The College
Research at Brown Grants
Funding Cycle
The Research at Brown (RAB) program encourages students to continue working on research in an on-going way. Therefore, proposals that build on work previously supported through the RAB grant, Advanced UR fellowship or an UTRA fellowship will be considered for additional funding provided the "new" proposal meets the RAB selection and post-award criteria.
The RAB budget is divided into spring and fall allocations. When each semester’s allocations are spent, new applications cannot be considered until the next funding cycle. Students are therefore encouraged to submit proposals as early as possible. RAB applications are considered ready for review when both the student’s application and the faculty mentor’s letter of recommendation have been submitted.
We recommend that students submit their applications at least 4-6 weeks prior to when the funding is needed. This will allow adequate time for the payment to be processed and disbursed through the pay periods set by the Controller’s Office if the application is recommended for funding. Dean Oludurotimi Adetunji oversees the RAB Grant. Queries about the application can be directed to RABgrant@brown.edu.
Eligibility
- You must be enrolled as an undergraduate student at Brown University at the time you apply and during the duration of your funded opportunity.
- Travel/project must be completed prior to your graduation.
- You must have a Brown faculty mentor be your recommender. If you are conducting research with a professor not affiliated with Brown University, please contact rabgrant@brown.edu for next steps.
RAB Travel Guidance
For projects involving conference or research travel, please refer to RAB’s travel guidance before submitting your application.
RAB Selection and Post-award Criteria
The quality and clarity of the project description and faculty endorsement letter are vital to a successful RAB application. Proposals requesting travel funds must clearly describe the anticipated value that presenting a student paper at a conference contributes to the advancement of a research project. The potential impact of a project to the applicant’s academic development, as well as the feasibility of the project, is also considered during the review process.
Incomplete RAB applications will not be considered. We also ask that the student write a brief post-award reflective summary that addresses how the support from the RAB grant has shaped their academic progress at Brown.
Payment
All student fellowship awards are paid via Brown University payroll. We encourage all students to enroll in direct deposit for the processing of the awards, if applicable. The payment will follow the Brown University bi-weekly payroll schedule. See the Controller's Office for those dates.
Follow these instructions (based on your student status) in order to receive your funds. Answer the questions to best understand your next steps.