ADHE SURF: Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) offers the annual Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) competition to support all types of faculty-mentored undergraduate research projects, and all academic disciplines are eligible.
Award Details
Description:
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) offers the annual Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) competition to support all types of faculty-mentored undergraduate research projects, and all academic disciplines are eligible.
Reference Letters Required per Applicant:
3
Who can apply:
Undergraduate students who are enrolled full-time and have a minimum 3.25 cumulative grade point average. The student must have 30 semester credit hours completed when support starts; i.e., the student may apply before 30 semester credit hours are completed, but 30 semester credit hours must be completed when funding starts.
Applicants should have a faculty mentor and should be proposing or already involved in faculty-mentored research activities, creative projects, or Honors thesis research.
While state-awarded SURF grants are limited to U.S. citizens, RTT encourages faculty-mentored international undergraduates to complete a SURF application at campus deadline to be considered for internal research funding. The same selection criteria apply for internal funding and ADHE SURF grants.
Award amount:
Successful students receive up to $1,250 for a full year and $625 for one semester to conduct research with a faculty mentor. Research & Technology Transfer (RTT) provides 100% match for the student stipend, for totals of $2,500 (full year) and $1,250 (one semester). In addition, students may receive up to $750 in travel funds and the faculty mentor may receive up to $750 for travel and supplies.
Deadlines:
Internal Deadline to RTT: October 19, 2026 at 11:59 PM
ADHE Deadline: November 1, 2026
Review Process:
A full review and compilation is required of A-State before submitting SURF applications to ADHE. RTT will do a complete review of applications, potentially asking for editing corrections and ancillary required documents.
Applicants and faculty mentors are asked to work with RTT throughout the internal review phase to complete requested edits or provide missing documents/info in a timely manner before the ADHE deadline.
RTT is happy to answer any questions and review your drafts while you prepare your application. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 9a-4p, and appointments are strongly encouraged. Please email kharris@astate.edu to set up an appointment if needed.
Application details and required documents are attached as ADHE SURF Guidelines & Forms under competition documents. These must be uploaded in your online InfoReady application.
Application Link and Instructions
APPLY HERE
Use the above link to access the online application for SURF.
If you have any issues with the application process, reach out to Kari Harris.
Log In: Use your A-State credentials (choose Arkansas State University log in)
Reference Letters:
- Start your draft by clicking the link above, logging in, and entering your name and email address on the application form.
- Save your draft
- Under "Reference Letters" enter the email addresses for your reference letter writers.
- Your faculty mentor will need to be one of your letter writers. Enter their email address in any space.
- You need 2 other reference letters. These should be professional references who can speak to your ability to participate in a research project, stay on task, complete your work, and any other significant aspects of your character.
- For each email address entered, click "Send Reference Letter Request". If you do not see the button, save your application as a draft, refresh the page, and open it again.
- Reference letter writers will receive an email request to submit a letter for you. These will be uploaded directly into the InfoReady applictation system. Please let your reference letter writers know as soon as your request has been submitted. If they do not get an email from the InfoReady system, have them contact me for assistance.
Document Uploads:
- Supporting documents are provided for you on the application.
- Download each document and review what needs to be done to fill them out. Some documents will need to be completed by your faculty mentor.
- The application has a space for each required document to be uploaded and instructions for that document. Review these carefully and upload the documents as you complete them.