What is UCARE?
The Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience (UCARE) program is a paid opportunity to work alongside a world-class UNL faculty mentor and conduct cutting-edge research that will shape the future of Nebraska and beyond.
UCARE student applicants write a proposal to conduct a research or creative project under the guidance of a faculty mentor. The program supports original work in every field and major, ranging from agriculture, arts, architecture, education, engineering, humanities, journalism, and sciences.
The UCARE program supports student researchers with professional development workshops, two annual research symposium events, and access to travel or supplies funding. UCARE is funded in part by gifts from the Pepsi Quasi-Endowment and Union Bank and Trust.
UCARE Learning Objectives
- Define research interests and questions, select appropriate methods and approaches, and set goals for the conduct of an original project;
- Develop effective relationships with research mentors and team participants;
- Share research outcomes with an audience, through a required poster presentation at either Student Research Days or the Summer Research Symposium;
- Identify effective strategies and utilize campus resources for planning graduate study or career paths;
- Strengthen awareness of fellowship opportunities that may support further research or study.
UCARE Participation Options
Summer 2025 UCARE
- A summer research or creative project from May 2025 – August 2025.
- Individual or team proposals permitted.
- Requires a 20-hour commitment per week (approx. 220 hours).
- Meet benchmarks and expectations in UCARE Student Contract.
- In 2025, receive a total stipend of $2,640.00 paid on a bi-weekly basis across six pay dates.
- Summer projects are ineligible for UCARE-FWS hourly federal work-study positions.
Academic Year 2025-26 UCARE or UCARE-FWS
- An academic year research or creative project in Fall and/or Spring semesters, from August 2025 to May 2026. Awards exclude Winter Break.
- Individual or team proposals permitted.
- Requires a 10-hour commitment per week (approx. 300 hours for full academic year).
- Meet benchmarks and expectations in UCARE Student Contract.
- In 2025-26, UCARE offers two compensation options: a competitively-awarded merit stipend, or hourly UCARE-FWS Federal Work-Study position. Both are paid on a bi-weekly basis across 16 pay dates.
- UCARE stipend students receive a total stipend of $3,600.
- UCARE-FWS federal work-study students will earn an hourly wage of $13.50 in Fall 2025, $15.00 in Spring 2026.
The Federal Work-Study option requires submission of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and demonstrated financial need. Students can indicate interest in UCARE-FWS on the UCARE application, but all applicants will be automatically considered for a UCARE stipend during the review process!
Infographic: UCARE 2025-26 Options
The following table compares Summer UCARE and Academic Year UCARE or UCARE-FWS options by start month, estimated time commitment, and compensation.
| 2025-2026 UCARE Program | Summer 2025 | Academic Year 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|
| Project Start | May 2025 | August 2025 |
| Time Commitment | ~220 Hours | ~300 Hours |
| UCARE Stipend Award | $2,640.00 | $3,600.00 |
| UCARE-FWS Federal Work-Study | Summer Projects Ineligible | $13.50-$15.00 Hourly |
Application Process
1. Check Eligibility
University of Nebraska-Lincoln undergraduates may apply to UCARE, if all of the following statements are true for you:
1. I am currently enrolled as a full-time student in a UNL undergraduate degree program.
(Part-time and non-degree students are ineligible.)
2. I have a 2.75 or higher cumulative GPA.
(The GPA requirement is firm and cannot be waived.)
3. I will have completed at least 30 credit hours of undergraduate work by May, but not more than 120. Please exclude credits earned in high school, such as AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) units from your calculations.
(If you have earned more than 120 credit hours due to transferring colleges or other extenuating circumstances, please email ucare@unl.edu no later than Friday, January 31, 2025 to discuss whether you may qualify for a waiver. Because these requests may take several business days to process, we are unable to process waiver requests submitted after Jan. 31st in time for the Feb. 12th application deadline.)
