You might be using a Web browser that does not support standards for accessibility and user interaction. You should upgrade your browser for a better experience of this and other standards-based sites.
GRASP awards invest in students and research
The Graduate Research Assistant Sponsored Project (GRASP) started 11 years ago at Bradley University in the 1996-1997 fiscal year. A faculty member from any academic department can apply for the award, which provides a graduate student with a 100 percent tuition waiver for up to 21 credit hours per year and a stipend for up to two years. Since its inception, the program has supported many graduate students, and this support enables them to pursue their degree program and enhance their learning experience by carrying out research activities and assisting with the preparation of publications and grant applications. This assistance also allows the faculty member to further advance their research initiatives with the expectation that this support will lead to peer-reviewed journal publications, conference presentations, and external funding. Thus, GRASP awards are not recognized as a debt to Bradley University but rather an investment in research and scholarship.
Dr. Kelly McConnaughay (left), Dr. Sherri Morris, and GRASP graduate students Ashlyn Borges and Anna Abts
Examples of this worthwhile investment become evident when one considers the outcomes of the GRASP awards. Biology professors Drs. Sherri Morris and Kelly McConnaughay were awarded GRASP funding which they have used to support two of their graduate students, Anna Abts (2005-2007) and Ashlyn “Pua” Borges (2006-2008) in a collaborative research environment. The GRASP awards afford Abts and Borges opportunities to assist Drs. Morris and McConnaughay in field research, studying the impact of land conversions on the ecosystem. The typical sites from which the graduate students collect samples are landscapes transformed from agricultural land and converted into wetlands and forests. Moreover, guided by their professors, Abts and Borges analyze their field data and write up their findings—activities that are essential to publishing and developing proposals for external funding. In others words, not only do they study the cycles of nature and the effects on soil and vegetation, but they also ensure that the cycle of research continues in their research labs at Bradley.
Specifically, the GRASP awards greatly enhance Morris and McConnaughay’s ability to obtain external funding. Since Abts and Borges joined the research labs through GRASP funding, Drs. McConnaughay and Morris have grossed more than $800,000 in external funding with close to another $1 million in pending grants. GRASP awards are clearly an investment into the research capital of Bradley University.
Dr. Morris attests to the essential roles of the GRASP graduate students and states that she could not continue to seek funding for their laboratory if it were not for her graduate students bearing the bulk of writing up research findings and data. Perhaps, in ways, the savvy ecologists are able to mirror the efficiency of nature by using GRASP funding to invest in future external awards.
And while both Morris and McConnaughay praise their graduate students, Abts and Borges do the same for the experience that they have gained from their academic mentors. Both Abts and Borges speak highly of the academic and research opportunities that they benefit from through their GRASP assistantships. What transcends each of their lists of newfound abilities is the confidence with which they have been endowed. This confidence makes them all the more willing to share their knowledge of the ecosystem. Therefore, the exponential benefits from the GRASP awards are furthered as these students take their knowledge and research capabilities into their future professions. The GRASP awards are indeed an investment in both the education and research initiatives at Bradley University.