2012-13 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) Application deadline February 3, 2012

2012-13 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) program

Applications are invited from eligible undergraduate students http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/UG-PC/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp for the 2012-13 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) program.  Information is available from NSERC's website.

Students must be supervised by a faculty member holding an active NSERC research grant at the time the student holds the award.  It may be possible to get matched with a Computer Science faculty member to work with if you are eligible and indicate interest early by applying and contacting either Dr. Ezeife (cezeife@uwindsor.ca) or Ms. Mandy (mandyd@uwindsor.ca).  Deadline to submit applications to department is February 3, 2012.

Awards may be held in one of the following terms: Summer term 2012, Fall term 2012, or Winter term 2013.

• NSERC has advised that the quota of USRAs for 2012-13 at the University of Windsor is 28.
• The value of the scholarship for 2012-2013 is $4500.00 for 16 weeks, with a travel allowance where necessary.
• NSERC requires that all students holding USRAs receive supplementary assistance from University sources of at least 25% of the value of the award, that is, of at least $1,125.00.  This mandatory supplement is a minimum value; any supplement above this level may be set at the University’s discretion.  Research supervisors or programs should therefore indicate clearly what they are prepared to contribute.

NSERC closely monitors the participation of women in the program and strongly suggests the universities use the USRA program as a tool to encourage more women to pursue careers in science and engineering.  NSERC expects that universities will endeavour to ensure a minimum 50% participation rate by female students.  Note that Windsor's female participation rate for Summer 2011 was 31.3%.

NSERC would also like to encourage Aboriginal undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies and research careers in the natural sciences and engineering.  Each university is strongly encouraged to promote the availability of USRAs to qualified Aboriginal students.  Awards that the University of Windsor makes to Aboriginal students will be in addition to our quota of awards (please identify these applications when they are submitted to our office).

A student applying for an award must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and be registered in a bachelor’s degree program at an eligible university.  Students must have obtained a cumulative GPA of at least 8.0 or B- up to the time of application.  Students may not hold more than three USRAs in their academic career or more than one award in any fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).

The deadline to submit ranked applications to the Office of Graduate Studies for students wishing to hold an award in either Summer term 2012, Fall term 2012 or Winter term 2013 is February 10, 2012.

All applications must now be completed and verified on-line.  A paper copy is then be printed off and submitted to the department, along with transcripts.

Instructions:

1. Form 202 Part I (Student Application for a USRA).  Students log onto the NSERC on-line system to complete and verify the application (Form 202 Part I) as in the past. The form has changed very little from previous competitions and the on-line instructions have been updated.  A new step for students is that they must scan and attach (upload) a copy of their own official, up-to-date transcripts to the application in Portable Document Format (PDF) as described in the on-line instructions.  The student will not be able to complete the verification of their application until this has been done.

2. 2. Form 202 Part II (Supervisor Application).  Supervisors must register or log onto the NSERC on-line system to complete Part II of Form 202.  Before Part II can be created, the supervisor must obtain the reference number and surname of each student with whom they wish to work.  A Part II must be created for each student, then verified before it can be submitted electronically

3. A paper copy of the application (including Part I and II and transcripts) is printed off and submitted to the department.

4. Departments rank the applications and forward them to our office by the deadline of February 10, 2012.

5. Please clearly indicate for which term the application is to be considered (Summer 2012, Fall 2012, or Winter 2013).

Detailed instructions and application form are available from : http://www.nserc.gc.ca/forms/formtable_e.htm.  (Click on "On-line System Login.")