Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

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Application

Application deadline for the year 2026 funding is December 8, 2025, at 11:59pm CST.

Application

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The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) is soliciting applications from faculty mentors of promising undergraduate students at all Louisiana universities and colleges. UROP, established in 1992 by the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program (LSG), offers the Louisiana undergraduate community funding to support hands-on research experiences in marine and coastal resource issues. Previously funded projects have dealt with topics such as coastal ecology, fisheries, aquaculture, environmental engineering and genetics.

Approximately five to seven projects will be funded depending on funds available for the 2026 project period (March 2026 to December 2026); each faculty member will receive up to $4,500 to cover student wages, supplies and necessary travel. Both student wages and academic credit may be earned concurrently if the policies of your institution allow this practice. Faculty mentors of full-time undergraduate students at Louisiana colleges and universities are eligible to submit applications. Applications must demonstrate the proposed project’s connection and benefit to Louisiana’s coastal communities and ecosystems.

A UROP proposal is limited to a three-page narrative single-spaced. Font must be at least 11-point type size. All margins should be one inch. Tables, graphs, data management plan, and references can be attached in the Additional Documents section and are not included in the three-page limit. Any proposal narrative that goes over the three-page limit will be disqualified.

The narrative portion must include the following information:

• Project background and description: Describe the proposed UROP project and how it aligns with Louisiana Sea Grant’s mission and strategic initiatives.
  • What do you expect to be the project accomplishments and benefits to both the scientific community and end-user communities of Coastal Louisiana?
• Research approach: Succinctly describe the rationale for the UROP project, its proposed objectives and research approach.
• Role of the UROP student: Include a description of the UROP student’s role in the project and his/her working relationship with the faculty mentor(s).

The required Data Management Plan is separate from the three-page narrative portion of the application. Data and information collected and/or created under NOAA grants and cooperative agreements must be made visible, accessible, and independently understandable to general users, free of charge or at minimal cost, in a timely manner (typically no later than two years after the data are collected or created), except where limited by law, regulation, policy or by security requirements. The requirement has two basic parts: (1) environmental data generated by a grant project must be made available after a reasonable period of exclusive use, and (2) the grant application must describe the plan to make the data available (Principal Investigators are expected to execute the plan).

If your project produces environmental data, it must conform to NOAA’s Data Sharing Directive for Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Contracts. For more guidance and some examples, you can view resources at the following URL: https://seagrant.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DataSharingPlanFAQ_2020.pdf

A typical plan is no more than two pages long (4600 characters), and includes the sections listed below:

• Description of data to be generated by the project, including file format, likely size, etc.
• A tentative date by which data will be shared
• Standards to be used for data/metadata format and content
• Policies on data stewardship and preservation
• Procedures for providing access, sharing, and security

All data generated through Sea Grant funded projects are required to be completely QA/QC’ed (Quality Assurance and Quality Control) and made publicly accessible by two years after the end date of the project. If the proposed research will not generate environmental data then a Data Management Plan will need to be stated as such: “This project will not generate any environmental data.”

**A UROP application must be submitted by a faculty member. Students should not submit the application but are encouraged to work with their faculty mentor in developing the application.

Applications will be accepted until Dec. 8, 2025, at 11:59pm CST. Apply via LSG’s online system.

NOTE: If you are having difficulty with the link, copy and paste the following URL into your browser —https://laseagrant.infoready4.com/

Review Process

Applications will be evaluated by peer reviewers that include Louisiana Sea Grant (LSG) Extension personnel, subject matter experts, faculty with appropriate expertise and/or graduate students participating on LSG sponsored research (training for them also). This process will result in a minimum of three written peer reviews that are free from conflict of interest. Evaluations will be based upon the following review criteria and scoring system:

• Are the methods and rationale for the proposed research appropriate?
• Does the proposal have a clearly stated objective that is achievable within the given constraints of time and resources?
• Does the proposed research align with Louisiana Sea Grant’s mission and strategic initiatives and demonstrate a clear connection and benefit of the proposed project to both coastal and/or marine science and the communities LSG serves (i.e., the potential for end-user application of the results of this proposed research)?
• Is the role of the student clearly described in the application and will the student have adequate support (budgeted and/or non-budgeted), as well as a unique opportunity to experience state-of-the-art methods for sampling, measurement and analysis?

Louisiana Sea Grant uses a five-point rating system for each review criterion for all applications: Excellent: 5 (exhibits outstanding quality/relevance); Very Good 4: (above average quality/relevance); Good: 3 (routine/average quality/relevance); Fair: 2 (marginal quality/relevance); Poor: 1 (missed the mark, has major deficiencies, low relevance). In addition to the scores, the peer reviewers will make a ‘fundable’ or ‘not fundable’ recommendation for each application reviewed.

A review panel may be convened to synthesize the results of the written peer reviews and help LSG determine which applications to recommend for funding using the same review criteria as the peer reviews. The panel will consist of Sea Grant staff, external researchers and other subject matter experts with expertise in disciplines broadly represented by the applications under consideration. The panel may include peer reviewers and will provide significant input external to LSG to benefit from a diversity of perspectives. The panel review component of the overall review process may be waived if funding is available for all applications deemed fundable in written peer review or if otherwise deemed unnecessary after written peer review in consultation with the National Sea Grant Office.

LSG will submit a final list of projects that includes those recommended for funding to the NSGO based on the full review process and available funding and program priorities. The NSGO reviews and provides final approval on the projects to be funded.

LSG may forward (or not forward) a proposal for funding out of scoring rank based on the following criteria:

• balance/distribution of funds across academic disciplines, RFA focus areas and geography of work location;
• availability of funding;
• program-specific objectives; and
• poor performance of a PI in completing progress and final reports on previous LSG-funded projects.

Not all highly rated projects will be funded. LSG may not have enough funding to cover all the outstanding applications that we receive for this opportunity.

Additional Requirements and Information

Applications that are recommended for funding must submit a completed Abbreviated Environmental Compliance Questionnaire (and copies of associated permits, if applicable), along with a 90-2 form with objectives, rationale and methodology.

Projects that involve the use of human test subjects (including surveys) or animal use/testing require approval of the applicant’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) or animal care and use committee (IACUC) before such research can proceed. Applicants are responsible for obtaining IRB or IACUC approval from their institution and providing that documentation to LSG prior to any Sea Grant-funded human subject or animal testing.

A written final report of research accomplishments and findings, developed by the student in collaboration with their faculty mentor, is required. The UROP final report should include the following: Title page (with authors and date), abstract, introduction, methods and results – i.e., the typical scientific reporting or publishing format. The results section must include the significance of the research, considering not only the scientific value but societal implications as well. We will accept peer-reviewed papers or theses for this requirement. Since the peer review process takes time, a preliminary report can be submitted and then follow-up with a published paper when the manuscript is accepted for publishing. We do not accept posters as a fulfillment of UROP report requirements. Students are encouraged to present their findings at university forums in addition to state, regional, national and international conferences. Louisiana Sea Grant may provide limited travel funds to UROP students to attend these events should a student’s abstract be accepted for presentation.

Contact Info:

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