Completion of Research and Creative Activity (CORE) Fellowship

The College of Graduate Studies in partnership with the Division of Research Innovation are pleased to announce the call for the 2022 Completion of Research and Creative Activity (CORE) Fellowship nominations. The CORE Fellowship shall support the completion of the research component of a graduate student's dissertation or thesis. 

This award provides 1 year of funding from January 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023*

Successful applicants will demonstrate the ability to complete their project by the end of the award period. Following the end of the award period, the faculty mentor and student must submit a short report detailing their accomplishments and project progress. 

*funds not used by the end of the award period will be returned to CGS/DRI for subsequent calls.

Application and Evaluation Criteria

Student Eligibility

• Must be a current graduate student enrolled at San Diego State University
• Student must enroll in units at SDSU during the time of the award
• Student must be in good standing (academic and professional)
• Student must have advanced to candidacy

Mentor Eligibility

• Must have an San Diego State University appointment
• Must be the primary mentor for the research being submitted
• Maximum number of submissions per mentor = 3

Budget information*

• Doctoral/MFA students may request up to $10,000
• Master's students may request up to $5,000
• Funds will be distributed to the faculty mentor’s department/school and are to be used for direct costs towards completing the study, including:
  • research materials and supplies
  • participant incentives^
  • travel reimbursement for data collection
  • translation of study materials, etc

*funds not used by the end of the award period will be returned to CGS/DRI for subsequent calls.

^cash advances for subject payments will be handled through the College of Graduate Studies. All other incentive purchases should follow the department/school’s standard ordering protocols

Guidelines

• A student can only be awarded once during their degree program
• Applications are to be submitted by the faculty mentor on behalf of their student(s)
• If selected for funding, IRB/IACUC approval documents must be submitted by January 31, 2023 or the award will be rescinded. If approval is not submitted by this deadline, we welcome your application in the next award cycle. 
• Funds will not be disbursed to the mentor’s department/school until the awardee and mentor complete a form confirming acceptance
• The funds must be spent within the allotted time period, January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023. Unused funds will be returned to CGS/DRI for subsequent calls
• Student cannot have other federal support for the proposed research (NSF, NIH, etc.)
• Upon completion of the fellowship, the student and faculty mentor must submit a final report detailing their progress and accomplishments.

Exclusions - funds cannot be used for:

• salary support (student, faculty mentor, consultant)
• conference travel
• faculty-initiated research
• personal computer hardware (any hardware purchased will remain the property of the university after the student graduates)

Application Components

The following components are required for the application:

A. Project Document

1. Project Title
2. Project description: A non-technical abstract of the proposed work OF NOT LESS THAN 500 AND NOT MORE THAN 1000 WORDS. This should be understandable to an educated reader, who is not an expert in your field. This abstract should include an overview of the central theme of the work.
3. References: a maximum of 1 page of references cited in the project description
4. Timeline: Provide a timeline of the project, including expected deliverables.
5. Budget: Provide a table of the total requested budget, breakdown of budget, and brief budget justification.

Please name your file: 

 CollegeAbbreviation_PROJECT_MentorLastName_StudentLastName.pdf

The page limit for the project document (items 1-5) is 4 pages. 

B. Student Biosketch

Please submit in the NIH format. The fellowship style is recommended, see example. Your student can delete irrelevant fields and sections as they see fit. For example, the eRA Commons Username field is not required.

Please name your file: 

 CollegeAbbreviation_BIOSKETCH_MentorLastName_StudentLastName.pdf

C. Mentor letter of support
Letter should be on letterhead and should include comments on the applicant’s merit, research/scholarly/creative abilities, quality of the research endeavor, feasibility that the work can be completed within the budget period, originality, perseverance in pursuing goals, and other related comments that will help the reviewers evaluate the application’s merit.

Please name your file: 

 CollegeAbbreviation_LETTER_MentorLastName_StudentLastName.pdf

The page limit for the letter of support is 1 page. 

Application deadlines and decisions

• Applications are due Monday, December 5th, 2022.
• Awards will be announced via email by December 21st, 2022. 

*If you do not include the required application elements or adhere to the page limit and formatting requirements, we will not review your proposal.*

To apply, please complete the following Google form. 
 
Questions?
Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions or would like additional information.

Students, discuss this opportunity with your faculty mentor. Nominations must be submitted by the faculty mentor.