NSERC USRA/UTEA Awards

The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has an Undergraduate Student Research Award Program (USRA) that pays a student to do 16 weeks of research with a professor over the summer. This is a competitive process: the computer science department has only 15 awards to give this year. These will be decided on after we have all the applications and have matched students with supervisors; we expect to send the results by Friday 18 February.

The University of Toronto has in the past offered University of Toronto Excellence Awards (UTEA). We do not yet know if the UofT is offering them this year (although we certainly hope so). We will update this section and post an announcement as soon as we hear either way. The duration and remuneration historically has been the same as for USRAs, although the eligibility requirements are different.

You need a supervisor — a research faculty member in computer science. There are two sets of instructions below: one set for students who already have found a supervisor to work with, and another set for students who would like help finding a supervisor.

Duration: 16 consecutive weeks (typically 1 May – 31 August)

Value of the award: Each award is $4500 NSERC (USRA) + a minimum of $1125 provided by the NSERC grant holder (supervisor).

If you are not a University of Toronto student, please prepare PDFs of all the required forms and email them to Steve Engels. We will arrange to get paper versions later.

NSERC-USRA

The USRA awards are open to second-year or higher full- and part-time students who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents and who have a cumulative average of at least B-. Check the website for full eligibility requirements.

Application instructions if you and a supervisor have already agreed to work together:

Deadline: 17 February 2012

1. Print the UofT NSERC USRA checklist and fill it in as you go. Without a completed checklist, we cannot accept your application.
2. Get your most current official transcript.
3. Register for an account at NSERC's online system.
4. Read the application instructions and fill out Form 202 Part I.
5. Print Form 202 Part I and sign it.
6. Have your supervisor fill in Form 202 Part II. This must be done online. They will need your reference number from Part I.
7. For Part II, have your supervisor use the List of Research Subject Codes for Scholarships and Fellowships for the research subject codes.
8. Please adhere to NSERC's General Presentation Guidelines. Any application not following these guidelines will be sent back to be redone.
9. Have your supervisor print and sign Form 202 Part II.
10. Submit these items to the Computer Science Undergraduate Office on the 4th floor of Bahen:
    • your transcript
    • the UofT checklist (with both Parts completed)
    • Form 202 Part I
    • Form 202 Part II

Application instructions if you would like the CS department to try to match you with a supervisor:

This process is a competitive one and there is no guarantee that you will receive a match.

Deadline: 10 February 2012

1. Read through the projects posted on the previous page and fill in the ranking form.
2. Print the UofT NSERC USRA checklist and fill it in as you go. Without a completed checklist, we cannot accept your application.
3. Get your most current official transcript.
4. Register for an account at NSERC's online system.
5. Read the application instructions and fill out Form 202 Part I.
6. Print Form 202 Part I and sign it.
7. Submit these items to the Computer Science Undergraduate Office on the 4th floor of Bahen:
   • your transcript
   • the UofT checklist (with only Part I completed)
   • Form 202 Part I
   • the ranking form

Helpful Links

• NSERC USRA poster
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Program Guidelines and Application Procedures