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SMRF Application Guidelines

All SMRF Student Applications are due by February 12, 2025. Please be sure SMRF proposals adhere to all length requirements outlined below. Proposals exceeding the page limits will not be reviewed. 

Proposals must:

  • be written by the student with guidance from their faculty mentor
  • be written in the "first person." Example: The goal of my project is to address....I will be evaluating...."
  • address all sections
  • address items in narrative format, preceded by the item number

Application and Proposal

The narrative portion of the proposal must be no more than two pages, total, in length. There are six sections of the proposal/application:

  1. Student SMRF Application
  2. Introduction: half-page limit
  3. Experience of the student: half-page - one-page limit
  4. Expected outcome(s): half-page limit
  5. References: not part of the two-page limit; no page limit
  6. Appendices: not part of the two-page limit; no page limit

Content Guidelines

In the student's own words, address the following three items:

  1. What is the problem/question that will be addressed in this summer medical research project?
  2. Briefly describe the approach and the specific goals of the project.
  3. If this summer project is part of a larger research project, briefly explain how the student's work will fit into it.

Address the following 10 items:

  1. What specifically will the student do?
  2. What methods/tasks will the student perform?
  3. How will quantitive data be analyzed?
  4. What skills will the student learn?
  5. How will the student's work relate to the scientific goals as outlined in the Introduction?
  6. Where and when (days/hours) will the student work?
  7. Who else will be involved in the project?
  8. What resources are available to the student?
  9. What will be the inovlvement of the Faculty Mentor?
  10. Provide a timeline of milestones for the project.

Address the following three items:

  1. What will be the tangible product of the student's work?
  2. What will be the next phase of the research project, based on the student's work?
  3. What will happen if the desired results are not achieved?
List of bibliographic references for any citations mentioned in the sections: Introduction and Experience of the student.

Instructions:

  1. If adding an Appendix to the application, it must be a separate file (Word or PDF) and named "Appendix.___" (.doc, .docx, or .pdf)
  2. The Appendix must be a single, merged Word or PDF file (.doc, .docx, or .pdf)
  3. The Appendix may include any additional documentation necessary to describe the project (e.g. figures, tables, survey instruments).

The SMRF Application Guidelines are also available for download.

Download Guidelines

Roles, Responsibilities and Requirements

Regulatory and ethical standards apply to all research, regardless of the scope of the project.

Evaluation Criteria

The Rowan-Virtua SOM Senior Associate Dean for Research and the Rowan-Virtua SOM Research Committee administer the SMRF Program. The Research Committee and ad-hoc members review and evaluate the SMRF research proposals. The program is competitive, and it is anticipated that not all proposals will be funded. All proposals will be evaluated with respect to:

  • the expected experience of the student participating in research activities.
  • the strength of the scientific rationale and feasibility of the stated objectives (the scope of the research project should be appropriate for a student working over a six-week period.).
  • clarity of the written proposal.

Contact Us

If you have questions regarding the SMRF program or need help finding a mentor, please reach out to one of the adminstrators listed below.

SMRF Program

Dr. Carl E. Hock
SOM Senior Associate Dean for Research 
hock@rowan.edu 

Dr. Venkateswar Venkataraman
Medical Scholarship Director
venkatar@rowan.edu 

Rowan-Virtua SOM Research Office- somresearch@rowan.edu 

SOM IRB & IACUC
Please refer to the Rowan-Virtua SOM IRB and IACUC Compliance webpage if you have Questions concerning IRB (SOM) or IACUC (SOM) protocols and approvals.