4. I am able to commit to 10 hours per week (academic year) or 20 hours per week (summer), including all project activities, UCARE events, and presentations.
Questions? Email us at ucare@unl.edu or call Kali Patterson, Project Coordinator and lead UCARE advisor, at (402) 472-6023.
2. Find Potential Faculty Mentor(s)
Before applying, applicants must identify a faculty member who is willing to serve as a UCARE mentor and guide preparation of a proposal for original research or creative activity.
What courses have you enjoyed? What questions or issues in your field interest you? What are your goals for your research or creative project experience? Do you want to join an existing project, or propose your own original topic?
Awareness of your own academic and creative interests is essential for finding the right faculty advisor and environment for your research goals. Consider watching presentations from past undergraduate researchers to learn how research is conducted in various fields and subfields.
Discover Opportunities in Your Field
- Contact a professor from a class you’ve enjoyed taking. Faculty are often actively engaged in research or creative projects in the same area as the courses they teach.
- Browse faculty profiles and research news from your College/Department, the Office of Research & Innovation, and/or Nebraska Today.
- Ask for recommendations. Make an appointment with your academic advisor or ask other professors, instructors and teaching assistants, graduate students, and current undergraduate researchers in your department or field.
Don’t limit your research opportunities to your major! Students in the history department might research with a modern language professor, or a Biological Systems Engineering undergrad could research with a biochemistry professor.
Which faculty are seeking new student researchers?
Get connected with faculty through our UCARE Opportunities Directory!
Questions? Email us at ucare@unl.edu or call Kali Patterson, Project Coordinator and lead UCARE advisor, at (402) 472-6023.
3. Meet with a Potential Faculty Mentor
Send an introductory email
Write a professional, well-proofread email to the potential faculty research advisor, describing your goals and your knowledge of the professor's research topic interests. If you’ve had research experience, describe the work you’ve done and with whom and let the faculty member know you’d like to meet to discuss their research and the possibility of joining their research team.
Sample Email
Dear Professor X,
My name is X and I am writing to express interest in your research lab. I am a [class standing] majoring in [major] and I'm considering [graduate school, career, etc.] in the future. I read your faculty bio on the [department] website as well as your research group page and I'm very interested in your work addressing [X]. I am currently taking [relevant coursework] and I have experience in [list any prior experience]. [If no prior experience: While I do not yet have any research experience, I m eager to learn and would appreciate any opportunity to gain experience.] My goal is to identify a project and advisor so I can apply for UCARE for the next funding term.
I am finished with classes and am available [list your availability]. Please let me know if there is a time where I could meet you to learn more about your research and possible opportunities in your lab.
Sincerely,
Herbie Husker
Once you’ve scheduled an appointment, be sure to bring:
- A resume;
- A brief write-up of your research interests and the skills you are developing or would like to develop;
- A list of relevant courses that you’ve taken;
- A notebook and pen.
If you know you’d like to go to graduate school and study X, share this with your potential mentor. If he or she isn’t a match, you might get an excellent recommendation to meet with another person.
Be prepared and show interest. Taking notes shows that you’re engaged with what the faculty member is saying, and you’ll be ready to jot down any names or other recommendations.
Meeting Follow Up
Immediately after this meeting—and any future meetings—with your faculty advisor, send an email thanking the professor for meeting with you and include a brief summary of your discussion (focus of research project, what you can bring to his/her research, and other items you may have discussed).
Ultimately, it’s your responsibility to do your best on both course work and research. Make sure that the advisor is committed to supervising you as much as you are committed to doing the required research.
Questions? Email us at ucare@unl.edu or call Kali Patterson, Project Coordinator and lead UCARE advisor, at (402) 472-6023.
4. Apply Online: Nov. 15 - Feb. 12
How to Apply to UCARE
Each year, UCARE applications are accepted directly from students between mid-November – mid-February only. Applications must be submitted online through UNL's NuRamp application system and written under the guidance of the student's selected faculty mentor.
