Travel Grants
Travel Grants for Undergraduate Researchers
The College of Science has limited funds available (maximum of $1,000 per student) to support travel by undergraduate students to present their original research at scientific conferences.
Basic Grant Application Requirements
- Current College of Science undergraduate student in good academic standing.
- Plans to engage in at least one semester of undergraduate research.
- Confirmation of acceptance for poster or oral presentation from the conference organizer.
- Recommendation letter from the faculty with whom the presented research is performed. If the research is done at another institution, a recommendation letter from a ND faculty is needed in addition to the letter from the research faculty at the other institution.
Before Travel
Please submit your College of Science Travel Grant application using the University’s common application for undergraduate research, Submittable. Applications must be submitted a minimum of two weeks in advance of the first day of travel. When completing your application, please be sure to include the following:
- Include your abstract along with confirmation that it has been submitted.
- Statement of purpose on why you would like to participate in this specific conference or meeting. For off-campus research, please state how the research will strength the existing scientific communication between ND and the other institution and how the research experience impact your future career.
- A letter of recommendation from a supervising Notre Dame Faculty member and a Letter of Recommendation from non-ND advisor (if applicable). If the research was performed in another institution, a Letter of Recommendation from the research PI in the institution is needed to show approval. After you have submitted your proposal using the Student Grant Network (Submittable), the Faculty member should receive an email with instructions for uploading their letter. Faculty will not be able to submit their letter until after the proposal has been submitted. Grant proposals will not be reviewed until we receive a Faculty Letter of Recommendation.
- A complete Budget Proposal. Please review allowable expenses first. The budget must be itemized and show all your calculations for figuring out each cost and a source to justify those calculations. It is the student's responsibility to develop a budget that is complete and accurate. Students must submit their budget in Submittable.
- A completed domestic travel waiver if traveling within the United States. Students traveling internationally must register their travel with Notre Dame International. Before being awarded a College of Science travel grant, students must complete a domestic or international travel waiver depending upon their proposed destination.
- Human subjects / IRB approval, if applicable. Students engaging in research involving human subjects must complete research ethics training and submit a protocol to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for approval. Students who require IRB approval to conduct research must submit a copy of the approval from Notre Dame Research. Follow the link for more information on IRB and the training and submission process.
Before being awarded a College of Science travel grant, students must complete a domestic or international travel waiver depending upon their proposed destination, as well as the budget proposal mentioned above. Please also download and review the list of allowable expenses.
College Of Science Travel Waiver (76K PDF)
Budget Proposal (7K PDF)
Allowable Expenses (104K PDF)
Should you have any questions about the common application submission process, please contact Xuemin (Sheryl) Lu or Gabrielle Cretcher.
Other Research Funding Opportunities
Pathways to Science:
Opportunities for undergraduate research and those considering graduate school
Professional development and support:
Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP)