Grants and Writing Resources for High Point University

An HPU sophomore majoring in biochemistry and physics was named a 2026 Barry Goldwater Scholar in April, one of 454 recipients chosen from more than 5,000 applicants. The student studies fluorophores, molecules that absorb and emit light, and also won a RISE scholarship for summer research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. In January 2026 an international business junior received a $3,000 Gilman International Scholarship for a spring semester at the Lorenzo de' Medici Institute in Florence. That student is the sixth at HPU to earn a Gilman.

Symposium and Summer Research

The 14th annual Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, known as High-PURCS, was held in the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center on April 14, 2026, with posters, oral talks, technical exhibits and performances. More than 410 undergraduates worked with 88 faculty mentors on 260 presentations in 40 disciplines.

Three eight-week summer research programs share one application, and each includes housing, meals and a stipend. The Summer Research Institute is open to students in any discipline who line up a faculty mentor. The Summer Research Program in the Sciences places students on set projects in biology, chemistry and physics at about 40 hours a week, and the Congdon School of Health Sciences runs a Summer Research Fellowship. In July 2026, 31 SuRPS students and their 14 mentors presented in the Culp Planetarium and the Wanek School of Natural Sciences lobby.

Grants for Projects and Travel

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works lists its grants on one page. Students presenting a talk, poster, performance or exhibit can receive up to $1,000 per academic year toward reimbursable travel costs, and a faculty member must travel with them. Students who attend as observers, when the trip could lead to a future project, can receive up to $250. Small Project Support Grants pay up to $250 a year per student for materials, supplies or seed money. The Scholarly Interdisciplinary Research Grant is a single competitive award of up to $1,000 for a project that draws on two disciplines and has two mentors from different fields.

A separate fund comes from HPU's Quality Enhancement Plan. In the 2026 cycle the EQ at HPU Faculty-Student Research Grant offered up to $1,000 per project on emotional intelligence, with a $10,000 pool for undergraduate research and $3,000 for graduate research. A faculty or staff member applies with a student partner.

Fellowships, Prizes and Journals

Students and alumni preparing national applications work with the Office of Fellowships and Awards in Congdon Hall, which helps with finding funding, strategy, professional writing and interview practice. Several awards go through an HPU nomination first. The Goldwater is limited to sophomores and juniors. The Truman, for juniors committed to public service, provides up to $35,000 for graduate study.

The English department gives two annual portfolio prizes to seniors in the major or minor. The Edward J. Piacentino Award for Outstanding Scholarship judges scholarly writing from 2000- to 4000-level English courses, and the Marion C. Hodge Creative Writing Award judges fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. Undergraduate research and creative work appears in Innovation: Journal of Creative and Scholarly Works, published once a year since 2013, with submissions taken through Scholastica. Volume 11 came out in 2026.

Writing Center and Graduate Theses

The Writing Center serves every HPU writer, whether student, faculty member or staff, by online appointment at campus locations or virtually. Consultants help writers brainstorm, draft, revise and polish, and the center states that they leave the editing, proofreading and writing of the paper to its author. Graduate students book on a separate graduate schedule, where a professional consultant takes virtual appointments and helps outline and structure theses and dissertations.

The Norcross Graduate School's thesis, capstone and dissertation guide makes the student and the chair jointly responsible for quality. After the defense, the revised final copy goes to the Graduate School as a PDF with a signed checklist, and a document that falls short of the school's standards is returned, which may delay graduation. Finished Ed.D. dissertations from the Stout School of Education and D.M.S. capstones from the Congdon School of Health Sciences are kept in the library's Institutional Repository. The repository may also hold selected master's theses and honors projects, and Apogee, HPU's literary magazine, is one of its signature collections.

Before a portfolio, journal submission or dissertation goes in, our editors can give it a final check for grammar, consistency and format. See our High Point University dissertation and thesis editing and High Point University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• The Secret to Better Grades: Starting Your Writing Process Early
• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• Escaping the Revision Pile: Strategies for First-Round Approval