Funding and Support

Creating a Worthwhile Life: Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Alaska Native Clients psychology presentation at the 2017 UAF URSA Research and Creative Activity Day. UAF Photo by JR Ancheta

Fuel Your Curiosity with Real Support

UAF and the College of Liberal Arts offers a wide range of research and creative funding opportunities for students in the arts, languages, humanities, and social sciences. Whether you're an undergraduate exploring your first big idea or a graduate student completing a thesis, we help you find the support you need to go further.

Where should you start?

Explore research funding options based on your current academic path.

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Funding for Undergraduate Students

Here’s how UAF students in the arts, humanities, languages, and social sciences can turn curiosity into action—with real financial support.

URSA Awards

The Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholarly Activity (URSA) offers funding and support for hands-on research and creative projects across all disciplines—from climate science and engineering to music, art, and anthropology. URSA helps students design original work, connect with faculty mentors, and gain experience that supports UAF’s mission as a student-focused research university.

URSA offers several types of awards to support undergraduate research and creative activity, including project funding, travel grants, and summer research experiences. Each award has its own application process and deadlines throughout the academic year, giving students multiple opportunities to apply when they’re ready to take the next step in their work.

ASUAF Student Travel Funding

The Associated Students of UAF (ASUAF) offers travel grants to support student participation in activities that benefit the UAF community—academically, culturally, socially, politically, or athletically. Awards can be used for transportation and lodging, up to a maximum of $1,000 per student. Funding is limited and competitive. Applicants are encouraged to seek additional support elsewhere, especially for larger travel costs. Funding decisions are based on the impact of the travel, the student’s funding history with ASUAF, and available semester resources.

People’s Endowment

The People’s Endowment supports unique projects that make a meaningful impact at UAF—especially those that may not receive funding through traditional university channels. Grants are available to students, faculty, and staff, and are intended to support special initiatives or critical needs that improve the UAF experience. Proposals are reviewed and selected by the People’s Endowment committee, and funding is awarded on a competitive basis.

Center ICE Seed Fund

Through UAF’s Center for Innovation, Commercialization, and Entrepreneurship (Center ICE), the SEED Fund supports early‑stage, high‑potential research and creative projects led by students, faculty, and staff. Awards can provide up to $15,000–$20,000, depending on the current RFP. Selection prioritizes ideas with real-world or commercial potential and societal impact. Awardees are also invited to participate in the I‑Corps program, which includes up to $4,500 in travel funding for stakeholder discovery and prototyping. Applications are accepted on a rolling or topic‑based basis, typically tied to Center ICE’s Request for Proposals in specific innovation areas.

Opportunities in your Department

Talk to your faculty mentor or advisor about research and creative opportunities connected to your department. Some programs support fieldwork, internships, lab experience, or public exhibitions as part of the undergraduate experience. For example, CLA students have worked on archaeological digs through anthropology field schools, contributed to cognitive research in the FlexCog Lab, and participated in policy internships like the Ted Stevens Legislative Internship.

Art major Joel Isaak, center, get some help filling a mold with molten bronze as part of the process of creating a life-sized sculpture for his senior thesis in the UAF Fine Arts complex. UAF Photo by Todd Paris

URSA funding did more than act as a means for my [SPE National Conference] attendance, as it allowed me to grow my network with other photographers from not just the lower 48, but also internationally. Thanks to URSA, I was able to attend a pinhole camera workshop led by Martin Vanners of the Netherlands as well as discuss Japanese Art history over breakfast with author and publisher Ivan Vartanian. Moving forward, I plan to utilize my expanding network to reach my target audience while implementing the feedback from my portfolio reviews into my future work.David McCain BFA, Photography

Receiving the McLaughlin award is not only a personal honor, but also a testament to the incredible opportunities and support I've received from these professors throughout my time at UAF. The financial assistance attached to the award has allowed me to focus on continuing my academic pursuits .Cole Osowski '25 BA, Political Science

Want to see what’s possible?

Discover how CLA undergraduates are exploring big ideas through mycology research, handcrafted Indigenous regalia, student-run publishing, and more.

Explore undergraduate RCA projects

Funding for Graduate Students

Graduate students at CLA have access to financial resources that support academic progress, thesis or dissertation research, and mentorship roles.

Angela Linn, left, ethnology and history collections manager at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, catalogs donated Russian artifacts with student assistant Kirsten Olson in a museum lab.. UAF Photo by Todd Paris

UAF Graduate School Awards

The UAF Graduate School offers completion fellowships, travel awards, and small grants to help students finish advanced research or share their work at conferences. These are awarded on a competitive basis each semester.

URSA Mentor Awards

URSA Mentor Awards provide funding for faculty, researchers, postdocs, and graduate students to involve undergraduates in their current research or creative projects. Proposals must include a mentoring plan and name at least one undergraduate participant. Funds can support student fellowships, related tuition, project travel, supplies, and more. Each mentor is eligible for one award per academic year, and may receive funding two out of every three years.

People’s Endowment

Center ICE Seed Fund

Center ICE RISE-UP Fellowship

The RISE‑UP Fellowship supports graduate students and postdocs who want to turn their research into real-world impact. Fellows receive tuition support, a stipend or teaching assistantship, and mentorship through structured innovation training. Two tracks are available: one for students with a project ready to develop, and one for those beginning to explore the broader potential of their work.

Receiving [the Frison Institute grant] is very meaningful for me as it highlights the significance of bioarchaeological research and the value of exploring past human experiences through innovative scientific approaches. Funding for scientific research has become significantly less secure lately, and I deeply appreciate the opportunity to continue working to contribute to our understanding of human health, stress, and the impacts of social inequality.Courtney Clough PhD, Anthropology

CLA graduate research in action

See how graduate students in CLA are advancing knowledge through literary publishing, circumpolar storytelling, Indigenous resource policy, and more.

Explore graduate RCA projects

Getting Started with Research & Creative Work

Not sure what your first step should be? Start small and stay curious. Talk to a faculty member about research questions that interest you, join a class-based project or public-facing collaboration, or visit past student work to get inspired.

Make Your Own Path

Not all research starts in a lab, and not all creative work begins with a formal grant. Sometimes, the most meaningful academic experiences start in the classroom—or even from a hunch that something could be built from scratch.

At CLA, you can shape your academic journey in ways that reflect your voice, values, and interests. Here are a few outside-the-box ways to get started:

Take a course that builds real-world skills

Many CLA classes, like literary publishing, art studio courses, or documentary filmmaking, ask students to create, edit, or collaborate on public-facing work.

Propose an independent study

If there’s something you want to explore but don’t see in the course list, work with a faculty mentor to develop an independent project for credit.

Start or join a student club

With a faculty mentor and short training, you can register a club through Student Leadership and Involvement. Clubs receive funding, resources, and space to build projects or host events.

Create your own opportunity. You don’t need a formal program to explore an idea. Whether it’s a pop-up exhibit, a student-led language table, or a community-based research project, all you need is initiative and the right mentor.

I am currently in the process of completing my biggest accomplishment here at UAF. Dr. Joe Holt teaches Practicum in Literary Publishing, where students are given the wonderful opportunity of editing the Ice Box Literary Journal in a classroom setting. It may seem a small achievement ... but I have felt more useful to the world now than I did any other semester. While I will always love the art of putting words together, I am now realizing that it's important to me to help others put words together as well.Sophia Martin, '25 English