»Undergraduate Scholarly/Creative Grants

This information session is designed to help students learn about the requirements, how to apply, and address your questions before the Undergraduate Scholarly/Creative Grant application deadline.

View the following PowerPoint for information on writing your grant proposal. 

Writing Grant Proposals

Writing Grant Proposals for Creative Work

Please feel free to email cue@chapman.edu with any questions. 

• Chapman University undergraduate matriculated students in good standing are eligible to apply for a Scholarly/Creative Grant. 
• Students graduating in the same semester for which they are applying are not eligible for scholarly/creative grants (e.g., students graduating in spring are not eligible for spring grants; students graduating in fall are not eligible for fall grants). Seniors graduating in the summer are eligible to apply for spring grants but must be enrolled in a Chapman summer course. Approved funds must be spent within the summer term.
• Applicants can be from any discipline and can work on a project outside their major.
• No prior research experience is required, but the applicant must have a full-time faculty mentor.
• All grant recipients are required to present at the Student Scholar Symposium within the same academic year the grant funds are utilized.
• Students may only receive one grant award each academic year, either in the fall or spring. 
• Unsuccessful proposals may be revised and resubmitted in future calls for proposals.

• Description of Project (2 pages maximum) 
  • Describe the project and provide background, context, and significance for a general audience. Students should use language accessible to reviewers outside the field to explain how the project demonstrates intellectual merit, advances the discipline, and is thoroughly planned.
  • Proposal details:
    • Proposals must present a project to be completed during the funding period that is original, feasible, and intellectually rigorous.
    • The project must clearly articulate its intellectual merit, including reflection on the research or creative questions it addresses and its broader significance.
    • Proposals should include a detailed project description, goals, methodology or creative approach, expected outcomes, and a timeline.
    • Applicants must demonstrate how the project extends beyond normal coursework, rehearsals, or studio practice, highlighting deeper inquiry or innovation.
    • Projects may be interdisciplinary and integrate humanities or creative arts with other fields.
    • If fieldwork is required for the project, proposals should thoroughly discuss the feasibility and planning of travel and logistics.
    • We strongly encourage a plan for dissemination or presentation of the project results in the proposal.
  • Document formatting guidelines:
    • Proposals must be written in 12-point font with 1-inch margins.
    • Document must be uploaded as a PDF
    • Proposal is limited to two (2) pages
    • References do not count toward the page limit and can be completed on a separate page.
    • Any pages beyond these limits will be removed before the proposal is sent to reviewers.
• Mentor Support Form 
  • Completed by the project's full-time faculty mentor.
    • THe faculty mentor will be automatically prompted to upload the form after the student submits the application. Forms should not be emailed to the CUE office
    • Faculty can dowload the form here.  The form asks faculty to address the student's qualifications, the project's significance, the mentor's plan for supporting the student, and funding impact. Additional details are provided on the form. 
• Budget 
  • The budget worksheet should clearly state the expenses requested for funding. Cost should include taxes, and shipping is applicable. 
  • If your funding request is part of a larger budget that far exceeds the maximum grant funding, only submit a budget that reflects specific resources within the maximum funding limitations. DO NOT submit the larger budget. 
• IRB (funded grants)
  • Additionally, your project may require additional approvals if it involves any hazardous materials or IRB approval if it involves any human or animal subjects; students are responsible for working with the faculty mentor to ensure that the project has approvals necessary to begin research and for submitting verification of authorization to the Center for Undergraduate Excellence. If your grant is funded and needs hazardous materials approval or IRB approval, any grant award is pending until the hazardous materials approval or IRB approval has been submitted to CUE prior to conducting research. www.chapman.edu/irb.
• Selection is based on the following criteria: 
  • Intellectual Merit of the Project
  • Originality, Innovation, and Significance of the Project
  • Feasibility and Planning of the Project
  • Link to Rubric

Artificial intelligence policy for the Center for Undergraduate Excellence

This policy establishes expectations for the ethical, transparent, and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in all CUE-affiliated activities. This policy applies to both students and faculty when participating in any CUE-supported programming or applying to any CUE awards or fellowships. This document is intended to supplement existing university guidance on the use of AI in research/scholarship/creative activities and we encourage faculty and students to review the university AI guidelines in detail as well.

