Internal Award
Term Length: Current Semester
US Citizenship Not Required

This fellowship is for full-time, currently enrolled Northeastern undergraduates who have little to no prior experience undertaking research or creative endeavors. Although it’s never too late to get started, this fellowship would be an especially good fit for first- or second-year students who have taken a few foundational courses in their field of study and now want to get “hands-on” with the work that faculty researchers and creative practitioners do.

Because Base Camp Fellowships are meant for early research experiences, students may only receive one Base Camp Fellowship during their time at Northeastern.

Base Camp Fellowships are made to students individually (i.e., students may not apply as a group).  While in classes, students should generally not devote more than 20 hours per week to a research or creative project.

PEAK Fellowships are not able to support internal or external Co-op projects

Human Subjects Research: If the project involves human subjects or personal data, there should be clear evidence of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval or exemption (IRB approval, or confirmation of IRB exemption, must occur before the PEAK application is submitted) Learn about IRB and get started here. Questions? Attend their office hours.

Vertebrate Animals Research: If the project involves working with non-human vertebrates, there should be clear evidence of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval, waiver or anticipated approval. (IACUC approval must occur before the PEAK application is submitted) Learn about IACUC and get started here.

Applications are evaluated for their overall quality, feasibility, and potential to contribute to a student’s intellectual, personal, and professional development.

The selection committee considers factors such as: the student’s academic record; stated reasons for wishing to become involved in research or creative endeavor; alignment of the project with larger intellectual, personal, and professional goals; the faculty mentor’s relevant expertise and depth of involvement; and the safety, practicability, and ethics of the project.

Fellowships are competitive and funding is not guaranteed.

The PEAK Base Camp Fellowship offers up to $1000 as a stipend. This money can be divided with your PI to cover the costs of project materials if necessary. PEAK Fellowship funds cannot be applied to tuition.

Fellowship funds are distributed to the university account of the project’s faculty mentor if used for project materials.

Base Camp Fellowship recipients will develop skills essential for undertaking research and creative projects and will also foster meaningful relationships with their project’s faculty mentor. Base Camp Fellowship recipients join the PEAK Fellows cohort and receive all of its benefits, including presenting to and learning from peers, engaging in guided reflection and goal-setting, and advising by the staff of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

The application is simple and consists of three brief components: an online form, one page of writing (uploaded as a PDF), and a statement of support from your project’s faculty mentor.

Each of these components is described in detail here. You will use Northeastern’s Internal Fellowships Portal to submit your proposal materials and to solicit the statement of support from your mentor.

The elements of the application are:

The Online Application Form
This collects your biographical and demographic information.

Proposal Narrative (1 page)
Please answer the following questions in one page (single spaced, 12-point font, one-inch margins). Explicitly address each question and use paragraph breaks.

• THE PROBLEM OR QUESTION
  • What is the question or problem (intellectual, artistic, scientific, social, practical) that you’re interested in? What are you excited to learn about?

  ABOUT YOU: QUALIFICATIONS AND AMBITIONS

  • What previous experiences have prepared you to do this research or creative work? Through coursework, co-op, and/or previous research, what transferable skills do you anticipate using in the work you propose here?
  • In concrete terms, what do you hope to learn through this project? Please name at least three learning outcomes you hope to gain over the course of the fellowship. These can be specific methods associated with your discipline, skills for personal growth, and/or professional skills. How will this project help you reach those goals?

  PROPOSED PLAN OF ACTION

  • How will you engage more deeply with the question or problem you just outlined? What research or creative activities do you want to gain experience with? How many hours per week do you anticipate spending on this?
  • How often are you meeting with your mentor, and what are the ongoing expectations associated with those meetings? Will you be attending lab meetings, submitting updates, responding to readings?
  • What will be the outcome of your work? How will this project set you up for the next stage of your academic career—what intellectual and professional opportunities does this experience make possible for you?

Faculty Mentorship
Your faculty mentor will need to complete a brief statement confirming the merit, feasibility, and safety of the project, as well as their willingness to mentor and guide your work during the duration of the project term.

The online application system will prompt you to enter your faculty mentor’s contact details, and the system will generate an e-mail to your mentor with further instructions. Please let your mentor know to expect this e-mail.

If you are working on a project outside of Northeastern with an external mentor, you must have a Northeastern faculty member ALSO serve as a faculty mentor. The Northeastern mentor will attach their support materials through the fellowships application portal, please attach a letter of support from the off-site project mentor as part of your application materials by having them email it directly to URF@northeastern.edu.

PEAK Fellowships are not able to support internal or external Co-op projects