Office of Undergraduate Research

Submit a SURF Proposal

Eligibility Requirements

  • Undergraduate or Texas Academy students enrolled full-time (12 semester credit hours, SCHs, or more) at Lamar University, in the Spring semester of the proposal submission, as well as in the following Fall semester.
  • Students enrolled in 6-11 SCHs may be eligible to apply. For this group of students, a justification from the department chair of the student’s major or Dean of Reaud Honors College (for Texas Academy students) must be included in the proposal. 
  • A minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2.8 or a major GPA of 3.0 at Lamar University (or transfer credit). One time exception might be granted.
  • Must have at least one faculty mentor (tenure, tenure-track or full-time instructor). The faculty mentor will provide academic guidance to his/her student and assume the fiscal responsibility of the awarded grant(s). For any questions on identifying a faculty mentor, please contact The Office of Undergraduate Research through our@lamar.edu or Cristian Bahrim, the Director of O.U.R., at cbahrim@lamar.edu.
  • All research efforts and support must be compliant with IRB guidance (for research of human subjects), IACUC guidance (for animal research), IBC guidance (for research involving biohazards), if the proposed research falls within these domains.

The review of submitted proposals and awarding of undergraduate grants will be conducted based on the intellectual merits and broader impacts. Intellectual merits refer to the level of potential to advance knowledge and/or develop solutions. Broader impacts refer to the project’s potential to benefit society and its contribution to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.

Up to fifteen (15) proposals submitted on or before February 23, 2026, can be funded based on thorough review conducted by 3 to 4 faculty members with good understanding of the topic. Typically, for these proposals the minimum acceptance score is 75% as an average of the reviewers’ scores.


Proposal limits

  • Each student may only receive ONE SURF grant in a fiscal year. Receiving an undergraduate research grant does not exclude the recipient from receiving in the future another undergraduate research grant (or URG or SURF). For allowing a broader participation in the SURF program, if a student submits a second SURF proposal as sole PI and both proposals are highly scored (above 75% average score), only the proposal with the highest score will be accepted. The student can be co-PI (second writer) on a second successful SURF proposal during the SURF 2026 program.
  • Each faculty mentor can support one undergraduate student in one SURF project as sole mentor and can co-mentor a second student proposal on another SURF project.

Any special cases will be addressed and resolved by the O.U.R. Advisory Board.

All questions regarding proposal limits should be submitted in writing to the Director of O.U.R at cbahrim@lamar.edu or our@lamar.edu .

Proposal Components

A proposal layout is provided for SURF proposal submission. Only proposals following this layout will go under review. For consideration of funding, the proposal must be submitted electronically in one PDF file with the content listed in the instructions below.

Proposal Coversheet: The information on the coversheet will be utilized for determining the eligibility requirements.

Project Description: The narrative portion of the proposal must not exceed 7 pages of letter-size paper with 1” margins and 10 pt. Times New Roman font or larger. The narrative portion of the proposal encompasses items 1–7 of the list below. Item 8, letter(s) of recommendation from mentor(s), does not count towards the page limit. Separate page(s) for references, graphs/tables, and/or appendices do not count towards the page limit. Any additional material (i.e. technical details of equipment, or elaborated methodology, or details about collecting data, etc.) should be included in a separate section titled "Appendix."

  1. Title (no more than 10 words) and Abstract (of 250 words or less)
  2. Introduction or Problem Statement
  3. Research Objectives / Hypothesis / Thesis / Purpose / Research Question
  4. Methodology and research design
  5. Expected Output and Outcome (Note: “output” refers to activity, effort, and/or associated work products related to the objectives that will be produced by the end of the project; while “outcome” refers to the result, effect, or consequence that will occur with the project output.)
  6. Proposed Budget (up to $6,000 per project in direct student benefits, including housing in Cardinal Village, research support, and travel related to the development of the SURF project). A clear budget justification must be included in the proposal. This budget includes the research student’s time & effort ($2,700, which will be taxable), research supplies (up to $1,400), and travel related to the project (up to $500). Housing is optional, and intent to stay in Cardinal Village must be stated in the justification. View Sample Budget
  7. Relevant literature to the proposed project with references.
  8. Letter of recommendation from mentor(s). If several mentors are for one project, then each mentor should provide a letter of recommendation and should specify his/her role in mentoring the student. The letter should be on one page and should touch on two points: 1) the benefit for the student in running the research project and 2) the student’s ability to successfully complete the project

