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

February 15th (11:59 pm) submission deadline

Pending the availability of funds, TAMS will award a limited number of Summer Research Scholarships to encourage your participation, under the guidance of a faculty mentor, in varied research environments (including the arts). To qualify, you must locate a professor who is willing to supervise either ongoing or new research this summer during the 10-week summer session (May 22-July 28). Please note that this ten-week session begins two weeks earlier than did previous summer sessions.

That supervision must include a minimum of 30 personal-contact hours per week with either the Principal Investigator (PI), a postdoc, or the PI’s graduate students. The remaining 10-15 hours a week will consist of library-based literature review or library-based remote research. Students will not be in McConnell Hall or in recreational centers between the hours of 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.  Even students who are conducting computational research (overall) must abide by the 30 hr. personal-contact rule by completing their weekly research in the labs, classrooms, or offices of PI’s, postdocs, or TA’s. Thus, before applying for a Summer Research Scholarship, students must confirm with their PI that he/she will be on campus for the majority of the 10-week summer session and will sponsor 30 personal-contact hours per week.  If the PI is unwilling to commit to this requirement, you will be ineligible for the scholarship. 

Students must also confirm that, if their proposed research entails contact with humans or animals, that the PI has IRB approval for human subjects or IACUC approval for animal experimentation, and that student researchers will receive appropriate training prior to their direct contact with either human or animal subjects.

When we judge applicants, a number of other factors will come into account, including (1) the intensity and length of past research, (2) current outcomes—for example, co-authorship or manuscripts under submission or in preparation, and (3) TAMS disciplinary reports, along with other indicators of social maturity. Students who have been dismissed from a prior lab will be ineligible to apply for a TAMS Summer Research Scholarship.

If you are looking forward to your first research experience, that’s fine; you should still apply, but with knowledge of items 1-3 in the preceding paragraph.

There may be fewer scholarships than applicants.  Students should not expect TAMS to offer explanations that involve comparative assessment. 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 second-year student may petition for a TAMS Summer Scholarship.

Students who are not currently conducting research may wonder, “Where do I look?”

• 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, in accord with the personal-contact rule (above).
• 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 a professor on research projects.
• TAMS will no longer award Summer Research Scholarships for research at other universities or research facilities. 
• Please see regulations on the agreement that you and your parents need to sign at the time that you apply for a TAMS Summer Scholarship.

“What about getting paid?” If you earn a TAMS Summer Scholarship, you will not additionally "be paid" for working with a research scientist on a project. The experience and privilege of interacting closely with a research professor will be invaluable. Keep in mind that you are learning the methodology your mentor uses to advance “enquiry” and thereby to 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 $4,000 scholarship, spread over 2 payments, to help meet your summer expenses.
• If you receive funding for research from your mentor’s grants or other sources, the total amount you receive may not exceed $5,000; therefore, TAMS may adjust your TAMS Summer Scholarship accordingly. You have the responsibility to apprise TAMS, at the time of application, of supplemental payment from a PI.
• Accepting a TAMS Summer Research Scholarship requires full-time participation in the ten-week summer session (May 22-July 28). Exceptions will be rare and will not include your wish to take advantage of family-travel plans, or of 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 up to five consecutive days solely for the purpose of attending a mentor-approved conference that aligns intimately with the topic of your summer research. You should not petition for a general-enrichment program, as your TAMS summer research trumps other enrichment venues.  Should you apply for permission to leave campus for an academic conference, a parent or TAMS staff member must agree to oversee you for the entire span of your absence and return to campus.  In addition, you must apprise us of your wish to attend that conference no later than when you apply for the TAMS Summer Scholarship. There will be no allowance, after the application period, for leave time and opportunities that simply “spring up.” The faculty research mentor and the TAMS administration must approve the leave-of-absence request. The mentor’s approval does not override the disposition of TAMS, the scholarship sponsor.
• UNT-based Summer Research Scholarship holders must register and pay for at least one semester-credit-hour (preferably HNRS 3996). It will document guided study or research within the academic 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. We expect students to be committed to this adventure and not to be showing up in labs simply to earn a hoped-for letter of recommendation.
• If you conduct summer research at UNT, but without having received a TAMS Summer Research Scholarship, you must personally enroll in a UNT, one-semester credit-hour course, at your own expense, live in McConnell Hall, purchase a meal plan, and abide by all rules that apply to Summer Research Scholarship holders.  Said another way, a TAMS student is prohibited from conducting research on campus during summer 2023 if s/he/they do not live on campus, have a meal plan, and be covered by insurance.

Students conducting research at UNT off-campus sites must board a UNT-sponsored bus (as is the case for transit to Discovery Park) that travels to and from the research destination Monday through Friday. If no such service exists during the summer, then, to qualify for a TAMS Summer Scholarship, the student would need for the UNT research facility to arrange for transportation in an official UNT vehicle driven by a qualified staff member. No summer-research TAMS students may have a personal vehicle on campus or use public transportation during the 10-week summer session.

Those selected for Summer Research will be subject to additional rules and expectations as will be outlined by a contract/agreement.  Contracts will be sent out at a later date.  Once received, you will need to review the contract carefully to ensure you are able to meet the requirements.

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