The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will host its annual Research & Creative
Activity Day (RCAD) on Friday, April 4, 2025 from 9:30AM – 3:00PM in Sykes Ballrooms. This event highlights student, faculty, and
administrator research from all academic disciplines across our campus community.
We hope you will be able to join us!
To submit an application, please use the following link: RCAD Application. Applications are due on March 12, 2025. Notification of acceptance will be sent on March 18, 2025. Students will need to
identify a faculty mentor to apply.
West Chester University invites applications for our Summer 2025 Undergraduate Research
Institute (SURI), which will run for 5 weeks from May 27, 2025 – June 27, 2025. Students who are chosen to participate in the program will receive a research stipend
of $2500. To be eligible, students must be a WCU undergraduate student who will remain enrolled
at the university through the completion of their project and be able to allocate
37.5 hours/week to the program throughout its five-week duration.
To apply, students should confer with their faculty mentor and complete the SURI STUDENT
portion of the application through the following link: SURI 2025 Application by March 6, 2025. Once students add their faculty mentor’s email address to the application (through
InfoReady), the faculty mentor will receive a notification to complete their portion
by the same due date.
Please note: Faculty should review program expectations prior to agreeing to serve as a program advisor. Students should review all expectations
prior to submitting their application.
West Chester University invites applications for our Spring 2025 Student Research and Creative Activity (SRCA) Awards. The purpose of the SRCA is to recognize outstanding graduate and undergraduate students who have completed original research or creative projects in collaboration with a faculty mentor. Each
SRCA application must be sponsored by a faculty mentor who has read and approved the
application. SRCA awards are presented to students who have conducted independent
work that is original and substantive, given the standards and objectives of their
field. Students must be enrolled at WCU during the Spring 2025 semester to be eligible
to apply.
In order to apply, students will submit their application. Within the application, they will add their faculty mentor information, and the
faculty mentor will then receive an email to complete their portion of the application.
Both parts of the application are due on February 6th, 2025, by 5:00 PM.
West Chester University invites applications for our 2025 Spring West Chester Student
Undergraduate Research Foundations (previously WCU Undergraduate Creative Activity
and Research Experience WCU-CARES). The purpose of WCU-SURF is to:
Increase the interest in and opportunities for undergraduate research or creative
activity in all disciplines.
Promote scholarly collaboration between students and faculty.
Promote critical thinking and prepare students for careers and graduate studies.
ELIGIBILITY
All WCU students who will be enrolled as undergraduates during the Spring semester
of 2025 may apply. These projects must be carried out during the Spring of 2025, under
the mentorship of a WCU faculty member.
FUNDING
Up to 20 undergraduate applicants will be chosen to receive a $500 stipend to work
on research and creative activity projects under the mentorship of a WCU faculty member
for 5 hours/week for ten weeks during the Spring semester of 2025.
The Compost Research & Education Foundation (CREF) is offering scholarships to undergraduate
through PhD students, studying at a college or university in the US, interested in
doing a compost-related research project. The scholarship is for $4,000, and also
includes an invitation to present research findings at a US Composting Council Annual
Conference during a CREF research session.
The goal of this scholarship is to bring assistance to students doing compost-related
research and to spark interest in future careers in the composting industry.
All enrolled students were asked to participate in an Experiential Learning Survey
& were asked this question:
"Looking back, what was the highlight of your experiential learning – what impacted
you the most?"
Here are some of their responses:
“How research is a vital key in our lives and studies.”
“Having a close relationship with faculty that allowed me to learn firsthand how to
conduct research at the graduate level.”
“I learn most when doing hands on activities, this research experience has taught
me so much because I am actually collecting and analyzing data on my own. As a person
who wants to go into research in the future, this is a very important skill to have.
Learning this in a class is one thing, but actually doing a project of my own (with
guidance from my advisor) has helped me develop these skills in a unique way.”
“I enjoy being able to participate in research that relates to my passions.”
“I believe engaging in research with my professor help shaped who I am. They have
pushed me past my boundaries to make me stronger in my field. From that experience,
I feel like I have created a direct career goal and passion.”
“Research impacted me the most. I have mentors and peers who share the same interests
and bringing academia to life was a life-changing opportunity.”
Ramifications is a student-run, peer-reviewed, open-access undergraduate journal published through
the Council for Undergraduate Research at West Chester University. Ramifications publishes
journal articles documenting research and creative activities completed by undergraduate
students. West Chester University, part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher
Education, believes in the importance of student scholarship as an outgrowth of student
learning, Ramifications is an expression of that learning.