SUBMIT A PROPOSAL

Each SURF Mentor has to approve the submission of a SURF proposal with an email sent to our@lamar.edu having the subject line
"SURF proposal - approved".
 
Important for the student submitter: Please name your file "SURF_2026_proposal_full_name_of_the_student_submitter.pdf"
and upload it using the Formstack above.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

  • Intellectual merits, clarity in technical language, and originality of the idea (10 points)
  • Methodology, research design, thesis or purpose (10 points)
  • Project output and outcome, including broader impact (10 points)
  • Relevant literature review for the proposed project (10 points)
  • Organization and quality of proposal (10 points)
  • Proposed budget and budget justification (5 points)
  • Letters of recommendation (5 points)

Scoring for each of these criteria will be based upon the Proposal Evaluation Criteria Rubric.

OPPORTUNITY!

A narrative can be submitted at the EXPO 2026 Paper Competition. The submission of the narrative should be approved in writing by the faculty mentor(s).

Final Report

  1. The final SURF report is due by August 15th, before the SURF Symposium, usually scheduled on Friday of the second week of the Fall semester, when the SURF fellows will also receive the certificates of completion of the SURF program.
  2. The student can submit a 6-to-10-page narrative with technical details (including graphics, graphs, tables, survey forms, references, etc.) about the project and outcomes. This narrative could also be submitted to the Paper Competition at the upcoming O.U.R. Fall Conference.

    Format: letter size paper with 1” margins and 12 pt. Times New Roman font.

  3. If a narrative cannot be generated for serious reasons and with mentor(s) approval, the student(s) will submit a brief final report (not to exceed 2 pages of text. Graphics, graphs, tables, or references not included.).
Format: letter size paper with 1” margins and 12 pt. Times New Roman font.
  1. Project title
  2. Student name
  3. Faculty mentor(s)
  4. Project output
  5. Project outcome
  6. Plan for research in the future
  7. Student’s Testimonial

The submission of the Final Report should be E-mailed to our@lamar.edu and cc'ed to the student's mentor(s). The submission of the narrative should be approved by the faculty mentor(s) with an E-mail reply to the student's submission.

Faculty Mentor Benefits

  1. There is a $1,000 stipend per SURF project offered for the faculty mentor's time and effort. If two or more faculty co-mentor the same SURF project, they will split the $1,000 stipend evenly. This stipend will be received in the paycheck for August or September.
  2. Faculty mentor(s) will receive up to $500 in travel support for each SURF project mentored over the summer, during the next university year; i.e., for a 2026 SURF project, up to $500 will be allocated for travel support only for the university year 2026-27. No credit will be granted for year 2027-28.

With faculty and student benefits combined, the total budget allocated per SURF project is up to $7,500.

Requirements for all SURF Winners

Requirements for all SURF winners:

  1. Presentation at SURF Kickoff Day on May 27 (Wednesday).
  2. Participation in one New Student Orientation (NSO) during June-August 2026.
  3. Participation in the mid-term report.
  4. Presentation at the SURF Symposium scheduled at the beginning of Fall semester (Tentative date: August 28, 2026 (Friday afternoon).
  5. Presentation at the O.U.R. Fall Conference on November 13, 2026 (Friday).

If a student does not participate in one of the major events listed above without offering a strong excuse for absence, then the travel support offered as part of the SURF grant, or/and the post-grant travel support, depending on the absence(s), will be forfeited.