Grants and Writing Resources for Colorado Christian University
Engineering undergraduates in CCU's Computer Aided Design and Engineering Application course spent a semester designing a prosthetic hand for a nine-year-old girl born without one. Working from 3D models and rapid prototypes, they delivered a functional prototype by the end of the semester, as the university reported in May 2026. The design keeps the main components the same while allowing adjustments as she grows. The previous October, nine CCU students finished in the top 20 of nearly 100 teams at the Gloo AI Hackathon in Boulder with Relief Near Me, a mobile app that points people experiencing homelessness to food, shelter and healthcare.
Presenting Undergraduate Research
CCU hosted the 9th annual Rocky Mountain Undergraduate Research Conference in Leprino Hall in April 2026. Projects from any discipline qualify, and they may be research-based or literature-based. Top presenters in each category receive awards. The library compiles the abstracts for in-house publication, and earlier years are kept in the RMURC abstracts collection.
In biology, the Research Experience for Undergraduates trains students in biomedical lab work with three faculty members. Projects have covered a serotonin transporter gene and impulsivity, cohesin deposition in yeast, and a Wild Yeast Outreach Project with middle schoolers that is funded by the National Science Foundation. Students from the program have presented their results at American Scientific Affiliation meetings and at the Rocky Mountain conference.
Prizes for Papers and Undergraduate Awards
The library's Outstanding Research Paper Award (ORPA) is open to juniors and seniors in the College of Undergraduate Studies. Each entrant sends one paper of at least eight pages with a one-page reflection on the research process, and judges score both against a rubric. In 2026 the winner received $100 and the runner-up $50, each with a framed certificate. The winning paper goes into the CCU Institutional Repository.
Among the endowed and recurring scholarships, the Janet and Ed Black English Endowed Scholarship goes to rising juniors and seniors in English who hold a 3.5 GPA in their English courses. The Dr. Bill Watson Memorial Recurring Scholarship asks sophomores and juniors for an essay on a set topic tied to global awareness, missions or international study, and applicants must be available for an in-person interview with a selection committee. The CCU Leadership Award carries a $25,000 cash prize for one junior or senior in the College of Undergraduate Studies; the 2026 award went to a history and secondary education graduate.
Dissertations, DNP Projects and Graduate Aid
The Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision builds the dissertation into its 60 credits, and students are introduced to the dissertation process when they begin the program. Each course sets milestones, and the research sequence moves from the literature review and topic selection through the proposal, the study and the defense. Students also attend two in-person residencies in Colorado. In the Doctor of Nursing Practice, project courses take students from a significant clinical issue to an evaluation of evidence-based practice, with one-on-one faculty mentorship for the length of the project.
Adult and graduate students can apply for CAGS endowed scholarships. The IVy Women CAGS Endowed Scholarship is open to bachelor's students with 90 credit hours and to master's students who have finished 15 CAGS credit hours. The Larry J. Crabb Endowed Scholarship serves Master of Arts in Counseling students recommended by program leadership. The Lynn Johnson ALL IN Empowering Futures Endowed Scholarship asks applicants with foster care experience for an essay of 500 words or fewer and two letters of reference.
The Writing Center, Brainfuse and the Library
The CCU Writing Center in Leprino 203 is staffed by faculty and upperclassmen, and College of Undergraduate Studies students book 45-minute appointments and bring a printed copy of the paper. Students in the College of Adult and Graduate Studies use Brainfuse, an online writing lab reached through Brightspace, as the library's Writing Help page explains.
The library's Writing Guide covers APA, MLA, and Chicago, Turabian and SBL, along with CCU's AI policy and AI citations. Students can book a librarian for a 20-minute one-on-one research appointment, distance students included, and a topic sent ahead lets the librarian prepare search strategies before the meeting. The Institutional Repository holds graduate research papers, undergraduate senior theses, English and Music theses, and DNP Project Reports, and student work enters it with faculty sponsorship.
For an ORPA entry, a DNP project report or a counseling dissertation, our editors provide a final edit for grammar, consistency and format. See our Colorado Christian University dissertation and thesis editing and Colorado Christian University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with Colorado Christian University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your CCU writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.