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Office of the Vice President for Research

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Internal Funding & Awards Opportunities for Students

Support to Promote Advancement of Research and Creativity (SPARC) Graduate Research Grant Program

Sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research, the SPARC Graduate Research Grant Program is a merit-based award designed to ignite research and creative excellence across all disciplines at USC. The overall objective of SPARC is to provide support and to encourage outstanding students to pursue new and exciting directions during their graduate career at the University of South Carolina. Importantly, the process of applying for a SPARC Grant trains students to write competitive research proposals, helping to equip more students with the skills and background necessary to seek national fellowship awards from the Federal Government and Private Foundations.

Opportunities for Undergraduates

The Office of Undergraduate Research is a unit of the Office of the Vice President for Research devoted to providing research opportunities for undergraduate students in every discipline, from the sciences to engineering to the arts and humanities. The Office of Undergraduate Research also administers the Magellan Scholar program, which provides funding up to $3,000 to help fund meritorious undergraduate research, scholarly or creative projects developed in collaboration with a faculty mentor.

Breakthrough Graduate Scholars Award

This signature Breakthrough student award honors the best among our graduate students each spring by selecting approximately one dozen outstanding graduate students for special recognition. Breakthrough Graduate Scholars demonstrate excellence in the classroom, and make considerable contributions to research and scholarly activities in their field.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

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