.SPARTANBURG, SC — The Milliken Foundation is continuing its long-standing support of undergraduate student research at SCICU’s twenty member colleges and universities with a $5,000 donation to SCICU for the 2018-19 academic year.
The SCICU Undergraduate Student/Faculty Research Program was started in 1995 with $25,000 in seed money donated by Roger Milliken. In addition to the Milliken Foundation’s operational funding support of SCICU student research projects, Milliken and Company has also hosted the SCICU Research Symposium over a number of years at their Customer Center on the Roger Milliken Campus in Spartanburg. They will also host the next SCICU Research Symposium scheduled for February 21, 2019.
Each year students from SCICU’s twenty member colleges submit research proposals to SCICU for funding consideration. The proposals include explanations of the proposed research, research methodologies, statements of importance/goals, and related funding needs.
Professional review of the submissions is conducted each year by a committee composed of SCICU institution faculty members with backgrounds in the subject areas of the submitted research proposals. Once the review committee selects projects for the research program, funding is distributed to the provosts at the participants’ respective colleges. Students are allowed to start research at that time (usually late March or early April), and must complete their research by a mid-December deadline. One-page abstracts are due for submission to SCICU by late January. Student researchers and their faculty mentors then convene in late February to present the results of their respective research projects at the annual SCICU Research Symposium.
The annual SCICU Research Symposium is the culmination of the undergraduate research program. It features multimedia oral and poster presentations by student researchers. This opportunity provides students the professional experience of crafting research proposals with a faculty mentor, conducting research, and presentation of findings.
In 2017, SCICU funded a total of $90,000 for 31 undergraduate student research proposals. These 31 research projects involved 41 students and 32 faculty members from 11 SCICU member colleges and universities. The 2017 research projects were celebrated at the 2018 SCICU Research Symposium held at Milliken and Company’s corporate headquarters on February 22, 2018. The news release regarding the 2018 SCICU Research Symposium may be read here.
In early 2018, SCICU, through generous donor support, funded another $90,000 towards undergraduate student research projects at SCICU member institutions. Student researchers and their faculty mentors are busy conducting research this summer. These students will finish their 2018 research by mid-December, and will present their findings at the 2019 SCICU Research Symposium scheduled for February 21, 2019 at Milliken & Company’s corporate headquarters in Spartanburg.
SCICU is thankful for the donors who, along with the Milliken Foundation, believe in the significant value of undergraduate student research. SCICU still has additional opportunities available for supporting undergraduate research at the twenty member colleges and universities during the 2018-19 academic year.
Please consider providing financial support for the 2018-19 SCICU Undergraduate Student/Faculty Research Program. The deadline for 2018-19 academic year donations is August 31.
Donations to the SCICU Undergraduate Student/Faculty Research Program can be made electronically/directly at www.scicu.org/donate. Or if you would like to learn more about how your donation would positively impact student researchers at SCICU member colleges and universities, please call Eddie Shannon, SCICU Executive Vice President, at 803-799-7122.