President's Undergraduate Research Award (PURA)

Co-op students or students with full-time paid internships during a semester may not accept PURA funding during that same semester.Salary Awards offer a $1,500 stipend to undergraduate students who are conducting research with a Georgia Tech faculty member or Georgia Tech Research Institute scientist. Both faculty members and students can initiate research projects, but the award proposal must be written by the student, and the student must apply by the established deadline for the semester in which the funds are requested. Funds are competitively awarded. Please read all rules, eligibility requirements, and application procedures below before applying.

Rules and Eligibility

  • Applicant must be an undergraduate student in good standing (GPA > 2.0).
  • A Georgia Tech faculty mentor or GTRI scientist is required for the proposed research project.
  • Students are not allowed to receive academic course credit for a research project funded by PURA.
  • Students are limited to one salary award per academic year (fall, spring, summer).
  • Students are not eligible for PURA funding if the research project is receiving funding from another source.
  • All awarded salary students are required to submit a final report and optional short video outlining their research project and experience, and this must be submitted by the last day of finals of the award semester.
  • Please note that per Georgia Tech’s Training in Responsible Conduct of Research Policy, it is a requirement for awarded salary students to complete an online ethics training course. The training must be completed prior to the start of the research semester.
  • Co-op students or students with full-time paid internships during a semester may not accept PURA funding during that same semester.

How to Apply

Students can apply for a PURA Salary Award through our online application form here. The two major components of the salary application are the research project proposal and the letter of recommendation from the applicant's faculty mentor.

RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL.  Items to be included in the project proposal are:

  • An overview of proposed work
  • Objectives and goals for the semester project
  • Related work and background information
  • Methods and techniques to be used, software to be used or developed, and types of media or resources to be used
  • Relation of any past research in the field that you participated in to this work
  • Location of work (if not at Georgia Tech)
  • Names of any graduate student or postdoctoral co-mentors
  • If the project is to be undertaken by an undergraduate team, a description of your individual role and how it relates to the project as a whole

Proposals should not exceed two pages in length (excluding references).

LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION.  Once a student submits the online application form, an email is automatically sent to listed faculty member requesting a recommendation letter. Recommendation letters must be received by the application deadline, and applications are considered incomplete until a recommendation letter is received. It is for this reason that we advise against waiting until the last day to submit an application.