Applicant Eligibility:  Current first years, sophomores, or juniors.

Disciplinary Eligibility: Applications from all disciplines as well as interdisciplinary projects are welcome.

Multi-Student Projects: Collaborative research project proposals, involving two to four students, will be accepted. However, collaborative project proposals must be written and submitted by each student individually. These applications will be reviewed and rated as one project. 

Project Duration:  DRI Summer Research Fellows can propose to work up to 10 weeks on campus with a mentor, OR five weeks on-campus with a mentor and five weeks off-campus with a mentor as long as the student and mentor maintain regular contact, OR the student could work up to 10 weeks off campus provided that the mentor is traveling with the student.

Student Fellowship: $600 per week and up to $1,000 for travel/supplies directly related to the student’s summer project.  The funds for travel/supplies must normally be used by the end of the fall semester immediately following the summer fellowship, although exceptions are possible in limited circumstances.  The DRI travel/supplies funding can only be used while the student is enrolled at Davidson College.       

Mentor Identification and Guidelines: Applicants should consult with a faculty member prior to preparing a proposal and obtain their commitment to collaborate on the project.  DRI mentors are expected to meet frequently with their mentees during the project period, to attend some of the required mentee group training activities, and to submit a final review at the end of the project.  As part of the application, mentors will submit a mentorship agreement plan that addresses the feasibility of the project, the nature of the collaboration between the mentor(s) and the student, and the frequency and depth of their interactions. 

The DRI program is designed as a research/creative activities training program and therefore expects close collaboration/mentorship between the mentors and students. The selection committee tends to look favorably on proposals where there is significant and regular interaction between mentor and mentee, while at the same time balancing that with what might make sense for the specific project being proposed and how training is commonly managed in that discipline/field.  The committee is aware that a collaboration/mentoring plan for a primarily lab-based STEM project may look different than a plan for an archival-based humanities project, for example, and the selection encourages applications from all disciplines.

Some college staff may be eligible to serve as co-mentors on the project, but a faculty co-mentor must be involved as well.  For applicants wishing to include a staff member as a co-mentor, please ask the faculty and staff co-mentors to contact Peter Szanton in the Office of Sponsored Programs to confirm the staff member’s eligibility prior to applying.  Proposals that include a staff member as a co-mentor of the student require an additional attachment to the application detailing why the staff member is a suitable mentor for the specific project and outlining their qualifications for serving in that role. This document should be no more than 1 page and should be attached in the File Upload section of the application.

If more than one mentor will be involved in the proposed project, whether two faculty members or a faculty member and staff member, the mentorship plan should address the respective roles of each mentor and identify if one will be a primary vs secondary mentor, or if they will equally co-mentor the student.  

DRI mentors will receive a stipend of $350 per week for the first mentored Davidson student and for any DRI-HBCU students, and $175 per week for any additional Davidson mentored students, with an overall stipend maximum of $10,500 per summer.  If a student proposes co-mentors, the weekly mentor stipend will be split between the co-mentors in percentages to be agreed upon at the time of award and in consultation with the Office of Sponsored Programs.  Faculty may agree to mentor as many students as they deem feasible within the context of their availability over the summer and the program’s mentorship and training expectations.   Staff may agree to co-mentor no more than 1 student per summer. 

Proposal Planning and Writing: Students interested in applying for the Davidson Research Initiative (DRI) Summer Research Program should ideally begin consulting with a potential mentor early in the fall semester.  After consultation with a mentor, students are responsible for writing and submitting the application by the due date. Students are permitted to obtain feedback on the written proposal from their mentor and others; however, the feedback can only be of a general nature. The actual proposal must represent the students' own work without extensive editing by others.

Some things to keep in mind when writing the proposal:

• Write for an interdisciplinary audience.  Including lots of discipline-specific jargon and/or acronyms may make your application difficult to follow, and could impact its reviews.
• Proposals should be clear and concise, with project goals, methods, project plans, etc. all clearly explained.
• Applicants must specify whether the project they plan to pursue is an independent project designed solely by the student for training purposes, or a project that is intended to further an existing vein of a faculty member's research, but will include an independent/unique component.  In the latter case, the student must articulate in the proposal what differentiates it from the faculty member's project(s).  
• DRI Fellowships are intended for a period of continuous training during the award period.  Students and mentors should disclose any time offline/away during the proposed award period in the application.
• The Writing Center can provide advice on how to prepare a strong proposal.
• If submitting a proposal as part of a multi-student project, be clear about your unique contribution to the project.

Mentor Agreement and Plan: In the application form, students will identify the name and email address of their primary mentor.   That primary mentor will be prompted by email to submit a mentorship agreement and plan as part of the application process.  Only one person can submit the mentorship agreement and plan, so in the case of co-mentors, list the primary mentor (or if equally co-mentoring, the one submitting the plan for both) in the application form.  For co-mentored projects the mentoring plan should address the roles of all co-mentors.

To help mentors prepare for what they will need to submit by their deadline, we recommend sharing a copy of the mentor agreement and plan with them in advance.

Review Rubric: DRI Review Guidelines

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: Applicable federal tax must be paid at the time of disbursement of grant funds. We advise you to reach out to Boo Luther, Controller's Office at boluther@davidson.edu to determine your federal/state tax status so that you may account for this in your plans.

NOTE ON ELIGIBILITY: Students on personal leave or those ineligible to return in the fall semester are not eligible to participate in Davidson research programs unless expressly permitted by the Dean of Students Office.