Dr. Timothy Ritter served as a physics professor at UNC Pembroke for 21 years. He held numerous leadership roles in support of the sciences at UNCP, include Director of the Pembroke Undergraduate Research and Creativity (PURC) Center and Director of the NC Region IV Science & Engineering Fair. Dr. Ritter has established this endowed research scholarship in support of undergraduate research at UNC Pembroke.
AVAILABLE FUNDING:
The maximum award amount is $3,000.
SCHOLARSHIP PARAMETERS:
- Each year, one award (maximum $3,000) shall be provided to one undergraduate student performing research in Chemistry, Physics, or Science Education Grades 9-12 (Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Physics) through the Pembroke Undergraduate Research and Creativity (PURC) Center.
- The student shall have a minimum QPA of 2.5
- The student shall be selected by the PURC Council.
- A student may receive this award no more than twice
- Proposal must be approved by the faculty mentor before proposal submission. Only one application per investigator per semester, and one application per project, is allowed.
- Students may not use AI to write PURC proposals, either fully or partially, as the writing and editing involved is integral to the learning process. Proposals fully or partially generated by AI will not be considered for funding. All submitted proposals will be verified for AI authorship by PURC.
- The student shall have a faculty advisor, who will approve the research project and expenses. Approved expenses are costs directly associated with research, including supplies, equipment, and travel (no student stipend allowed).
- A maximum of one-half of the total annual award may be used for conference expenses if the student is presenting at the conference.
- A maximum of one-sixth of the total annual award can be used if the student is attending the conference (without presenting).
- This research shall be conducted during the academic year.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Email the following in PDF format to purc@uncp.edu (Incomplete, non-PDF or paper-only applications will be returned without review):
- Completed PURC cover sheet (see below) with faculty mentor approval and signature. The faculty member must approve the proposal prior to submission.
- A statement that describes your proposed research/creative activity, thesis or project. Please limit this portion of the application to 3-4 pages:
- For beginning research: purpose, hypothesis, significance, your role in a larger project (if applicable) and methodology;
- For ongoing research: purpose, hypothesis, significance, your role in a larger project (if applicable) methodology, preliminary results;
- For creative activity: purpose, significance, medium, anticipated venues for presentation/performance
3. A detailed budget justification, to include :
- detailed project costs, including all items with links
- amount requested
- other sources of funding (existing or sought)
4. A brief discussion of how the proposed activity will benefit the student, university, department and community (as applicable).
DUE DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: Applications are due by March 1st annually. All applications must be submitted to purc@uncp.edu in PDF format (Incomplete, non-PDF or paper-only applications will be returned without review).
EVALUATION:
A committee made up of PURC Councilors will review applications and select a recipient. All applicants will receive notification by email regarding the status of their application as soon as possible after the review.
POST AWARD REQUIREMENTS:
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Each recipient must present their findings, either at the annual PURC Symposium or a similar conference. If a student does not complete a presentation, they are not eligible for a second award and/or future PURC funding.