Dornsife College's commitment to supporting undergraduate research in collaboration with USC Faculty.

The SOAR program provides funding to undergraduates for participation as a research assistant in a faculty member’s project, or who wish to pursue a scholarly research project of their own choosing (sponsored and supervised by a faculty member). SOAR allows all students to be mentored one-on-one by USC faculty, and introduces students early in their academic careers to the process of serious scholarly inquiry. SOAR is for research during the fall and spring semesters of the academic year. Funding applications are accepted throughout the academic year. For our summer undergraduate research funding opportunity, called SURF, click here.

To find out about research projects or post your own, view the SOAR Board.

To access the SOAR application click here.

Eligibility:

• SOAR is available to students who have a declared major in Dornsife College. For a list of majors within Dornsife, click here.
• Full-time enrollment at USC for the entire academic year is required.
• SOAR recipients may receive one SOAR award per academic year, to cover a project spanning up to an academic year in length. Thus, a recipient for fall semester will not be considered for additional grant money for spring semester.
• A recipient of the Provost Fellowship will not be contemporaneously considered for a SOAR grant and vice versa.
• A USC cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 is required.
• Each student must have a Dornsife Faculty mentor who meet one of the following criteria:

1. Tenured or Tenure-Track
2. Non-Tenure Track with a research profile
3. Professional School faculty member with a joint appointment in Dornsife College

Funding Guidelines:

• The amount of the stipend is $1000 towards non-course related research activity.

• The primary purpose of the stipend is to compensate the student researcher for the time they spend on their SOAR research project, although the stipend may also be used to fund research-related travel. The student may then use their grant earnings toward purchase of necessary equipment and/or materials. SOAR grants cannot directly fund the purchase of equipment or compensate third parties.

• A detailed budget accounting for all SOAR funding must be submitted with the application.

• The stipend is a single payment credited to the student’s university account. This may initially affect the student’s financial aid award, but if this happens, alternate arrangements can be made. More information will be provided to the recipient.

• If the student fails to complete the project successfully or fails to meet research obligations with a professor's project, and a final approval is denied by the student’s faculty mentor, the funds will be withdrawn and $1000 will be applied to the student’s university account.

For Questions, call: (213) 740-2531