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Off-Campus Travel Requirements

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Undergraduate Research requires specific forms of preparation for off-campus projects and conferences.  If your project involves off-campus travel (domestic or international), your application should demonstrate your preparedness in these areas:

Awareness of Cultural, Ethical, and Safety Issues

You need to be aware of safety issues, cultural norms, and research etiquette in the places you will travel to for your project. Your project proposal should address these issues in at least one (if not more) of these ways:

  1. Commit to taking a course that addresses issues of ethics, safety, and cultural concerns at your project location. Examples of courses include: ANTHRO 93B, HISTORY 299X. Consult with your faculty mentor on the recommended course for your project, and request that your faculty address your course preparation in the letter of support.
  2. Work with a faculty mentor to gain insight and awareness of the issues and norms in the geographical area of the project. If this will be your primary preparation method, your faculty mentor must include a detailed description of the mentor's work with you in the letter of support.
  3. You should provide details of your travel itinerary and safety plan.

Methodology Training

In your grant application, you will need to describe the coursework you have taken in methods or techniques that lay the groundwork for your project. You are expected to be able to apply typical methods of your discipline, including project design, data collection, data analysis, and communication of research results. Your language ability for overseas research may also be crucial.

  1. First and foremost, consult with your faculty mentor and also your honors program director about the appropriate course(s) that prepare you well for undertaking the work in the field.
  2. A search for "research methods" in Explore Courses will give you some idea of the range of methodology courses offered by different departments and programs.
  3. Discuss your course choices with Academic Advising Directors and research staff.

Off-Campus Contacts

To ensure support for your work off-campus, you need to be in contact with faculty or community partners who have expertise or relevant connections to the geographical area and community where you work will be based. Your faculty mentor can help you to develop important networks and field contacts. Information about field contacts should be included in your proposal, describing the nature and extent of their working relationship with you. Alternatively, your faculty mentor can discuss the field connections in the letter of support. Reviewers considering proposals will assess the relationships between the student and the field contact. A letter of support from a relevant field contact will greatly strengthen the proposal.