For summer 2025 and/or academic year 2025-2026 proposals, the application deadline will be in Wednesday, February 12, 2025 (11:59 pm). All applicants will receive a status update by mid-April 2025.
Current participants: UCARE awards are annual and not automatically renewed. Please re-apply each year for funding by completing a full application.
During the annual application period, students can login and select “UCARE” from the competition drop-down menu. (At any other time of year, the UCARE competition is not visible.)
To complete the UCARE application, you will need the following items:
- Student Information: NUID, email address, primary College affiliation, hometown/city, state, zip code, country, parent(s) previous college degrees, previous undergraduate research participation
- Academic Information: Semester and year you intend to graduate, credit hours you will have earned by May
- Financial Aid Information (if applying for UCARE-FWS): Federal work-study award for current year (view in MyRed)
- UCARE Project Information: Project title, Colleges that would be best fit to review, location where the project will be conducted, project term length (summer, academic year, or both)
- Faculty Mentor Information: Mentor name, email, department, brief statement of mentoring philosophy, secondary contact (if applicable) and email. The student applicant pastes this information into the application on behalf of the faculty mentor. Our Mentor resource page provides guidance on the mentor role and resources for writing about mentoring practices.
- Project Proposal (see "Write Your Proposal" below)
- Publicity Release: The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships recognizes, promotes, and celebrates our UCARE grant recipients in various media. You will need to decide whether we can use your full name, major(s), hometown, proposal title, and proposal text.
- Research Compliance Information, Export Controls, and UNL Grand Challenges: These sections are managed by the Office of Research & Innovation and contain standardized questions for all UNL faculty and student grant proposers. Undergraduate Research & Fellowships is not able to modify this section. In most cases, faculty mentors are overseeing their students or student teams' responses to this section. If you have questions about research compliance topics, you can access tutorials and video resources here. You are required to indicate whether your project involves human subjects, embryonic stem cells, animals, recombinant DNA, biohazards, select agents, radioactive materials, regulated plant materials, or export laws and regulations of the United States. Appropriate approvals must be obtained before an approved UCARE proposal will be funded. If your project has connections to Grand Challenge themes, you will also be able to indicate this on your application. This information does not play a role in proposal merit review at the present time.
Please note that no additional items, such as a resume, transcripts, or references, are necessary to apply to UCARE.
Questions? Email us at ucare@unl.edu or call Kali Patterson, Project Coordinator and lead UCARE advisor, at (402) 472-6023.
5. Write Your Proposal
Proposal Writing Event Recording
Not sure where to start? Watch this video to learn about effective strategies for developing and writing a competitive and persuasive research proposal from Kali Patterson, lead advisor for UCARE.
UCARE Project Proposals
The UCARE Project Proposal offers a detailed plan of the research project and serves as a roadmap for your research. The research or creative project proposal should be developed with feedback and consultation from the faculty advisor.
Project proposal text of up to ~1,500 words can be pasted directly into the UCARE application form. Your proposal may also be uploaded as a supporting document, if your proposal is longer than 1,500 words or contains any type of images. Most proposals will be approximately 1,000-1,500 words (or about 1-2 pages in length). There is no minimum or maximum.
Individual vs. Team Proposals
Individual proposals consist of a one-to-one relationship between the faculty advisor and the student researcher. Many thesis projects fall under this category.
Team proposals consist of two or three students working as a research or creative team with a single project under the supervision of one faculty member, during the same project terms (summer, academic year, or both). Each team member should submit a separate UCARE application, choose team (not individual) in the dropdown selector, and paste identical proposal text into the online application. Please collaborate on proposal writing, describing each team member’s role and contributions to the project.
Elements of An Effective UCARE Proposal
Statement of purpose states the problem you are trying to solve. A statement of purpose might begin:
- This study will examine …
- This study examined …
When defining the problem, it can be helpful to discuss previous scholarly work in your field with a Library Research Consultant!
