Diversity Summer Research Awards

Are you an undergraduate who wants to work in a lab this summer and fund your own research experience? Are you a faculty member / post-doc / grad student who knows an undergraduate you’d like to hire for the summer, but don’t have the funding? This award opportunity is for all of you! SRNDNA funds $3500 summer research awards for an at least 8-week intensive, mentored summer research experience for under-represented minorities (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, low-income background, women in neuroscience) who would not otherwise be able to afford to work in a research lab. The award recipient is the undergraduate student, so they will be the primary applicant.

Each proposal must include:

  • a one paragraph project description.
  • a 2-3 sentence description of the mentorship structure (i.e., who will provide mentorship in what way).
  • the goals for the summer experience.
  • a statement of financial need.
  • a mentor statement of commitment.

No letters of recommendation are required but a statement of commitment by the mentor must be included with the application. This can be as simple as a PDF’d email saying something like, “I agree to mentor so-and-so for <dates> this summer on <project>. We will meet <at this frequency> and by the end of the summer hope to accomplish <these goals>”. The summer research experience can be in a lab in which the student is already working at their home institution or in a lab at a different university. The project must in some way inform our understanding of decision making across the adult life span. 

To accept this award, a student must decline all other offers of research support for the period of the award. If a student declines the award, they will still be listed on our website as an unfunded awardee.

Applications will open Jan. 15, 2025.

Back to Awards

Awardees

2024

Melisa Azimihashemi
(UC Irvine)
Ashley Hawk
(Temple)
Juweyriyah Khurshid
(University of Central Florida)
Miranda Kraenzlin
(University of Central Florida)
Stephanie Washburn
(University of Central Florida)
Ami Yamamoto
(UC Irvine)

2023

Teodora Anica
(University of Florida)
De’Jiah Edwards
(UT Dallas)
Natalya Franklyn
(Stony Brook)
Marina Kaplan
(Temple)
Natalie Laguer Torres
(UT Dallas)
Sarah Shahrour
(Toronto Metropolitan)
Tia Tropea
(Temple)

2021

Rachel Appiah (Ryerson)
Alejandro Mejia (Elon)
Masiel Perez-Balaguer (University of South Florida)

2020

Stephanie Deng (Cornell)
Oriane Demandolx (Tulane)
Gaelyn Dent (Duke)
Amy Ikejiaku (Duke)
Kelsi King (Duke)
Dextiny McCain (North Carolina A&T)
Vanessa Ntungwanayo (Wellesley)

2019

Katherine Senn (UNC Greensboro)
Lily Alvarado (Arizona)
Samira Maboudian (Berkeley)
Christian Benitez (Duke)
Aiyanna Kimble (Duke)

2018

Brandon Carone (UCLA)
Michael Gordon (University of Central Florida)
Samantha Linhares (University of Pennsylvania)