Imagine this scenario: A U of A horticulture professor has developed a new blackberry, sweet and juicy, that yields fruit in the first year after planting, skipping the usual year-long wait. The potential is tremendous, but raises further questions: Could selective shading produce fruiting in the fall, for higher quality? What would be the economic impact of introducing the new cultivar? And what would changes to harvest timing mean for agricultural laborers?

Good research produces more questions than answers — and the new Honors College Research Team grant is designed to support faculty exploring multidisciplinary topics with several undergraduate students. 

Faculty across campus who are working on projects with multiple objectives are invited to submit proposals for the new Honors College Research Team Grant. These grants will support up to two faculty members and teams of two to four honors students over a period of up to  two semesters. The grant will award $750 per student to faculty mentors, and $750 per semester to each student, with a total of up to $9000 in funding over two semesters. 

"Ideally, we'd like to fund multidisciplinary teams," said Jennie Popp, associate dean of the Honors College. "We're really hoping that researchers in the humanities and social sciences can see how this plays into their research and run with it," she added. "For example, a history professor could work with several students to tackle different sections of a large archive in Special Collections that is little known."

Faculty choose the student team members, who must be honors students with a 3.50 grade point average (3.33 for first-semester students in Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design) who have completed six hours of honors courses at the time of the grant application.

The deadline for application is March 19.

Student teams will begin work in the summer or fall of 2018. 

The grant makes it easier for faculty to work with multiple students at once, promoting efficiency, but also expands students' perspective as well. 

"With the team experiences we've funded so far, the group learning sessions have been highly effective, because the students are hearing about research from multiple perspectives," Popp said. These projects also finesse students' teamwork skills, "which is important, because in the real world, they're going to have to work with others."

For more information and to access the online grant application form please visit the Research Team Grant page on the Honors College website.