Philip Thomas

You have a brilliant idea that will provide solid research experience for an honors student in search of a thesis topic — but need nationwide data so your student can crunch the numbers. Or perhaps a very small (and very pricey) lens will support a new line of undergraduate inquiry in your lab. The Honors College can help.

U of A faculty members are encouraged to apply for Honors College Faculty Equipment and Technology Grants, designed to help clinical, tenured and tenure-track faculty purchase specialized equipment or technology to advance undergraduate research at the University of Arkansas. Grants will be awarded once per fiscal year; this year’s application deadline is Sept. 25. Requests for up to $5,000 will be considered.

“Our goal with these grants is to help faculty get the tools they need to take undergraduate research to the next level,” said Jennie Popp, associate dean of the Honors College. “Last year, for example, associate librarian Melanie Griffith used funding to purchase a mini scanner that allows users to scan materials with an overhead lens, instead of putting them on a flatbed scanner. That minimizes damage to materials and is available for free to all Special Collections researchers.”

The Honors College launched the new Faculty Equipment and Technology Grants in 2016 and has awarded more than $350,000 to date. Faculty members have used grant monies to purchase materials ranging from a world-class, cutting-edge petroleum dataset to a machine that can be used to develop new technologies for counterfeit detection in jewelry, apparel, art, drugs and more.

This year up to $80,000 in grant funds will be awarded.

The grant is funded by a portion of the $300 million gift made by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation in 2002. The grants are designed to help tenured and tenure-track faculty individually, or in teams, purchase specialized equipment or technology that will make a transformational difference in their undergraduate research programs. For more information visit the Honors College website.