Archive for ‘Pursuit Grant Projects’

Pursuit Research Grant Fellows for 2015-2016 included the following:

• Stephen Baldridge (School of Social Work),
• Dale Bertram and Heidi Morris (Marriage and Family Studies),
• Rob Byrd (School of Information Technology and Computing),
• Adam Hester (Theatre),
• Darby Hewitt (Engineering and Physics),
• Andrew Huddleston (Teacher Education),
• Jennifer Huddleston (Biology),
• Rebecca Hunter (Biology),
• Sarah Lee (Chemistry and Biochemistry),
• Gregory Powell (Chemistry and Biochemistry),
• Matthew Steele (Engineering and Physics), and
• Qiang Xu (Biology).

Thirteen faculty-mentored projects were funded and included 16 student researchers to work on the projects.

Welcome to the Pursuit Blog. For information about Pursuit Research Grants, please follow the link to the ACU website where you can find information about the Pursuit Program. Follow this link:  Quality Enhancement Plan–Pursuit

Since Pursuit Research Grants are a part of our Research Literacy initiative for SACS, each component of the initiative must be assessed to determine its worth and value to the students, faculty, and University. Pursuit Research Fellows will submit the following documents at the end of their project’s funding (generally, in May of each year at the end of the fiscal year).

End of Project Reports:

Faculty Reports: When the project is complete at the end of the fiscal year on or before May 16, the faculty member must submit the two following documents as attachments to an email:

Faculty Assessment of Project

Grants Budget Report

Student Reports: All mentored students are responsible for two documents due on or before May 16:

1.  A research journal (blog) has been set up for each research project. For ideas on types of questions to consider look at the following link (but do not place your journal on the link):

Student Research Journal The link also includes questions to answer at the end of the project. The journal for each project is a blog in which the student researchers keep a log of their progress,  reflect upon their activities, and respond to End-of-Project Questions at the close of the project. Please do not place the journal responses on the Pursuit Blog.

2.  Student Self-Assessment of Project Report This is a Google form that asks you to evaluate the project.

Please contact the Pursuit Office for further details.

The Abilene Christian University (ACU) Pursuit Travel Grant Fund was established in 2012 as a part of ACU’s Quality Enhancement Plan. The purpose of the fund is to support conference expenses of students and their faculty mentors as they present research or scholarship findings, or creative activities.

Pursuit Travel Funds are available for faculty/student travel to conferences to present and showcase research performed collaboratively between faculty and students. Funding has a maximum of $2,000 ($1,000 for the faculty mentor and $1,000 for the student researcher(s).

Follow the link below to access the Faculty-Student Application for Travel Funds for oral and poster presentations, juried shows, and performances. Applications are considered three times during the academic year for funding faculty/student travel.

Important: Faculty mentors must be traveling with the student to the conference.

In summary, the impact on faculty and student travel to conferences can not fully be quantified, but raw numbers are found below:

2012-2013 — 25 faculty and students traveled to conferences to present their research or creative activities. A total of $19, 994 funded the travel.

2013-2014 — 23 faculty and their students traveled to conferences. A total of $16, 520 funded the travel.

2014-2015 —  15 faculty and their 47 students traveled to conferences. A total of $16, 087 funded the travel.

2015-2016 —  29 faculty and their 63 students traveled to conferences to share and present their research or creative activities. The funding total for the year was $38, 136. Note: this funding included moneys that were diverted from other budget lines due to this being the final year of the QEP.

Total for the 4 years of Travel Grants: 92 faculty and their students. 

Pursuit funds two types of grants. There are Pursuit Research Grants and Pursuit Travel Grants.

Pursuit Research Grants

• Purpose
  The purpose of the competitive Pursuit Research Grants program is to enrich student learning, support faculty development, and enhance the quality and reputation of academic programs by providing funding to support student and faculty research, external research grants, and promote research presentation and publication. Funding may be used to conduct research or creative endeavors. Proposals must document faculty partnerships with student(s) in all phases.
• Goals
  • Increase faculty mentoring of students in research and creative activities
  • Promote research publication and presentation
  • Increase student opportunities for research and creative expression
• Funding
  Funding provides for faculty and students stipends to work together on projects, both scholarly and creative. Funding supports the time commitments of the faculty and student to collaborate for a year-long project, starting at the onset of a fiscal year.

For more information follow this link: http://www.acu.edu/academics/orsp/grants/application-internal-grants.html  Deadline to apply is January 28, 2013.

Pursuit Travel Grants

Information regarding Pursuit Travel Grants can be found on a post below. There are three grant cycles coinciding with the academic year–fall, spring, and summer. Dates for spring and summer applications are found below.

GoodExamplesforGrantWriters

Check out the samples of portions of grant proposals from 2012-2013 applications.

This rubric may be used or adapted for use for student’s Research Activity Journal and Assessment of Project Report.

ACU QEP CREATE Rubric