Outfitter Award to Boost Faculty Capacity for Undergraduate Engagement
The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and the Office of the Provost are excited to announce the launch of a new grant program—the Outfitter Award—to invest in faculty members’ long-term capacity to involve undergraduates in their research and creative enterprise. The Outfitter Award complements the student-facing Project-Based Exploration for the Advancement of Knowledge (PEAK) Experiences Awards, which were launched in Fall 2019, with a new source of support for faculty mentors.
Emphasizing the centrality of undergraduate research and creative endeavor to Northeastern’s experience-driven education model, Chancellor and Senior Vice President for Learning Ken Henderson has asked research-active faculty to consider creating full-time or part-time co-op positions for the Spring and Summer I of 2021, possibly by repurposing existing funds that remain unspent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A part-time co-op can be as few as 16 hours per week, which, at a Massachusetts minimum wage of $13.50 an hour, is approximately $5200 in funding.
In light of this priority, to be eligible to apply for an Outfitter Award, a faculty member must first create at least one full-time or part-time undergraduate research co-op for Spring 2021. However, the Outfitter Award is not intended to fund salary or supplies for the Spring 2021 co-op. Funding options for the co-op position might include:
- Internal, departmental research or operational funds may be used to support a co-op student. Please contact your college’s associate dean for research to ensure that there are no limitations prior to initiating.
- Extramural funds may be used to support a co-op student conducting research if the position has already been named in the specific project’s award budget and budget justification, or with the funding agency’s prior approval. Please work with NU-RES to ascertain any applicable limitations and to pursue sponsoring agency prior approval, as warranted.
How to Apply for an Outfitter Award
Step 1: To hire a co-op student, complete our simple form and colleagues from our co-op community will follow up with you directly:
Create a Spring 2021 Research Co-op
Step 2: Faculty who provide an undergraduate research or creative co-op in Spring 2021 may then apply for a PEAK Outfitter Award to support non-personnel costs associated with building out long-term mentoring capacity for undergraduate projects in research and creative endeavor. Typical awards funding request will range from $3000 to $5000, but awards up to $10000 will be considered with strong justification. The award supports purchases of equipment, tools, and durable supplies that can be used over the course of multiple academic years. Outfitter Award funding is intended to increase a faculty member’s capacity to mentor undergraduates broadly and over the long term, rather than enabling a single discrete project and cannot be used for salaries.
Outfitter Award applications are due February 1, 2021.