Levitt Research Group Grants support groups of two to three Hamilton students completing summer research projects under the supervision of one faculty adviser. The research projects completed by each individual student in the group last for 8 to 10 weeks and help to answer an overarching research question. Students in research groups and their faculty advisers meet face-to-face regularly to coordinate and communicate research efforts. The grants are intended to encourage faculty publication as well as faculty-student publications. Projects that have output that will be useful for policy makers or other researchers are also encouraged.
Levitt Research Group Grants conduct research related to at least one of the Levitt Center’s theme-based programs: Inequality and Equity, Security, or Sustainability. Field work or original analysis of existing data is required.
Since we encourage all disciplines to apply for the Levitt Research Group Grants, we have set aside Friday mornings during the summer for cross-disciplinary discussion on methodology, presentations on research results, and lectures. All group members should plan on participating in these Friday morning discussions.
Rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are selected by a continuing faculty member are eligible to work in a Levitt Fellow research group. Faculty advisers must be continuing at the College in the Fall.
Students in Levitt Research Groups earn a stipend of $400/week for a minimum of 8, but a maximum of 10 weeks. Students are paid the stipend in increments of $300/week and then receive the final payment upon submission of a 15-25 page research paper and the presentation of a poster at a Fall poster session. (Students who are studying off campus in the Fall can make alternative arrangements for the poster session.)
Your responsibilities as a Levitt Research Group member
Levitt Research Group Grants are a competitive research award. Students who accept this award agree to work full time on this project for the duration of the project (minimum of 8 weeks, maximum of 10 weeks). You may not engage in other full time obligations such as paid work or internships while you are working in a Levitt Research Group. You will be required to make two brief presentations of your progress and to attend progress report presentations of other research group grant recipients. At the end of the summer, you and each student member of your group will be required to submit a separate 15-25 page paper that describes your work over the summer and has been approved by your faculty adviser. You and the other members of your group are also required to create and present a poster describing your research at a poster session in the Fall semester.
Applications for Levitt Research Group Grants should be submitted by the faculty adviser. Criteria for awarding a Levitt Research Group Grant includes an evaluation of how the research will benefit from a group of students working together, the feasibility of the work plan, an evaluation of the students’ abilities to conduct research, and the nature of the communication among participants in the group. Projects must be related to one of the three thematic programs in the Levitt Center: Inequality and Equity, Security, and Sustainability. Field work or original analysis of existing data is required.
The Levitt Research Group Grant is a competitive research award and we rely on you, as the faculty adviser, to ensure that the students who are selected to receive a Levitt Research Group Grant have a good research experience while fulfilling their obligation to work on the project full time for a period eight to ten weeks. We ask that you take an active role in coordinating the group of students, that you approve the progress reports that your students will be presenting during the summer, your students’ final research papers at the end of the summer, and provide input for the creation of the poster for the Fall poster session.
Faculty stipends for supervising a Levitt Research Group are $5,000 for a group of 3 students, $4,000 for a group of 2 students, paid in two increments.
The Levitt Group Grant application must be completed and submitted by the faculty advisor through a Qualtrics survey.
Although you may save your survey and return to it later, you will probably find it helpful and efficient to consider the questions before hand, prepare your answers as a Word document, then paste them into the survey form. Click here for a list of questions you will be asked to answer. Applications will be due around February 2014, with a deadline to be announced at a later date. You will have the opportunity to edit your application up to the deadline.
