STAR and BURST Program

In general, if students have little to no experience in research or creative works, they should apply for BURST. If they have had significant experience, they should apply for STAR (see guidelines for more details). However, students with research or creative works experience who are going into a new field can be eligible to apply for BURST. Likewise, students may choose to apply for STAR without experience. Creative works students, for example, are typically a better fit for STAR than BURST. Consult your faculty mentor and/or OUR to decide which funding mechanism is best for you.

OUR expects to fund at least 50 student/faculty pairs. The number of awards depends on the amount of external funding received. To equitably provide research support for all student/faculty pairs with highly-ranked applications, for this cycle, each faculty mentor may receive a maximum of 2 STAR awards, and a maximum of 2 BURST awards. All tenure-track, tenured, and full-time contract faculty are eligible to apply and serve as STAR/BURST mentors. Students must check with their prospective faculty mentor prior to applying, and faculty mentors are strongly encouraged to confirm with their academic units before applying. A group project, as designated with a supplemental form (see guidelines here) is counted as one award.

All students will receive a $6,000 stipend for a full-time summer research or creative works experience (10 weeks, 40 hours/week). Faculty mentors receive a $3,000 stipend (STAR mentors) or $4,000 stipend (BURST mentors), but cannot receive more than $4,000 in stipends for mentoring students through any OUR-sponsored programs (includes McNair program), regardless of the number of students being mentored. Each student will also receive up to $500 in supplies funds to conduct the research/creative works. Students will also receive a 50% discount for on-campus summer housing (double occupancy only).

BURST applications are written in collaboration between the faculty mentor and the student applicant. The majority of the collaborative application is written by the faculty mentor since the student does not have research/creative works experience.

• Faculty fill out an application form and provide a detailed mentoring plan that articulates a brief overview of the project, why that project is appropriate for the student applicant, especially as a student new to research, and a detailed mentoring plan.
• The student fills out an application form and writes a short statement about why they want to participate in BURST.

For the detailed BURST application guidelines and rubric, go to the BURST Scholars page or the BURST Faculty Mentor page.

View sample BURST applications here.

The STAR application is also a collaborative application between the faculty mentor and the student applicant. The majority of the STAR application is written by the student applicant.

• The student fills out an application form and submits a research/creative works project statement that outlines the proposed project. The guidelines for the project statement are specific to the discipline area in which the student will be doing research or creative works. The five discipline areas are as follows:
  • Creative Works
  • Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science
  • Humanities
  • Life and Physical Sciences
  • Social Sciences
• The faculty mentor submits a STAR Faculty Mentor Reference form (not a reference letter).
• Together, the faculty pair develop a timeline for the summer research/creative works project.

For the detailed STAR application guidelines and rubric, go to the STAR Scholars page or the STAR Faculty Mentor page.

View sample STAR applications here.

Projects that are interdisciplinary (involve multiple faculty mentors from different disciplines) or require multiple students to achieve the project goals have additional application guidelines. For groups, each student submits an application (STAR or BURST) and mentors provide a unique reference form (STAR) or mentoring plan (BURST) for each student. The faculty mentor also fills out the STAR/BURST Faculty Group Project Supplement.

Detailed description of the Interdisciplinary and Group Project Guidelines.