This year, the Department of Academic Services will be offering two opportunities for research fellowships for undergraduate students. The Undergraduate Research Program and the Jerome A. Schiff Undergraduate Fellows Program provide funding for students looking to do innovative pedagogical research. Each program pairs a student with a faculty adviser, and students can either choose their adviser or faculty members can choose which student they want to advise.

In an interview with the Justice, Academic Services Coordinator of Fellowships Michelle Monaghan said that the URP provides funding for summer research to students. The funding is meant to pay for summer housing while students conduct their research along with their adviser.

This past summer there were nine recipients of funding for the URP.

Most of the students are juniors and seniors with the exception of one sophomore, and they studied various subjects such as Biology, Mathematics, English and Neuroscience.

Students are expected to conduct their research during the summer and then present it at the end.

Monaghan also said that Schiff Fellows do work similar to that of URP participants. For this academic year, there are 10 Schiff Fellows researching a wide range of subjects.

All Fellows are either juniors or seniors studying subjects from French and Economics to Neuroscience and the Health: Science, Society and Policy program.

Students can receive up to $2,000 to conduct their research, their advisers can receive up to $500.

The money can be used for traveling to conferences or buying books for their research.

Monaghan said that the Schiff Program is meant to "encourage undergraduate research and ... to foster that faculty-student mentoring relationship."

This relationship is very important to the Schiff family, which provides the funding for the program.

The Schiff family, according to Monaghan, started the program approximately 10 years ago.

The URP receives funding where it can, said Monaghan. Since the URP does not have a direct source, it works within the budget and from people who donate to the program privately.

Applicants submit essays proposing potential research opportunities to the Department of Academic Services.

The recipients of the funding are chosen by a committee of faculty members including Monaghan, Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong and faculty members from different academic apartments, said Monaghan.

The due date for applications for the Schiff Fellowship has been postponed from yesterday to Monday, March 14. Applications for the URP are due Wednesday March 16.