Faculty IMPACT Grants

Faculty IMPACT Grants (Formerly ALURE)

Integrating Mentored Projects and Advancing Creative Teaching

Background and Purpose

The Faculty IMPACT Grants support Baylor faculty in developing or expanding undergraduate research experiences that engage groups of students in meaningful, mentored inquiry.
While the URSA Project Grants are designed for individual students to pursue apprentice-style research with a faculty mentor, the Faculty IMPACT Grants provide funding for faculty to design and lead course-based or team-based research experiences that reflect the practices of research and scholarship in their disciplines.
These grants are open to all disciplines and are intended to foster innovative, inclusive, and scalable approaches to undergraduate research.
Projects may include faculty led course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), collaborative team projects, research-based internships, or summer research programs.
We believe that with intentional support and creative faculty leadership, Baylor can expand access to these types of transformative experiences and reach a larger and more diverse population of students.

Template for Proposals

The Faculty IMPACT Grant proposal is submitted through a Qualtrics Survey. It consists of the following sections.
Please write in a clear and concise style that someone outside of your field will understand.
You may include figures to clarify, but this is not required. 
If this is a team-led project, please choose one member of the team to submit the proposal.
Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Funding available: $2500 per semester or $5000 per academic year

Part 1: Faculty Information

A. Leadership: Describe who will lead this project.

B. Experience: Describe any previous undergraduate research experiences or courses in research design or planning in which you have been involved. What motivates you to develop undergraduate research opportunities?

Part 2: Proposal Overview

A. Title: Provide a specific and informative title for your proposal.

B. Objectives: Give the specific objectives and a clear rationale for your proposal.

C. Background and Rationale for Proposal: Provide a synopsis of the area of research and how your proposed project fits in to the bigger picture. (This is not expected to be a full literature review.)

Describe the history of this project and the general questions that students will be exploring.
Provide citations to relevant primary sources and include the references in the "Literature Cited" section.
Word count: ~ 500-600 words

Part 3: Course Design

A. Organization: Describe the organization of this project. For example, will students work in collaborative teams or individually on projects. Where and when will students meet?

B. Delivery: Describe how this project will be delivered to increase the number of students that are able to participate in research.

Please include an estimate of how many students will participate and how the students will be selected.
When will this project take place (summer, spring, or fall, or multiple semesters)?

C. Impact: Please describe the impact this project may have on you, your students, or others.

Part 4: Methods

If your project involves field or lab research, summarize the experimental design and methods that the students will be utilizing.
If your project is an internship or based on literature review, survey analysis, or other scenarios, explain your plan for students completing a project and the type of data they will collect.
Timeline: Provide a timeline for completing the work.
Analysis: Describe the methods that students will use to analyze their results.
Educational Research: How will you assess the effectiveness of this course on student success?

Part 5: Training and Safety

If your project requires IACUC, IRB, or other training or approval, please explain why. Include a screen shot of your certification or other documentation indicating your successful completion of the training or explain when you will complete the training and how students will be trained.

Part 6: Literature Cited

Provide citations to any references included in your proposal.  Use an accepted format in your discipline for citations.

Part 7: Budget

You may request funds for supplies, small equipment, services, or other needs to support developing and implementing your undergraduate research activities.

Note:

In most cases, student wages are not supported through the Faculty Impact Grants. Students should be awarded research credit through a V9R course or a research course designated as -RES.
Students should apply for travel to conferences utilizing the Travel and Impact Grants.
Please read the Budget Considerations in the URSA Grant Guidelines. Please describe any over-lapping funding that is already awarded for this project

Please use this template for preparing your budget:

Save the budget as an EXCEL file (YOUR NAME_IMPACT) for upload.

Application Cycle

Emerging Projects for Spring 2026 (Jan 1-May 31): Proposals Due October 1st

Priority Deadline 2026-2027 proposals: Due March 1st

Faculty IMPACT Grants