director is optional.) Letter(s) should be sent directly to Dr. Traci Dula at tdula [at] umd.edu.
Winston Best Departmental Honors Thesis Award
Who should apply: Second year CCJS honors students with an advanced draft of their honors thesis by mid-spring
Deadline: March 29, 2024
About: Established by Roger (’76, ’79) and Karen Winston (’75), the annual Winston Honors Writing Awards recognize the best essays, research papers and theses written by honors students.
The Best Student Paper Awards were established in honor of Professor John Portz, the founding director of the General Honors program at UMD. In 2013, Roger, Karen and Emily Winston generously donated funds to support and expand the scope of this award for honors students.
The annual Winston Family Honors Writing Awards were established to recognize the writing of Honors students and to acknowledge the central role that faculty members play in mentoring Honors College students. We are grateful to Roger Winston (’76), Karen Winston (’75) and their daughter Emily Winston (’06), whose generous gift provides these merit awards. We deeply appreciate the Winston family’s investment in academic excellence and their commitment to University Honors, the Honors College and the University of Maryland.
Eligibility:
- Students must be in the Honors College or enrolled and progressing in a Departmental/College Honors program.
- Submissions for Thesis Awards must represent work from the culminating research requirement in the Departmental Honors program during Spring 2024.
- Students must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at the time of submission to be eligible for these awards.
- Students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher to be eligible for these awards.
- Submissions must be in an academic writing format.
If you have any questions, please contact winstonawards [at] umd.edu.
Application
- Students must contact their faculty mentors to request a statement of support. Faculty mentors must complete a Faculty Statement Form by Friday, March 29, 2024.
- Thesis Award submissions: Complete the Student Application Form and attach in one file a 1-2-page thesis abstract and your completed thesis (or as advanced a draft as you have) by Friday, March 29, 2024.
- All submissions should be revised, polished, and suitable for consideration by an awards committee comprised of readers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds.
Submissions, including the faculty mentor recommendation statement, open on Monday, November 6, 2023, and are due Friday, March 29, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.
BSOS Summer Research Initiative (SRI)
Who should apply: First-year honors students interested in pursuing graduate studies in the social sciences post-graduation
Deadline: Submit all application materials, including letters of recommendation, transcripts, and résumé or curriculum vita (CV), through the appropriate application portal in advance of the deadline.
- The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) Application and Transcript due: February 10, 2024
- The UMD BSOS SRI Supplemental Application due: February 10, 2024
- The BTAA SROP letters of recommendation due: March 1, 2024
See here for more information.
About: The Summer Research Initiative (SRI) was created in 1999 by the Office of the Dean in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS). The program is designed to encourage and enhance the diversity of scholars working in social and behavioral science, practice, teaching, and policy fields. We are most interested in students who plan to pursue doctoral degrees in the behavioral and social sciences...and are also especially interested in receiving applications from a broad spectrum of minoritized students, especially African Americans, Hispanic/Latine students, American Indian/Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, as well as from students whose research interests focus on and benefit diverse and underserved communities, or from any student who demonstrates that their particular diverse perspectives add to efforts to improve social and behavioral science.
The program provides rising juniors and seniors with an 8-week intensive experience to develop research skills, learn about doctoral training, and increase graduate training readiness. Departments involved in the SRI include African American Studies, Anthropology, Criminology & Criminal Justice, Economics, Geographical Sciences, Government & Politics, Hearing & Speech Sciences, Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, Psychology, and Sociology.
Students will be provided a $3,000 stipend (before taxes). Travel to College Park for the summer and return travel home, room, board, and program activities expenses are also covered by the BSOS SRI. Group housing is provided on campus.
Please direct any questions or concerns to the SRI Coordinator, Brittney Robinson at (brobins7 [at] umd.edu)
Dates: The 2024 program dates are Monday, June 3, 2024 - Friday, July 26, 2024. However, all participants are required to arrive to our College Park campus on Saturday, June 1st for the required 2-day, pre-program orientation.
