Office of Research

The Mississippi College Office of Research (OR) supports faculty and staff interested in both funded and non-funded research and scholarly agendas, program and curricula development, and other University or faculty-initiated projects, including undergraduate and graduate research. Specifically, the OR works in coordination with the Academic Research Council (ARC) to organize the Graduate Research Forum and the Undergraduate Research Symposium. For more information about OR or the ARC, please contact Dr. David Magers.

Guidelines for Submitting Proposals to the Office of Research (OR)

1. For a professor or instructor to submit a proposal to the OR, the department of that individual must be contributing funds to the OR by having designated at least one research class to which the research fee is associated.
2. Money requested must be for some event, equipment, or activity associated with student research, graduate or undergraduate.
   Examples:
   If a proposal is submitted requesting funds to help with publication costs, the publication must have at least one MC student author. 
   
   If a proposal is submitted for a particular piece of research equipment, evidence must be provided indicating how students will use the equipment. 
   
   If a proposal is submitted requesting funds for travel to a conference or workshop, the funds must be used for students to attend.
3. Currently, requests must be limited to $1000 unless the grant impacts five or more students.  Then the limit is $1500.  The limit is also $1500 for publication costs even if only one student author is on the publication.
4. A student cannot submit a proposal; a professor or instructor must submit the proposal. 
5. If a professor or instructor has two or more students doing research in a given semester, proposals can include more than one research project.  As an example, a proposal might be for several students working on different projects to attend the same conference or symposium to present their research.
6. In the event of a successful proposal, checks for the requested funds will not be written to individuals.  Instead, funds will be transferred from the OR to a fund in the department or school of the individual originating the proposal that has been specifically designated as a student research fund.
7. Only one request for funds can be awarded to an individual within a given semester.  Thus, one could submit a maximum of three proposals a years – one during the fall semester, one during the spring semester, and one during the summer.  
8. Any successful proposal requires a final summary of the activity, event, or use of the equipment to assess that the funds were used wisely.  This summary must be submitted to the OR within three months of the awarding of the grant if the grant was for a particular event or activity.  If the grant was for a piece of research equipment, then the summary must be submitted within one year of the awarding of the grant.  If the grant impacted a particular student or group of students, a paragraph from the student or one of the students with his or her perspective should be included in the summary if possible.  If the grant was for a student or students to present a talk or poster at a conference or symposium, then a pdf of each poster or presentation should be included in this final summary report.  Failure to submit this summary may negatively impact any future requests from the individual to whom the grant was awarded.

What a Proposal to the Office of Research (OR) Must Include

1. Name of the professor or instructor originating the proposal and his or her department
2. The name of the student or students being impacted by the requested funds
3. If applicable, the dates of the event or activity for which the funds are requested
4. A brief summary of the research event, research activity, or research to be done by funded equipment
5.  A budget for the event, activity, or equipment with explanation of the source of any additional funds needed
6. The fund number of the designated student research fund in the department or school of the professor or instructor who submitted the proposal to which the money may be transferred from the OR
7. Proposals should be emailed to MCResearch@mc.edu.

How Proposals to the Office of Research (OR) Will Be Evaluated

Each proposal submitted to the OR will be read and evaluated by three members of the Academic Research Council (ARC) which will serve as the advisory board of the OR.  At least one of these individuals will be from the same school as the professor or instructor who submitted the proposal.  Decisions will be made as soon as possible, but proposals should be submitted at least three weeks before the event or activity for which the funds are requested.