Undergraduate Summer Grant

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CAPS Undergraduate Summer
Grant Guidelines

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  FEBRUARY 9, 2024

To encourage innovative research by undergraduate students, the Center for American Political Studies awards summer research fellowships up to $2,500 each to Harvard College juniors who are writing a senior thesis on any aspect of contemporary American politics. Undergraduates in any concentration in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences are welcome to apply. The purpose of the fellowship is to enable students to spend time in the summer and in the fall of their senior year on thesis research. It is acceptable to apply for funding to support archival research efforts locally and domestically, in addition to other methods to gather relevant materials and data (surveys, literature searches, etc.). CAPS is one of the few resources for undergraduates in the social sciences to obtain funding to support qualitative thesis research.

The deadline for Undergraduate Student Summer Grant Applications is February 9, 2024. Applications are made through CARAT (https://carat.fas.harvard.edu/). No applications will be accepted after the deadline. 

Students will be notified of the Center’s decisions by early April. Successful applicants will receive the total stipend in May. Each fellowship winner is required to submit in the fall a brief written report of his or her summer’s research and to give a copy of the completed thesis to the Center.

If you have any questions, please contact Laura Donaldson at caps@gov.harvard.edu.

Application guidelines 

  • Register through CARAT (the on-line “Common Application for Research and Travel” tool). 
  • These are the materials you will need to submit via CARAT: 
    • Proposal outlining the project you wish to undertake, to include the following elements: statement of the research subject proposed; list and discussion of the sources, libraries, and archives to be consulted; and itinerary and plan of summer research. (2-4 double-spaced pages).
    • Current one-page resume
    • Current official transcript
    • One letter of recommendation from either a faculty member, tutor or teaching fellow should be uploaded electronically to the CARAT system.  When you reach this part of the application, you’ll receive reference instructions for recommenders who are Harvard Affiliates and for Non-Harvard recommenders. Please follow these instructions. The deadline for the letter of recommendation is the same as the other application materials: February 9, 2024. 

Additional application considerations

  • If you are planning to conduct research that involves human subjects (interviews, written surveys, observations, etc.), you will need to contact the Committee on the Use of Human Subjects (CUHS) to determine if your project needs Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Committee approval is not required at the time of your application submission to centers for funding.
  • Harvard College policy may prevent the sponsorship of undergraduate activities taking place in countries with certain U.S. Department of State travel warnings. Please consult the Harvard College Policy on Undergraduate Travel Abroad for more information.