Eligibility/Expectations
- Be citizens or permanent residents of the United States;
- Be enrolled full-time at an accredited four-year higher education institution, with preference given to those will have obtained junior or senior status by the fall 2024;
- Demonstrate an interest in pursuing graduate study in one of the behavioral or social sciences, with preference given to those interested in doctoral training;
- Express an interest in, or demonstrate a commitment to our program’s aim to improve the research, practice, teaching, and policy work in the social and behavioral sciences by diversifying and broadening the participation of those involved social and behavioral science research;
- Will have taken a basic statistics or research methodology course; and
- Possess an excellent academic record, including a 3.0 or better cumulative GPA.
The Summer Research Initiative is a full-time, 40-hour-per-week commitment. Participants are required to reside in the university housing provided by the program and to participate in all SRI activities throughout the summer. Participation includes all SRI program and research activities and assignments and meetings with research and program mentors. Therefore, students should not register for summer classes, hold employment that interferes with their participation, or make other summer plans that would interrupt their full and consistent immersion in the program during the 8-consecutive-week program period.
Application Steps:
1. Complete BTAA SROP application: The 2024 UMD BSOS SRI is a summer program aligned with other similar Big Ten Academic Alliance's (BTAA) Summer Research Opportunity Programs (SROP). Therefore, applicants must first complete the BTAA SROP online application. The BTAA SROP application can be completed in one session or you may return later to complete it.
2. Prepare BSOS SRI Supplemental Application Materials: To be considered for the BSOS SRI, all applicants must submit the BSOS SRI Supplemental Application, which consists of completing additional information about yourself as well as uploading an expanded supplemental personal statement and an updated résumé or curriculum vita (CV). We urge you to carefully review the BSOS SRI Supplemental Personal Statement Instructions before you begin writing.
3. Identify BSOS Department Placement and Faculty Members: The department placement and faculty member preferences are part of the BSOS SRI supplemental application. Please visit the BSOS department websites below to identify up to three department placement preferences that would best meet your graduate training aspirations and up to three faculty member placement preferences whose work is of interest to you and also align with your graduate training aspirations. Please have your three department and faculty preferences selected before you proceed to Step 4 (below).
4. Submit the BSOS SRI Supplemental Application: After completing steps 1-3 (above), please submit the BSOS SRI Supplemental Application and upload your expanded, supplemental personal statement and your updated résumé or CV.
The Honors College Gordon Prize in Managing Cybersecurity Resources
Who should apply: Honors students in first or second year interested in writing an essay about cybersecurity management
Deadline: Friday, April 5, 2024.
About: It is an endowed award established with the generous donation of Dr. Lawrence A. Gordon, a professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The award seeks creative and innovative essays or projects that may approach the topic of “Managing Cybersecurity Resources” from a variety of perspectives. The winning entry receives a total award of $1,000.00.
Essay Requirements
- Must be written in English and between 800-1,500 words and may include diagrams, figures, tables, and references which are not included in the word count.
- Must not have been previously published
If a project is submitted for consideration of the Gordon Prize, students should submit a project report that includes:
- The objective of the project and how it is related to economic aspects of allocating cybersecurity resources
- Description on the actual (or planned) details of the project (such as the scope, processes, technologies, etc.)
- A statement on the actual (or anticipated) results or conclusion of the project.
- In addition, the submitted project should have not been previously published.
- **An example of a topic that may be suitable for a project might be a case study of a real application of a cyber investment model (such as the Gordon-Loeb model).
Submissions for the Gordon Prize can approach the topic of “Managing Cybersecurity Resources” from a variety of perspectives. These may include but are not limited to:
- Determining how much to invest in cybersecurity
- Capital vs. operating expenditures on cybersecurity
- Cost—benefit analysis for managing cybersecurity resources
- Global aspects of resource allocation decisions related to cybersecurity
- Cybersecurity risk management
- Assessing the economic cost of cybersecurity breaches to organizations
- Deriving performance metrics for assessing the return on cybersecurity investments
- Developing a framework for incorporating cybersecurity resource allocation decisions into the design and implementation of a management accounting system
Applications for the 2024 cycle are due on Friday, April 5, 2024.
Office of Undergraduate Research Summer Mentorship Program
About: Launching in summer 2024, the Summer Research Mentorship Program (SRMP) will provide student researchers in all fields with opportunities to pursue faculty-mentored independent research projects.
Participants will receive a stipend and will be expected to present their research at the Undergraduate Research Day event following their completion of the program.
Additional details regarding this program and the process of applying for it will be posted soon.
