Participation for Direct UROP Funding
If you are a MIT or CME student and financial support from faculty is unavailable, UROP has a limited amount of funding available to support MIT students' research during the academic year and over the summer. This Direct Funding process is competitive—heeding the application deadline is crucial for full consideration.
When applying for Direct Funding, you may request funding up to $1,360 for an academic term and $4,625 for a summer, both paid at $9.75 per hour. The hourly wage and total stipend amounts are current for the 20012-13 academic year and may be subject to change. Both you and your department's UROP payroll coordinator are expected to monitor the expenditure of UROP-awarded funds.
Because UROP funds are limited and cannot be budgeted to support overtime charges, UROPers should not work beyond 40 hours per week. Questions or concerns about overtime should be addressed to UROP staff in the UAAP.
Guaranteed Direct Funding Option for MIT Scholarship Recipients
MIT scholarship recipients will be guaranteed funding for one semester of a paid UROP during their undergraduate careers. Please note that the guarantee is for financial funding support; you are still responsible to first successfully secure a UROP position and faculty sponsor. Funding will be awarded through the traditional UROP Direct Funding process, and all project and proposal standards and requirements apply.
Funding applications are due to UROP staff in the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming no later than 5 p.m. on the direct funding deadline date for the given term .
Please go to the For Students section for complete information on UROP requirements, advice on finding available projects, UROP guidelines, and more. If you have questions or concerns, UROP staff members located in Room 7-104 can be reached at 617-253-7306 or via email to urop@mit.edu.
Questions about your financial aid package, scholarship eligibility, etc, should be addressed to staff in Student Financial Services, Room 11-120, 617-258-8600, ssc@mit.edu.
Materials Funding
A limited amount of money is available for lab supplies, conference fees, travel expenses for those conducting research off-campus or abroad, photocopying, and other items used solely for your research. When requesting funding for such items, you should be sure to include information about your request in both your research proposal and where requested in the Materials and Services section of your UROP Direct Funding project application. The Direct Funding deadline for the given term must be met to be eligible for consideration.
Standards for Funding Requests:
- Clear and convincing proposal. It should contain a description of the area under study, your role, and the amount of time you expect to devote to the project.
- Responsible UROP track record. All evaluations of previous UROPs, both from you and your faculty supervisor, should be on file at the UROP office. Missing evaluations will delay the processing of your UROP proposal.
- Evidence of faculty enthusiasm. We look for supervisors’ willingness to commit time and financial support.
- Departmental UROP Coordinator support. We count on backing from our liaison to your faculty supervisor's department. Talk with your department's Coordinator and enlist his/her advice and support in preparing your funding request.
- First time? Special consideration may be given to students requesting direct funding for the first time in the fall or spring semesters, and to students working with new faculty.
- Available funds. We do our best to give everyone a fair chance at UROP direct funding, but we are limited by the funds available at any given time.
Special Awards and Funds
There are a number of named funds and awards, many of which are awarded through the direct funding process and some of which are fellowships or prizes organized by departments. UROP direct funding special funds are honorary and do not increase existing stipends. Rather, they substitute award funding for general UROP support.
We encourage you to review the Awards and Funds page before you apply for UROP Direct Fundin, for a list of these funds, including application guidelines.
Approval Notification
Allow at least 2 weeks after the submission deadline for UROP staff to process your request. It may take slightly longer if required items are missing. You will receive email from UROP staff if your proposal is incomplete (i.e. if feedback on previous UROP work is missing, your proposal lacks sufficient detail, etc.). Missing information will also be flagged in your online application and you can check your application status at any time by visiting your UROP homepage. Call UROP staff at x3-7306 or send an email to urop@mit.edu to check on the status of your proposal.
If you are approved for direct funding, your approval email will contain pertinent information regarding timesheets and payments. You must visit the office of the UROP payroll coordinator listed in this email, ASAP, upon receipt of the message, so that your UROP can be activated in the payroll system.
