SPS Chapter Research Awards

Program Overview

The SPS Chapter Research Award program provides calendar year grants to support local chapter activities that are deemed imaginative and likely to contribute to the strengthening of the SPS program. These research projects are generously funded by donations from Sigma Pi Sigma alumni. See examples of projects that were funded in 2019 here.

Applications Open: September 1

Applications Due: November 15

Apply here!

Award at a Glance

Several awards of up to $2000 may be made each year to SPS chapters
Awarded to chapters for chapter physics research projects

Eligibility

Applicants must be SPS chapters in good standing with the SPS national organization.
The project leader must be a student that is a member of the SPS national organization.

Application Procedure

Chapters must complete an online application (only one SPS Chapter Research Award proposal per chapter will be accepted).
Although approval from the SPS Chapter Advisor is required, the planning and writing of the proposal are the responsibility of the SPS student members.
To complete the application, chapters must upload a proposal and budget detailing their proposed activity; chapters should follow the guidelines provided in the proposal templates below when constructing their proposals.

SPS Chapter Research Award Proposal Template (.doc)

SPS Chapter Research Award Budget Template (.xls)

SPS Chapter Research Award Interim Report Template (.doc)

SPS Chapter Research Award Final Report Template (.doc)

How to Use SPS Award Templates
SPS award templates are designed to help chapters craft effective proposals and reports and enable SPS Award reviewers to better compare proposals to each other. Chapters do not need to submit award proposals and reports with the same formatting as the templates, but they can. Chapters that plan to use their own formatting should read through the template in detail before writing the proposal to learn exactly what should be included. Chapters that plan to use the formatting in the template should read through the template in detail, then simply add their own text under each heading and delete the explanatory text (in purple). Please contact the SPS-Programs [at] aip.org (SPS National Office), if you need a template in another format.

Proposal Review

From among the proposals submitted by chapters, a panel of reviewers selects several of the most meritorious for SPS Chapter Research Awards. Honorable mentions may be made.

Details for Awardees

Awardees are required to log back into the FluidReview system to upload a group picture, submit the Tax Id Number for their institution, and input press contacts at their institutions in order to accept their award.
Upon acceptance of the award, a check for one-half of the award amount is sent to the SPS chapter with the understanding that the funds are to be used for the purpose set forth in the successful proposal.
Awardees must submit an interim report by May 31 of the academic year in which they receive the award. Chapters should follow the guidelines provided in the interim report template when preparing their report.
- SPS Chapter Research Award Interim Report Template (.doc)
Awardees must submit a final report by the December 31 following the grant approval (giving awardees approximately one calendar year to complete the project), or they may be asked to return the funding. Chapters should follow the guidelines provided in the final report template when preparing their report.
- SPS Chapter Research Award Final Report Template (.doc)
Upon submission of a complete interim report by May 31, the chapter will receive a check for the second half of the award amount. If the chapter did not spend the full award amount by the submission of the final report, December 31, the outstanding funds will need to be returned to SPS national.
This award is not to be used for overhead. Funding is intended to directly fund SPS students and their projects.
At the conclusion of the project, awardees can request up to $500.00 to support sending a member to a professional conference to deliver a paper on the research work.