The Research Supply Grant is a grant from the University of Iowa Office of Undergraduate Research and Office of the Vice President for Research that funds undergraduate research and creative scholarship by covering costs of research supplies, materials, and travel to access facilities or collections not available at the University of Iowa.

Eligible expenses include equipment, supplies, software, and travel to conduct research; conference travel, field schools, internship travel, and computers are not eligible. Awards are available to enrolled, degree-seeking undergraduates at the University of Iowa in good standing; the grant is limited to once per degree program and once per faculty mentor per academic year.

Awards are up to $1,000, with recipients having one year to spend the funds. Applications for Spring 2026 are currently open.

Research Supply Grant | Office of Undergraduate Research - Office of the Vice President for Research | The University of Iowa Now accepting applications for Spring 2026 OUR Research Supply Grants Small Grants for Undergraduate Research and Creative Work The Office of Undergraduate Research and the Office of the Vice President for Research provide small grants to facilitate undergraduate research and creative scholarship.

These funds are open for use for purchasing research supply materials as well as traveling to conduct research if the facilities or materials are not available at the U of Iowa. For example, if a student needed to travel to the Field Museum in Chicago to study relevant collections at that facility, these funds would be applicable.

Some activities that do not qualify for this funding are travel to conferences or presentations, field schools, internship travel, graduate or professional school interviews, computers, etc. Travel awards for undergraduate research presentations or conference attendance are available separately through OUR. Awards are limited to one application per faculty mentor per academic year.

OUR offers one-time grants of up to $1,000 that are available for research and creative work expenses including equipment, supplies, software, travel to access facilities not available on campus, travel to access collections or materials not available on campus, interviews (research related), on location filming, etc. Projects with budgets greater than $1,000 must provide clear evidence that additional funds are available to cover the amount of money required beyond this award or that the project can be accomplished as written for the amount awarded.

Funding will be transferred into the faculty mentor's preferred 050 MFK. Grant recipients have one year to expend the awarded funds. Those looking for summer funding should apply during the spring application cycle.

At the conclusion of the project or the year-long period, recipients will be expected to submit a short expense report to OUR via email detailing how funds were expended and how the project has progressed. (Note: This is in lieu of receipt records and intended to show that funds were spent appropriately. It is understood that projects change and expenses may not exactly match the initial budget.)

All equipment will be considered the property of the PI’s home department. The applicant must be enrolled as a degree-seeking undergraduate in good standing at the University of Iowa at the time of application and at the time of the award payment. The proposed research, scholarship or creative activity must be completed prior to graduation.

An undergraduate may only receive this award once during their degree program. One application per faculty mentor/lab group per academic year. All unused funds must be returned to the OUR prior to the deadline given in post-award notifications.

Successful proposals reflect a carefully crafted and feasible research or creative endeavor plan. Students need to fill out the application form. Aside from basic information about the student and mentor pair, this form requests the following items: Budget.

Total amount needed and requested for the project, along with an itemized budget for expenses. Each expense/budget item should be line-separated, formatted as Item - $Amount – Reason/Justification. Excel documents may be uploaded.

Additional Funding. Descriptions of additional funding and documented verification of application or approval. Project Information .

A description of the research, scholarship or creative endeavor (500 word maximum). Appropriate information includes a research question , project goals, methods, persons involved, anticipated outcomes, and the knowledge gap addressed. Additional questions about the location of the project and the timeline for completion are included.

Student fit . A statement detailing the relevance of this project to the student’s academic and career goals (300 words maximum). The location where the project will take place, a series of questions related to budget expenditures, and other sources of financial assistance available or pending.

Faculty Support . A letter of support from the student's faculty research mentor confirming that: (1) funding is necessary for the project, (2) that the project has faculty endorsement, is well conceived and rigorously designed, and (3) that the project is connected to the student's academic and professional goals. Human Subjects.

For projects involving human subjects, relevant approval documents from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) must be provided. If the budget includes compensation for research participants, the student's department must agree to receive and administer the funds. These steps are required before funding can be released.

Students must submit their part of the application materials to their mentor at least two weeks prior to the submission deadline . Students should inform their mentor that they intend to apply as early as possible and work closely with their mentor in designing the application. Applications must be submitted by the student.

Applications accepted during the academic year. All funds must be spent during the fiscal year of the award. Please direct any questions to OUR via email at undergraduate-research@uiowa.

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