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Student Grants

Natural and Applied Sciences Heirloom Plant Fund Student Research Grants

Deadline for Fall is November 11, 2024

Call for Applications for NAS Heirloom Plant Student Fund Research Grants
Are you looking for independent research experience to help you gain experience and learn new skills? An NAS Heirloom Plant Fund Student Research Grant can provide you with valuable research experience, a chance to work independently on a project that you developed, and can be an important addition to your resume! This grant program is meant to support student-led research at UWGB; student projects may or may not be part of a student's Master's thesis. 

Why do an NAS Heirloom Plant Fund Research Project?

  • You get to choose something you are really interested in.
  • Learning something is best accomplished by doing it.
  • You want to go to graduate or professional school and would like to demonstrate your research skills.
  • It is a great way to try out a potential career field.

Most importantly, you are making a contribution to your field of interest. Some students publish their results in national and regional journals. An NAS Heirloom Plant Fund project will provide you with laboratory or field experience that you can use in your future career. Many of our participants have commented that their NAS Heirloom Plant Fund Grant experience helped them to decide what field they wanted to go into and was an important piece in their resumes. Contact a faculty member in your area of interest with ideas.

Eligibility: Students must be a UW Green Bay graduate student (or undergraduate student; see below) with a declared major in Environmental Science and Policy and with an NAS committee member as a sponsor in order to apply. Note: Heirloom Funds are limited, and graduate student projects will be prioritized for funding. While we encourage all to apply, NAS undergraduate students with an interest in the life or environmental sciences should also seek other sources of funding, such as Scholarships, here; or Cofrin Center for Biodiversity Student Research Grants, here.

Funds (up to $1,000 for undergraduate research projects with a lifetime max of $2,000; and up to $2,000 for graduate research projects with a lifetime max of $4,000; note that the award amounts have increased since spring of 2024) are available to students to conduct independent research projects. Students must be enrolled at UWGB with a declared major in one of the following: Biology, Environmental Science, Geoscience, Water Science, or Chemistry, and with an NAS committee member as a sponsor. All applications must be submitted as electronic word or PDF documents following instructions as listed below and submitted by email to Dr. Keir Wefferling at wefferlk@uwgb.edu.

Deadline for fall is November 11, 2024

Any supplies and equipment will be purchased directly by NAS and will become UWGB property administered by the faculty research advisor. Funds may be requested for stipends, to be paid at $15/hr for undergraduate students and $16/hr for graduate students. No funds will be awarded for past expenses. Students should submit a grant proposal of no more than 3 pages of narrative and a 1 page budget. The proposal must include the following information:

  • Title
  • Introduction including a brief literature review
  • Objectives of the study
  • Proposed methods: The methods section must explain clearly the sampling procedure, expected data analysis, location of study, as well as project schedule and duration. Include how many hours you expect to spend doing field or lab work.
  • Anticipated outcomes of the work
  • Proposed timetable
  • Proposed budget: Be specific about prices for equipment and supplies and travel costs
    • Eligible costs include travel for outdoor and/or laboratory research (fuel and vehicle rental, lodging, per diem), funds to present research findings at a conference or for training (including travel, lodging, registration costs, per diem), equipment, and reference books (e.g., with taxonomic descriptions and dichotomous keys). This list is not exhaustive; please write to the subcommittee chair (wefferlk@uwgb.edu) with questions about budget eligibility.
  • Justification of budget: This can be presented as part of a budget table, and should thoughtfully explain why each cost is necessary.
  • Statement of need: What other funds might be available to support this project? For example, does the advisor have grant funding that could support this work? Are there other funding sources pending? Will the project be impossible or scaled back without this funding?
  • Literature cited

The Heirloom Plant Fund is named for the Heirloom Plant Sale that is run each spring in order to raise funds to support research for students with majors in Environmental Science & Policy. Students and faculty requesting funds are encouraged to help with this important fundraiser. For more information about the plant sale, see the plant sale website or contact Dr. Karen Stahlheber at stahlhek@uwgb.edu

Students with funded projects will be asked to acknowledge Heirloom Grant Funding in reports/papers and presentations resulting from this work and submit a report with photos summarizing research activities within one year of their award. An important aspect of this grant program is sharing with the UWGB and broader community the awesome work being done by our students. We ask that you submit a short (~one-page) report (timing to be clarified in grant award letters) with photos that we can share through the NAS Heirloom Plant Sale website. To recognize this funding source, please acknowledge "Natural and Applied Sciences Heirloom Plant Fund Student Research Grant" in an acknowledgement slide of a presentation or acknowledgement section of a report or manuscript.

A committee of NAS faculty make all decisions regarding funding of research grants. The current NAS Heirloom Plant Fund committee includes:

  • Dr. Keir Wefferling (chair)
  • Dr. Michael Draney
  • Dr. Shawn Malone
  • Dr. Karen Stahlheber
  • Dr. Amy Wolf