Kearney Foundation Undergraduate Student Fellowship Program

KEARNEY FOUNDATION
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Email:Kearney@ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 754-9668
http://kearney.ucdavis.edu

The Kearney Foundation of Soil Science has initiated a program to support undergraduate internships to work with University of California faculty on research related to the current mission: Understanding and Managing Soil-Ecosystem Functions across Spatial and Temporal Scales.  Funding requests up to a maximum of $3,000 will be considered to support a student during Summer 2007 or during the 2007-08 academic year.  These funds are restricted to salary and benefits only.  The intent of these fellowships is to encourage undergraduate students to work with faculty who have research projects that are relevance to the current mission.   The mentor faculty does not need to have a project currently funded by Kearney to participate in this program.

Requirements:

1. Must already be admitted to a UC program as an undergraduate student
2. Be nominated by a UC faculty member whose research interests fall within the Kearney 2006-2011 Mission Objectives.  Faculty member does not need to have a project currently funded by Kearney.
3. Good academic standing
4. The fellowship duration must fall during one of two periods:
   
   1. Summer 2007
   2. 2007-08 academic year

Award:

Awards of up to $3,000.  The fellowship is awarded to the student to cover salary and benefits only.  Approved funds will be transferred to a departmental account set up in the name of the student awardee. Any non-expended funds must be returned to the Kearney Foundation at the end of award period.
        

Review Criteria & Project Reporting:

Review criteria include but are not limited to: scholarly merit, creativity and innovation of the proposed internship research project, and very importantly the relevance to the Kearney Foundation Mission: Understanding and Managing Soil-Ecosystem Functions across Spatial and Temporal Scales.

Fellowship recipients will be required to submit a two-page (single space, 12 pitch font) project report at the end of the fellowship program along with a short slide presentation (e.g., Powerpoint) of their project that will be posted on the program web page.
Application Process:
Submit the following documents to the Kearney Foundation:

• A one-page research proposal (single space, 12 pitch font) outlining i) research objectives/hypotheses and rationale, ii) research approach/methods (brief), and iii) how the project helps achieve the goals of the  Kearney Foundation mission (refer to Kearney 2006-2011 mission web page http://kearney.ucdavis.edu ).
• A letter of support from the faculty advisor.  This should consist of a recommendation regarding the student and should describe the type of research (preliminary objectives/approach) in which the student will be involved and how it relates to the Kearney mission.  The letter must be signed by the faculty advisor.
• Complete the Application Forms which consist of a Student Information Form and a UC Faculty Nomination Form.  Note that the Student Information Form must be signed by the student and the mentor professor.
• Current transcript (unofficial copy is fine)

The documents can be sent to the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science via email, as an attachment, to: Kearney@ucdavis.edu, faxed to (530) 752-2360 or mailed to:
Gladis Lopez
LAWR/Kearney Foundation
University of California
Davis, CA  95616

Applications will be considered throughout the year and funding is subject to availability of funds.  Applications will be reviewed continuously and funding decisions will generally be made within two weeks. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A faculty member is limited to only one internship award during each of the award periods.
If you have any questions about this process, please contact us via email at Kearney@ucdavis.edu or contact Gladis Lopez, Program Manager (530) 754-9668.