The research question includes the question(s) you are trying to solve. The research question is a concise statement that flows from your statement of purpose. The research question translates into a thesis statement that you prove or disprove with research:
- Graduate students in AAE classes who use the e-Instruction responders will score higher on mid-term and final exams than graduate students in AAE classes who do not use the e-Instruction responders.
- United States government regulation has little effect in the fight against air pollution.
- In the United States, government regulation plays an important role in the fight against air pollution.
- All of these thesis statements can be proven or disproven, and they cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”
Significance of research argues for the significance of your research and how it will contribute to the field or the community. Address:
- Why the research is important.
- To whom the research is important
- How the research will contribute to scholarship and/or the community.
Methods of data collection explain in detail how you plan to collect your data. Will you be using quantitative (numbers or amounts) or qualitative (quality or kind) data? Define the terms and variables that you’re using in the study, and be sure to describe how you’ll collect, analyze, and interpret your data. If you are using data that’s already been collected as part of another project, describe where the data are from and how you will access it.
Analysis of data outlines how you plan to analyze the data. How you analyze your data will depend on the research question. Make sure that your analysis will clearly answer your research question.
Benchmarks include a realistic and thorough timeline, presented as a series of benchmarks. Benchmarks are clearly defined tasks that you can check off as “done.” Some examples: IRB certification, library research/review, collecting data, data analyses, producing a work of art/installations, writing a research paper, presenting research at a conference, and preparing a poster.
Final Tips for Success...
Ask a roommate or trusted friend to read through your proposal. Is there anywhere that you’re too general? Are your methods not clear? Is your writing clear, or are your sentences unnecessarily complex? Having a friend ask these questions helps you create a better draft.
If you’ve addressed each of the project proposal elements well, don’t add extra words just to hit a specific word count.
Share your proposal with your research mentor for feedback. You can also request feedback at the UNL Writing Center!
Questions? Email us at ucare@unl.edu or call Kali Patterson, Project Coordinator and lead UCARE advisor, at (402) 472-6023.
Compensation & Payroll
UCARE specifies project terms according to the academic calendar and corresponding pay periods. During the academic term of award, UCARE compensation is distributed bi-weekly (every two weeks) after the award start date.
UCARE stipend students are not hourly, do not submit timesheets, and receive no additional support for work hours completed during breaks between academic terms. A stipend recipient’s commitment should represent an average 20 hours a week for project work during the summer term and an average of ten hours per week during fall and spring terms. However, mentors and students have the flexibility to determine how that hourly commitment looks in practice. The faculty mentor will determine whether the undergraduate research or creative activity has satisfied the expectations outlined in the UCARE Student Contract.
UCARE-FWS federal work-study students are compensated on an hourly basis and submit timesheets, typically reporting an average of 20 hours a week for project work during the summer term and an average of 10 hours per week during fall and spring terms. UCARE-FWS students do not typically work during breaks between academic terms.
Payroll setup is completed by the faculty mentor’s academic department or college staff payroll contact. About two weeks prior to the award start date, new UCARE students who have not previously held a job on campus will be contacted by the payroll contact. These students will be asked to complete payroll paperwork and make an appointment to complete the federal I-9 requirement to establish identity and authorization to work in the U.S.
If you have never held a job on campus before, UCARE and UCARE-FWS students will be asked to provide an acceptable identity document (such as a driver’s license, state ID, or a passport) and proof of employment eligibility (such as a social security card). If students have lost these items, they must take steps to locate them or obtain a replacement prior to the award start. Missing documentation will cause delays in receiving UCARE stipend funds. Students will also need banking information if they would like to set up direct deposit of their stipend payments.
Once payroll information is entered into the system and UCARE stipend or hourly employment begins, current UCARE students may view their deposit statements, W-2s, and other employment-related information in Firefly.
Questions? Email us at ucare@unl.edu or call Kali Patterson, Project Coordinator and primary UCARE advisor, at (402) 472-6023.