Office of the Provost and Dean of the FacultyProvost and Dean of the Faculty funding for students

Fall and Spring Semester Funding for Research

This program provides grants of up to $1,000 for students to conduct research during the fall and spring semesters and during the January term, often to support research related to senior honors theses. The sponsorship of an Amherst faculty member is required. Students who request funds to attend a conference will be considered only if they are presenting their research at the conference. For the College's travel policy and guidelines for college-sponsored programs please check the Office of Global Education's travel policy and resources website.  See the Student Funding page for details and to apply.

2023 Summer Research Opportunities

Gregory S. Call Student Research Program

This program supports summer research awards for rising seniors who are engaged in thesis work on campus and includes a stipend equivalent to $15.25 per hour for up to eight weeks of work (or up to $4,880), as well as on campus room and board. The application must briefly outline a clearly defined project and have the strong support of an Amherst College faculty member with whom the student will work directly. 

The deadline for students to submit their research proposals for funding during summer 2023 is April 21, 2023. 

Please note that if a student receives funding to conduct summer research, the student is not eligible for other Amherst College employment during that time period, including summer internship funding.  See the Student Funding page for details and to apply.   

Schupf Fellows Program

Schupf Fellows engage in intensive research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences over the summer months. Through the generosity of H. Axel Schupf ’57, a cohort of twenty rising Amherst sophomores and juniors is funded each year through a competitive selection process to participate in eight weeks of summer research with a faculty member.

Schupf Fellows may focus on their own research project, under the guidance of a faculty member; work on a project related to a faculty member's research; or conduct collaborative research with a group of students, under the guidance of a faculty member.  Fellows also take part in programming that has been designed to help them make progress on their near- and long-term academic, professional, and personal goals.  Students present their work to the campus community in early September, following each summer’s research.  A decision about participation for a second summer will be based on a student demonstrating satisfactory progress, and submitting a report at the end of the first summer. Faculty mentor students throughout the course of the fellowship.  

Fellows receive a research stipend of up to $4,880.  (Student compensation is based on hours reported, but it is expected that fellows will work forty hours a week for eight weeks at a rate of $15.25 per hour.) Fellows are also provided with room and board on campus for eight weeks, beginning June 12. Additional funding may be available to fellows for supplies, archival work, and research-related travel.  Decisions about permitting, and funding for, travel are based on college policies, which are subject to change.

The portal for the Schupf Fellows application will open on February 1, 2023, and applications must be submitted by March 1, 2023.  Applications to the program must outline a clearly defined project and have the strong support of the faculty member with whom the student will work.  Ahead of submitting the application, students must contact a faculty member about serving as a mentor for the summer.  Each student must have a mentor in place when applying to the program. Mentors are asked to write letters of support as part of the application process.  

Questions about the program should be directed to Professor Pawan Dhingra or Nancy Ratner, coordinators of the Schupf Fellows Program.

The Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship

This program provides an hourly wage of $15.25 for an eight-week period, up to a maximum of $4,880 to enable three students who have just graduated from Amherst to work on campus over the summer to turn their senior honors theses into publishable papers under the supervision of their thesis advisor; on-campus housing will not be available. (The thesis advisor receives an honorarium of $500 for this supervision.) Each department is asked to nominate one student who has produced a thesis recommended for summa-level honors that is judged to be potentially of publishable quality, and the winners are selected by a committee of deans from the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty.   

The Academic Internship Program

This program enables faculty across the ranks and disciplines to hire current Amherst students to help with projects relating to their professors’ pedagogy or research. The purpose of this program is to give faculty assistance for academic tasks that are substantive but time-consuming, and to give students the opportunity to work closely with, and therefore help, their faculty. Examples of projects include helping with literature searches or archival work, pulling together information or materials needed to develop a new course, or recording and analyzing data from experiments or surveys. The program is designed with maximum flexibility to ensure that faculty can get needed assistance for their projects.  Only faculty apply for academic internship positions.