University of Southern California

Viterbi Student Application Guidelines

Goal: The WiSE Undergraduate Research Fellowships were established to familiarize students with laboratory research and link them with a mentor early on. With the opportunity to engage in research at the undergraduate level, it is hoped that more students will choose to pursue a graduate degree in science or engineering.

Eligibility:

  1. Students must be currently enrolled at USC on a full-time basis (at least 12 units) during the semester in which they receive the award or, in the case of summer awards, the preceding semester.
  2. Students must have earned at least 16 units at USC with a GPA of at least 3.3 (although it is expected that successful applicants will frequently have a GPA of 3.5 or higher). Students with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.3 will be considered if the faculty mentor makes a compelling case in their support letter.
  3. Students must have declared a major in one of the degree programs in the Viterbi School of Engineering.
  4. Students receiving a Viterbi School of Engineering Merit Research Award are not eligible for a WiSE award during the same period (semester or summer).
  5. The faculty sponsor must be a faculty member in the Viterbi School of Engineering.
  6. Students are limited to receiving a maximum of two WiSE Fellowship awards, unless the case for extenuating circumstances is successfully made by a student's faculty mentor.
  7. Students who have already received a bachelor's degree are not eligible.

Application Process: Applications must be completed and submitted via the online system of the WiSE website. The deadlines for application submission are November 15, April 1, and August 1. In the event that these dates fall upon a weekend or a University Holiday the deadline will move to the first workday following the posted date. Students must collaborate with their faculty sponsors in preparing their applications. A completed application must contain:

Students who are prior recipients of a WiSE Undergraduate Research Fellowship and are applying for continued WiSE support are asked to provide two items in addition to those outlined above:

Personal Statement: Statements must be typed, double spaced, in 12-point font, and no longer than 3 pages. Label each page with your name. Before submission, your statement must be reviewed by your faculty mentor. Upload as MS Word document to the online application system. In the statement:

(Note that for continuing students, re-applying for a second Fellowship term must include a progress report of their research to date and a brief explanation of why further funding would be beneficial in addition to the personal statement.)

Selection Process and Criteria: The WiSE Viterbi School Committee composed of faculty will review all applications and make funding decisions based primarily on the overall quality of the proposal. Key considerations include the student's potential to conduct outstanding research, the extent of direct involvement of the student in the project, the contribution of the experience to the student's education, and the faculty member's plans for direction and mentorship. Previous student recipients are welcome to re-apply for additional funding, but in the interest of facilitating entry into research, preference is given to new applicants if other factors are equivalent. Equal consideration will be given to faculty who have or have not previously sponsored student recipients.

Responsibilities of Student Participants: Student recipients of the Fellowship are expected to work on their research project at least 12 hours per week during the academic semester in which they receive the award. For the summer, the expectation is about 300 hours or the equivalent of 8 weeks of full-time work. Students must confer regularly with their faculty sponsors and, upon the sponsor’s recommendation, participate in safety training, meetings, seminars, journal clubs, discussion groups, and other scholarly activities of the host laboratory, department or research group. At the end of the Fellowship period, students must submit a written report of their progress. The faculty sponsor may specify the format and length of the report, but it is expected that the format of a typical journal article in the field would be most appropriate. Students must also present the results of their research at the Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly & Creative Work held in April each year.

Finding a Sponsor and Research Topics: The best sources of information about the research areas of Viterbi School of Engineering faculty are their departmental or laboratory web pages. Additional information and assistance are available by contacting the Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Student Affairs Office in RTH 110 or contact Dr. Urbashi Mitra for a list of Viterbi School of Engineering faculty who have sponsored past undergraduate research. Please note, any faculty member (research or tenure-track) with Ph.D. supervision privileges is eligible to serve as a faculty sponsor. Research faculty without these privileges may also serve as a sponsor together with a tenure-track member in an advisory role.

Students are responsible for finding an eligible mentor that will help them with the application process and will provide a strong recommendation. Eligibility requirements for faculty sponsors are outlined in the Viterbi School of Engineering WiSE Undergraduate Research Faculty Application Guidelines. The faculty sponsor's responsibility is to facilitate the student's exposure to various aspects of the research process and to meet regularly with the student providing guidance and feedback on their progress.

Funding: Awards during fall and spring semesters provide $2,500 ($2,000 to the student and $500 to the advisor for support). Awards during the summer provide $5,000 ($4,500 to the student and $500 to the advisor for support). Summer awardees may not apply for a second summer award. Receipt of a WiSE Undergraduate Research Fellowship should not negatively impact a student’s eligibility for financial aid. As with any income, however, the award will be considered as taxable income by federal and state agencies. For questions regarding financial aid, please contact the Financial Aid Office at 213-740-1111 or visit the Viterbi School of Engineering’s Undergraduate Student Affairs Office in RTH 110.

Contact: For more information please contact the WiSE Program Office at 213-821-4400 or wiseprog@usc.edu.

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