Guiding principles

Our AI policies are grounded in the following beliefs:

• Academic integrity and authenticity:All work presented at CUE events must represent the presenter’s own intellectual thought and work and should not be materially generated by AI. Similarly, any applications submitted to CUE must also represent the applicant’s own thinking and lived experiences.
• Transparency:As noted below, there are certain use cases where AI use is acceptable. In these scenarios, full transparency is expected. AI use should be disclosed when it materially shapes application or research outputs.
• Privacy and confidentiality:All students, faculty, and staff engaged in research that is supported by CUE must protect sensitive, personally identifiable, proprietary, or unpublished research information following Chapman’s guidelines on confidentiality and privacy.
• Accountability:Users are responsible for accuracy, citations, and compliance with all fellowship rules, mentor expectations, and university policies, and are ultimately responsible for anything they submit or share with a broader audience.

Acceptable and prohibited uses

For all CUE-sponsored applications and presentations, applicants are permitted to use AI tools as assistive support. This includes:

• Brainstorming topics, questions, or perspectives
• Outlining essays, proposals, and personal statements based on student/faculty-generated ideas
• Editing for clarity, grammar, tone, and conciseness
• Creating visual supplements for scholarly presentations and submissions
• Summarizing publicly available sources

Faculty and students are not allowed to use AI for the following:

• Generating or rewriting substantive text beyond minor copyediting

• Submitting or presenting any AI-generated text, images, or code as one’s own without disclosure when it materially contributes to the final work
• Fabricating experiences, awards, research results, citations, quotes, or references
• Using AI to impersonate another person

In short, AI can be used to support the brainstorming and revision process, but any work presented or submitted should represent the individual’s own intellectual thought.

Disclosure

Individuals must disclose AI use when it:

• Produces code used in analysis or results
• Creates figures/visuals included in final submissions
• Shapes research design, interpretation, or framing in meaningful ways

 

AI Statement

As part of all CUE applications that require student-produced documents, applicants will be asked how AI was used in developing the document(s). Applicants should be prepared to answer this question as part of the application. If AI was not used, indicate this in the response.

AI statement examples:

• “I used AI to suggest edits for clarity and concision on text I drafted. I reviewed and revised all outputs and take full responsibility for the final content.”
• “I used AI to brainstorm potential research questions and produce an initial outline. The final framing and all writing are my own.”
• “I used AI to generate initial code suggestions for [task]. I tested, modified, and verified the code and results.”

Failure to disclose AI use will be treated as a violation of Chapman’s academic integrity standards.

Fellowship application integrity and sponsor rules

CUE works with students across campus to promote applications to many external fellowships. Many of these fellowships have their own AI use policies, which may be stricter than the ones outlined here. Students applying to these fellowships are responsible for reviewing sponsor policies and must comply with the most restrictive requirements, ensuring that they meet all sponsor requirements. CUE will encourage students to check program rules regarding AI or outside assistance and provide guidance on ethical drafting and revision practices, but the ultimate responsibility for compliance with external fellowship policies rests with the student.  If a fellowship sponsor prohibits AI use, students must not use AI in any part of that submission process (including brainstorming, drafting, or editing) unless the sponsor explicitly allows it.

 

AI disclosure statement: This policy was drafted with the help of generative AI to brainstorm ideas.

• The Center for Undergraduate Excellence will start accepting applications approximately 30 days prior to the published deadlines.
  
  
• For Students
  
  • Fall 26 application deadline: Friday, October 31, 2026 at 4 PM
    
    
• For Faculty
  
  • Fall 2026 Mentor Support Form deadline: Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 12:00 PM (noon)
  • Faculty will receive the online portal link in an email once an application has been received.

• Awarded funds will be available within the following funding periods. 
  
  • Grants awarded in Spring '26 (Summer/Fall funding period) - June 1, 2026 - November 15, 2026.
  • Grants awarded in Fall '26 (Interterm/Spring funding period) - January 1, 2027- April 15, 2027
• Graduating Seniors funding period:
  • Seniors graduating in Summer ’26 must be enrolled in a summer course, and the funding period is limited to June 1 - August 22, 2026, or the last day of your enrolled summer course, whichever comes first.

All grant recipients must complete a Report on Use form to detail how funds were used. The Report on Use Form must be signed by the recipient and their faculty sponsor.

All Report on Use forms are due immediately after the close of the funding period, no later than:

• Grants awarded Spring '26: December 1, 2026
• Grants awarded Fall '26: May 1, 2027