Using Your Project Award Funds
When you are ready to buy supplies or make purchases using your Project Award funds, you should coordinate with the Office Administrator (OA) of your faculty mentor's department. If you aren't sure who that person is, talk to your mentor! This OA will be notified by OUR of your Project Award within a few days of you receiving your award notification.
Award funds must be spent by the end of the spring semester of the academic year in which you receive the award - any funds remaining at that time will be "swept" back by the University.
Remember that OUR's resources serve all undergraduate students on campus, so please be mindful of your costs to allow OUR to support more students wanting to engage in research.
Remember that allowable expenses include chemicals or laboratory equipment, photocopies of research questionnaires, visual art supplies, etc. Travel to get to a field site, external library or archival facility are allowable expenses, although conference travel is not allowed (please consider OUR Travel Awards for conference travel). Student or faculty stipends are not allowable expenses.
What if my project shifts in a different direction as I start working on my research project? Research does not always go as planned and sometimes getting answers to one question raises additional questions or you realize a different method will work better for your project. OUR understands this and this is okay! The goal is for you to have a successful research project. But please check in with OUR if your research goals, objectives, methods differ significantly from what was approved - and if you aren't sure, just ask! Or if the items or expenses you will purchase changes significantly from what was approved, please check in with OUR before purchasing these items -- a good rule of thumb is that if the shift in purchasing makes up more than 10% of your award budget, please get approval from OUR before proceeding with the purchase.
