TAMS Summer Research Scholarships for 1st Year TAMS Students Entering Second Year of Study

April 7th (11:59 pm) submission deadline

Pending the availability of funds, TAMS will award a significant number of Summer Research Scholarships to encourage your participation, under the guidance of a faculty mentor, in varied research environments. To qualify, you will be responsible for locating a professor who is willing to supervise either ongoing or new research this summer during the 10-week summer session (June 1-August 7). Then, such factors as GPA, intensity and length of past research, existing outcomes—for example, co-authorship or manuscripts under submission or preparation—will figure in our deliberations, as will TAMS disciplinary reports and other indicators of social maturity. If you are looking forward to your first research experience, that’s fine; you should still apply.

There may be fewer scholarships than applicants.  Students cannot expect TAMS to offer explanations that involve comparative assessment of other students’ credentials.  Such policy is in accord with any number of selection processes, admission to TAMS itself being among those.

These scholarships are, in the main, for first-year TAMS students who are heading into their second year at the Academy. In rare cases, and with compelling rationale, a TAMS scholarship may go to a graduating second-year student.

Students may wonder, “Where do I look if I am not currently conducting research that will continue into the summer?”

• Consider approaching a professor with whom you have studied, and with whose research project you are familiar. See if that PI will take you on.
• For broader UNT research opportunities, visit departmental web sites and explore the research interests of several faculty members.  Then, during office hours, visit one or more of these professors to discuss the possibility of your joining a research team for the summer, and perhaps longer.
• Talk with TAMS seniors and other juniors who may have worked with the professor on research projects.
• Several TAMS students traditionally end up with summer-research mentors at other universities. Please see regulations on the agreement that you and your parents need to sign.

“What about getting paid?” You do not have to get paid for working with a research scientist on a project. The experience and privilege of interacting closely with a professional will be invaluable. Keep in mind that you are learning the methodology that your mentor uses to advance “enquiry” and thereby create new knowledge. Those benefits, along with your acquiring “the discipline of the discipline” will serve you well in later intellectual and professional challenges.

• That said, you will nonetheless receive a $4000 scholarship, spread over 2 payments, to help meet your summer expenses.
• Accepting a TAMS Summer Research Scholarship requires full-time participation in the ten-week summer session (June 1-August 7). Exceptions will be rare and will not include your wish to take advantage of family travel plans, or other commitments falling short of documented illness or for absence related to bereavement. That said, part of the application form will include a petition, should you receive a scholarship, to be absent for a maximum of up to five consecutive days solely for the purpose of attending an educational venue that stands to enhance your future studies—for example, a “college visit” or an academic panel for which you are making plans at the time when you apply for the summer scholarship. There will be no allowance, after the application period, for leave time that simply “springs up.” Needless to say, moreover, the leave of absence must be approved by both the faculty research mentor and the TAMS administration.  The mentor’s approval does not override the disposition of the scholarship sponsor.
• UNT-based Summer-Research-Scholarship holders must register and pay for at least one semester-credit-hour (preferably HNRS 3996) that reflects guided study or research within the department sponsoring your research. If your UNT research professor demands that you take three semester-credit hours, within his/her department, then so be it. Either way, we request that you obtain the professor’s approval to enroll for those hours on a Pass/Fail basis, as the summer-research experience is not about earning still one more “A.” At stake, rather, are the enchantment, discipline, and outcomes accompanying the adventure of research.  
• If you conduct summer research at UNT, but without having received a TAMS Summer Research Scholarship, you must still enroll in a UNT one-semester credit-hour course, at your own expense, live in McConnell Hall, purchase a meal plan, and abide by the rules that apply to the Summer Research Scholarship.
• If you conduct research at other universities, you must still enroll in, and pay for, HNRS 3996, a UNT one-semester credit-hour, P/F course.

Please see the agreement form for additional rules and expectations.

Print and complete the Summer Research Agreement (you will need a digital copy of this agreement to submit with the application).
 

Apply Now!