HRI Grants

One of the best ways to get started in research—particularly if you are not certain where to begin—is to collaborate with a professor or lab on a pre-defined, faculty-led project. These guided research experiences are a bit like apprenticeships: by contributing to a faculty project, you will learn directly from an expert how they frame research questions; identify, analyze and interpret sources; and communicate results to the public. In the process, you will almost certainly come up with ideas and questions of your own, as well as form valuable relationships with faculty, which can help you launch a future independent project of your own. 

Application

To apply to work on a faculty project, you should write directly to the faculty member or lab and identify yourself as an HRI student eligible for potential grant support. Some programs and labs, like CESTA, have their own highly structured internal application processes, and you should participate in these. By contrast, most opportunities to work as a research aide for an individual faculty member develop informally, and you should simply ask the person. If the professor or lab agrees to work with you, email jschweg [at] stanford.edu (Jeff Schwegman) by 4/27, copying the professor.

Below is a list of some faculty-led research projects in the humanities that typically involve undergraduates:

• Stanford Public Humanities Undergraduate Researcher Program
• Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA)
• Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity
• Clayman Institute for Gender Research
• Stanford Humanities Center
• Philosophy Talk
• Bill Lane Center for the American West
• Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program
• Stanford University Archaeology Collections
• Stanford Archaeology Center Summer Field Experiences

You might also discover other opportunities on your own. For instance, you could develop a good rapport with one of your introductory seminar professors and ask if he or she might be willing to collaborate with you. Certain departments may also have projects primarily reserved for their majors or for students who have taken appropriate introductory courses. We will gladly fund these experiences as well.

You can also apply for an HRI Grant to fund an original research project of your own. In this case, you will devise your own research question, locate your own sources, and work independently to develop a final product of your own design, such as a research paper, website, exhibition catalogue, or work of creative art. You must find a faculty member who is willing to advise you on this project, to check in with you on a regular basis, and to evaluate your final product. You and your advisor should decide in advance how you will communicate and what form this final product should take. You should also apply to present your findings at the Stanford Undergraduate Research and Public Service Symposium (SURPS)

Application

To apply for an independent research project, email a short project proposal (around 1200 words) to jschweg [at] stanford.edu (Jeff Schwegman) by 4/27.

Your proposal must address the following points:

• What question or questions do you hope to investigate?
• List 3–5 sources (primary or secondary) that you’ve read on this topic and describe how they have informed your project.
• What primary sources (archives, collections, books, etc.) do you hope to find and investigate? 
• Who is your faculty mentor for this project and how do you envision interacting with him/her over the course of the summer? What is your schedule for checking in, and when will you deliver your final product to your mentor?
• What kind of final product do you expect to create?
• How might this work inform your future academic plans? 

You do not need to submit a faculty letter of recommendation for this grant, but we will follow up with your chosen mentor to get a brief assessment of the feasibility of your project.

Human Subjects Requirements:

If your research proposal involves gathering data from living human beings—including but not limited to procedures such as interviews, ethnographic observations, or reviews of existing records—you may be required to seek approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB), a federally mandated panel charged with overseeing the protection of human participants in research. Not all projects involving human subjects require IRB approval: for instance, many oral histories do not. Nevertheless, you must work through this list of steps to determine what kind of approval, if any, you will need. We cannot fund your project until you have completed these necessary steps! Note that applying to an IRB can be time-consuming and requires careful advance planning. Talk to your faculty mentor about whether your proposal is realistic, given these time constraints.

Planning a research trip, both domestically and abroad, takes considerable time and effort. For instance, which archives, libraries, or collections will you use? How will you gain permission to access them? Are there any local scholars who can assist you if you run into difficulties? Where will you stay, and how will you travel to your research venue? Are there any local risks you should be aware of? These logistical issues become considerably more complex when navigating a foreign country. For this reason—and because HRI is meant to be an introductory research program—we will not fund a project that involves international travel.

You may travel to a domestic location within the United States (such as the library of Congress in D.C., for instance), but in this case, we may follow up your application with a request for further details before granting your grant request.

We expect students who receive a full-time, summer HRI Grant to devote around 40 hours per week for 10 weeks to their project. For this reason, you may not accept a second full-time summer stipend from another university office (i.e. to support a second research project, public service opportunity, or unpaid internship), and you may not work a full-time job during the 10 weeks of your grant.

You may participate in a second, part-time research opportunity (provided the office awarding the stipend allows you to do this in addition to your full-time HRI project). You may also work a part-time job. However, we strongly urge you to limit any additional commitments beyond your HRI project to a total of 5–10 hours per week.

In general, you may not enroll in any summer quarter courses. There is one exception: you might be able to enroll in a short-term, intensive summer course such as Sophomore College, the Arts Intensive, or a BOSP Short-Term Summer Program. These courses require a full-time commitment, so you cannot participate in them while working simultaneously on your HRI project. However, if your faculty advisor is willing, you may schedule the 10 weeks of your HRI project so that they don’t overlap with this course. For instance, you could start early in June, so as to finish before Sophomore College, or take 1–2 weeks off in the middle to go on a BOSP program.

• Faculty mentors do not need to be academic council members (lecturers and untenured faculty are approved mentors).
• You do not need to collect or submit receipts for independent projects.
• You may not receive academic credit for research supported by these grants. 
• HRI Grant funds are subject to U.S. and state income tax laws, and payment of this grant may be tax reportable. If your grant is structured as an hourly job, the university will withhold taxes from your income, and you will receive a W-2 form. Otherwise, you assume responsibility for reporting stipend payments to the proper taxing authorities, as well as liability for any tax payments that may be due.