Students With Approved UROPs
Congratulations!
Congratulations on your approved Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program project! These pages are intended to help you derive the greatest possible benefit from your UROP participation as well as providing information about the administrative tasks that you need to complete.
Extension of Time Form
UROP Final Report and Student Evaluation Form
Faculty Evaluation Form
How to Access Your Grant Money
When Your Grant Work Is Completed
Policies and Proceedures for UROP Grants
How to Access Your Grant Money
When your UROP grant is approved, the UROP office will mail you a packet of materials, which will include a letter describing your award and a copy of your UROP Application Cover Sheet. The packet also includes a "UROP Agreement" which you should sign and bring to the UROP Office in 109 Appleby Hall. Even if you do not intend to begin work on your project immediately, please follow the procedures as soon as possible. (Do not wait until you are half-finished with your grant work!)
Go to the payroll person in your faculty sponsor's department (this person's name appears in your award letter). The payroll person needs to fill out a quick hire form and fax it to Student Employment at 626-7158. The job number for the form is #110430, and the job title is UGRA 2 (9523). The quick hire will confirm your enrollment eligibility, citizenship, and whether or not you have a work study award. The payrate is $11.50/hour. The payroll person should put his/her name on the form, as Student Employment will be faxing the appropriate document back. For Work Study questions, please call 612-626-8608.
The department is responsible for maintaining accurate time cards and submitting payroll according to University procedures.
The departmental accountant will give you a schedule of time card deadlines. Turn in time cards for no more than 20 hours per week as you work on your project. DO NOT wait until your project is complete to submit time cards! If you have a second University job, you may need to turn in fewer UROP hours each week in order to keep your total number of paid hours at 20 per week.
If you will be working on your UROP in a foreign country, be sure to complete the above steps 1 - 3 before you leave. You may arrange with your departmental accountant to mail in time cards and have your paychecks deposited directly into your checking account so that you can access your stipend as you work. However, if you will be away during fall, winter or spring quarter and will not be registered at the U of MN while you are away, you will have to wait until you return to be paid. Student Employment requires current registration for payment.
When Your Grant Work Is Completed
Information on accessing the final $200 of the UROP award (for Twin Cities campus awardees only)
As you likely know, a research initiative on a particular problem generally goes through several phases. For your UROP, you have already completed the first stage of framing the question and writing a proposal to describe your research plans. You will soon begin work with your faculty mentor on the next stages, including learning more about your research topic, refining your research plan and collecting and analyzing data. An important final stage of your research project is reporting results.
When you begin your UROP research, the UROP office will transfer to your department the funds for your expenses and the funds for your stipend less $200. You will be paid hourly through your department until the transferred stipend funds are exhausted. This means your project to that point should encompass approximately 105 hours of work. The remaining $200.00 will be paid to you when you complete the following:
• Notify the UROP Office of your publication plans, and if ready, submit your materials for publication. The default publication is the electronic version of a poster suitable for display at the University Symposium each April. Other forms of publication include a journal article, a presentation at a disciplinary conference, a public talk or seminar, photographs or videos of artistic performances or similar activities.
• Complete the UROP evaluation about your research experience and a short (2-3 pages) final report. These are due in the UROP Office in 109 Appleby Hall at the end of your project.
Once you have completed these requirements, the UROP Office will transfer the final $200 of your award to your department for distribution to you. You may access this money by filling out and submitting (to your department) a final time card for 17.5 hours. Because this is handled through the payroll system, this must be taken care of before you graduate (and ideally should be finalized before the ending date of your award).
Need Extra Time?
A form for requesting an extension can be downloaded here.
Policies and Proceedures for UROP Grants
For FY09, UROP entries will no longer be performed by UROP staff. Units expecting UROP awards should be sure they have established programs associated with their appropriate DeptID’s in PeopleSoft to accommodate these awards. Under Function Code 1110 Research-Non-Sponsored, the proper PeopleSoft program code is:
20083 UROP Awd.
Budget Journals can then be used in PeopleSoft to adjust budgets as needed based on the individual grants. The UROP Office will transfer funds into the new Department ID number. Allocations are from fund 1000, Twin Cities General Operations & Maintenance.
The budget numbers should be in the format: 1000 – Dept ID# - 20083 - CF1 (YR00002009)-Empl ID#.
1. Grant expenditures should follow original award allocations: unused supply and expense funds may not be used for salary. Faculty sponsor’s department is responsible if a student overspends his/her allocation.
2. Students are instructed by UROP to go to their faculty sponsor’s dept. payroll person. Payroll personnel should complete a Quick Hire form and fax it to Student Employment (6-7911). Students should be hired as Undergraduate Research Asst. II at $11.50/hr. The UROP job # is 110430. Students should be paid as they do their research: please encourage them not to wait until the completion of their project to turn in time cards, unless they are working in a remote area or foreign country. Please alert students when they are nearing the end of their grant funds and do not accept time cards when their funds have run out!
4. Students who have Work-Study funds may use them for a UROP position.With work study funds, a student who has a $1400 stipend and is paid $11.50 hr (the Mpls. rate) will be able to work up to 400 hours on a UROP project rather than the usual 120. This is because work-study will pay 70% of each hour the student works, and only 30% (or $3.45/hr) will be paid by UROP. If the student uses up all of his/her work study funds, switch him/her back to full (100%) UROP funding.
5. Grant allocations are not transferable between students. Since the new system ties the grant to the student’s specific Empl ID#, it will be easier now to keep track of each award individually. Chart Field 2 is the student’s Empl ID#.
6. ADDITIONAL FUNDS: UROP will provide additional funds if a student incurs fringe benefit expenses or if the 1.25% Enterprise Assessment (Administrative Fees, on object 8610) causes a deficit to your UROP account. UROP will not pay overtime, so a student’s total University employment may not exceed 40 hours per week. Area managers must request the additional funds for fringe benefits or Enterprise Assessment by sending a memo or e-mail to Vicky Munro (munro001@umn.edu) Please specify the student’s name and the DeptID#. We will transfer the funds to you at the end of the fiscal year for all fees. Please wait until late in the fiscal year to make your request.
7. Upon completion of a student’s grant, any unspent funds will be returned to UROP. All funds from cancelled grants should be returned to UROP. NEGATIVE BALANCES ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE FACULTY SPONSOR’S AREA.
If all the students have completed their grants and there is a balance, that balance (if under $50) may be transferred to another org within the department. If the balance is over $50, the dept. accountant should transfer it to UROP account 1000 10149 20083. (Vicky Munro will also check old orgs in the fall and will ask that unused balances be transferred to UROP.) Remember: not all students complete their grants by June 30. If even one student in your area extends his/her grant beyond 6/30/08, the org should be kept open for the next fiscal year (09).