Using Your Funding 

Grants can be used for any variety of creative or traditional research projects, and can go toward such costs as summer living expenses for full-time research, travel to conferences, lab supplies (up to 1/3 of your total award), and other research materials. If your grant has already been awarded, you may only use funds for budgeted items approved by your mentor and the URSCA staff. Any unspent award money at the end of the grant period is retained by KSAS and applied to future years’ awards. See a sample grant agreement for more details.

Course Credit 

To register for research credits for your funded project, you will need to follow these steps: 

Find a faculty sponsor 

A faculty sponsor is a full-time faculty member in either the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences or the Whiting School of Engineering. Your faculty sponsor is responsible for determining the appropriate academic product (i.e., paper, journal, class presentation, etc.) you will present for grading and will submit your grade and award credits at the end of the term. The academic product you will produce is determined at the time of registration, not after you have completed the experience. If you will be working in a lab, your PI may not necessarily be your faculty sponsor. If your research will be conducted at the Medical School, your faculty sponsor still must be a Homewood faculty member. 

Determine the number of research credits to take 

Research can be done for 1 to 3 credits. The amount of credit to be earned is determined by the scope of the proposed project and expectations of the final product. You may earn up to 6 credits total per academic year (which begins in the summer) of “independent work,” which includes research, independent study, and internship. Research for credit may be done elsewhere, but you must have a JHU Homewood faculty sponsor. If you plan to do research elsewhere during the summer, you must still follow regular summer session registration deadlines. 

Complete and sign the online Independent Academic Work form 

Log into SIS. Under the Registration menu click on Online Forms. Select Independent Academic Work. 

Complete the form, providing full explanations where needed, and submit it. The form will be sent to your faculty sponsor for approval. Once the sponsor approves it, you will see the position/project in your Confirmed Enrollments screen in SIS. 

Neuroscience students have different academic and registration requirements to receive credit for research. Read more on the Neuroscience website. 

International Travel

If you are traveling abroad as part of your URSCA-funded research project, you must apply for non-credit-bearing international activities through the Global Education Office. Please follow the process outlined on the GEO website. The deadline to apply for travel over intersession or spring 2024 is November 1, 2023. The deadline to apply for travel over summer or fall 2024 is April 1, 2024.

All travel must be booked by the URSCA office. International travel will not be booked until approved by GEO.