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Application Process

A student standing next to a faculty

The application process for LASURI takes place once a year during spring semester, and applies to the following academic year.

Applications for the 2023-2024 academic year are due Wednesday, March 22, 2023. The LASURI application can be found on snap.uic.edu. (If you do not see the application under your “Recommended” opportunities, go to the Opportunities tab, select “Ours,” and search for “LASURI.”)

Information for the 2023-2024 cycle will be updated in early January 2023.

Below, you will see a timeline and sample application questions. Knowing what the application expects of you will help you determine how to best frame your research project’s aim, scope, and methods with advice from your faculty mentor. Be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to learn about, contact, and meet with potential faculty mentors before the application due date.

You are encouraged to attend an information session in early spring to discuss the application process and learn more about what makes a successful application. A short presentation will be followed by an open period for questions, so feel free to stop by even if you cannot stay the whole time. Students are the primary intended audience, but prospective faculty mentors are also welcome to attend and ask questions. Information sessions for the 2023-24 application cycle will be held:

  • Info session #1: Monday, January 30th, from 2-3 PM in the Daley Library, Room 1-470
  • Info session #2: Wednesday, February 15th, from 1-2 PM in the Daley Library, Room 1-470

Academic advisors, departmental directors of undergraduate studies, and your course instructors are excellent sources of information about potential faculty mentors. Students have often chosen to work with a faculty member with whom they have completed a course and who inspired them to continue researching a topic of interest.

Students can also search the Undergraduate Research Experience website to find faculty mentors that match their interests. To learn more about faculty members’ research projects, browse their Research Profiles. Use the browse function at the top of the main page to narrow your search.

Remember that the faculty mentor will be expected to answer questions about the applicant and their proposed project as part of the application process.

Work with your faculty mentor to design a sound and feasible project for you to complete as an undergraduate research scholar. The application does require you to propose a specific project for your time in LASURI. The most competitive candidates will be those who can describe a clearly thought-out, executable topic, though the LASURI committee understands and expects that a project will evolve from the original proposal. For sample questions that you should be prepared to address, see below.

For your own sake, we encourage you to clarify your faculty mentor’s expectations of you. Your experience will be far more productive and enjoyable if you and your mentor both understand and agree to the parameters of the project before the work begins.

Students will need to provide some information about the project they have designed with their faculty mentor, including questions similar to those below. They will also be asked for the name and UIC email of their faculty mentor. The faculty mentor will receive an email with some questions regarding the applicant and their proposed project.

Both the student’s and faculty mentor’s questions must be submitted by Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 11:59 pm to qualify for the 2023-2024 application cycle. The application can be found on SnAP starting early January.

Note: It is the student’s responsibility to ask your mentor to complete their part of the application in a timely fashion (and to follow up if needed)! The SnAP system will allow students to see whether or not the faculty mentor has submitted their answers to the follow-up questions.

Timeline for 2023-2024 LASURI Cycle Heading link

Application available January 2023
Info session #1 Monday, January 30, 2023
Info session #2 Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Application due Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Awards announced mid-April 2022
Award period begins Monday August 21, 2023
Annual kickoff reception early September 2022
Final abstracts due for those participating in Fall only Friday December 8, 2023
UIC Impact & Research Day April 2024
Final abstract due Friday May 3, 2024

Application Questions Heading link

Both the student’s and faculty mentor’s questions must be submitted by Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 11:59 pm. The application can be found on SnAP starting in early January.

Student Questions

Describe your research project:

  1. What is the title of your research project?
  2. What discipline most closely aligns with your research project: Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science, or Interdisciplinary?
  3. What is your primary research question, hypothesis, or activity (annotated bibliography, archival work, etc.)?
  4. Describe what specifically interests you about this research question, hypothesis, or activity. For example, does you project explore an interesting, new, or contested theory, add to or challenge present scholarship, or examine a question or topic that has not been answered or merits further study.
  5. Share one example of a scholarly work (article, book, or recorded lecture) that is meaningful for your research and briefly describe its significance for your project.
  6. What research method or approach (STEM experiment, quantitative, qualitative, mixed) do you plan to use to answer your research question, test your hypothesis, or meet the goals of your activity?
  7. Will your project run for one or two semesters? If your project runs for two semesters, briefly describe how you plan to use each semester to complete your project.
  8. Please describe any coursework, experiences, or skills that will help you complete your project.
  9. If you have previously worked on this project as a research assistant, please describe how receiving a LASURI scholarship will positively impact your experience beyond your past or present work.
  10. Explain why this experience will help you achieve your educational or professional goals.

Identify your faculty mentor:

  1. Provide the name of the faculty member who has agreed to serve as mentor for your project.
  2. Explain why you are interested in working with this faculty mentor and/or why they are the best person to support your project.
Faculty Questions
  1. How closely did the student work with you on developing the proposed research project? Very closely, fairly closely, minimally, not at all
  2. How strongly do you support this application? Very strongly, strongly, moderately, weakly, not at all.
  3. Will you able to work closely with and mentor the student during the proposed duration of the LASURI scholarship? Or will the student mostly with other parties (TAs, GAs, Fellows)? Or both? Please explain.
  4. Please describe why the student’s project should be funded and why you would like to work with the student.