Magnus the Good Award : Advice for Applicants

Proposal Deadline : Completed proposals should be sent electronically to Susan Carlson or brought to the Center for Integrative Studies office in Tomson Hall 283 by February 20, 2012. Please notify the CIS (cis@stolaf.edu) of your intent to apply early in the process of putting together an application.

The Award : One or more awards of up to $2000 are made each year.

2012-13 Award Announcements : March 1, 2012.

The Award is open to projects from any discipline or combination of disciplines. The Award is equally available to applicants who propose research projects (regardless of the field), or innovative applications of learning in new, practical situations.

The selection committee will favor proposals for actual collaborations between faculty and students over proposals that represent student work supervised by a faculty member, or faculty work in which the student participates.

Strong applications will situate the proposed project in the context of the student's interests and work, and also in the context of the faculty member's interests and work. They will also make clear the value of the work to each of the applicants.

The Award is generally intended to encourage collaborations between a single faculty member and a single student, but applicants may also propose collaborations between a faculty member and up to three students. The Award is for projects planned with students returning for the 2012-13 academic year; graduating seniors are not eligible.

The Award requires a commitment to make the results of the project public, but the selection committee appreciates the risk of failure entailed in any venturesome project, and will be happy to see the public sharing of surprising or unexpected results, as well as of hoped-for results.

Each proposal should include

  • the names of the proposers;
  • the title of the proposed project;
  • a description of the project itself;
  • a total budget for the project, including the place of the award in the proposed budget;
  • a statement of each applicant's interest in and expected contribution to the project and how the project fits into other interests and academic careers;
  • a statement of how the results of the project will be shared with the public.

The Award can fund projects to be carried out at any time from June 1, 2012, through the end of classes in May 2013.

For more information or questions, contact Steve McKelvey (mckelvey@stolaf.edu) or Susan Carlson (carlsons@stolaf.edu), or see the Call for Proposals.