Grants and Writing Resources for the University of California, Santa Barbara

A junior studying psychological and brain sciences and statistics and data science took runner-up in the 2026 Library Award for Undergraduate Research with "1 + 1 < 1: Large Language Models in Insight Problem Solving." The project borrows the methods of psychology to test how paired AI agents compare with solo agents on creative problems, and the panel of librarians and faculty praised the way it joined computer science and psychology.

Money for Undergraduate Projects

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities gives the URCA Grant, up to $750 for a self-initiated research or creative project. Students in any major can apply alone or in groups of up to five. Each application needs an endorsement from a faculty mentor in the Academic Senate, along with a project plan of 750 to 1,000 words, a budget and a timeline. Recipients present their work at URCA Week the following May.

For travel, the Hanson Family Conference Travel Grant covers up to $1,000 in expenses for an academic conference in the United States. Applicants must already be accepted to present research done as UCSB undergraduates.

Prizes and Where Student Work Appears

Each year the Chancellor's Award in Undergraduate Research goes to four students, one each in science, social sciences, engineering, and humanities and fine arts. The work must come from the junior year or later, and each recipient receives a plaque and $500. The Library Award for Undergraduate Research is open to every enrolled undergraduate and judges three categories; for 2026 it paid $750 for first place and $500 for second in each. Winners are invited to publish their projects in eScholarship, the UC open access repository.

The open-access URCA Journal, founded in spring 2019, takes undergraduate research from any discipline. The Writing Program publishes Starting Lines, an annual anthology of student writing. Faculty readers choose the pieces, contest winners receive prizes, and the book is used as a text in Writing 1, Writing 2 and Linguistics 12.

Graduate Fellowships and Grad Slam

The Graduate Division lists its central campus fellowships in two groups. Continuing students apply directly for awards such as the Broida-Hirschfelder Fellowship in science, engineering and mathematics, the James D. Kline Fund for International Studies Award for thesis and dissertation research on international understanding, and the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Grant for doctoral and MFA students. Departments nominate students for the rest, among them the Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship, a single quarter for doctoral candidates that is meant to be the last award before the degree, and the twelve-month President's Dissertation Year Fellowship.

Grad Slam asks graduate researchers for a three-minute talk. At the 2026 final, a doctoral student in education won $5,000 and a place in the systemwide UC Grad Slam; the runner-up received $2,000 and the audience's pick $1,000.

Writing Help and Filing

Campus Learning Assistance Services runs writing tutoring for any piece at any stage. Drop-in sessions last 30 minutes and need no registration. Scheduled appointments meet in person or online, and 50-minute workshops take up one writing strategy at a time.

Graduate students can bring theses, dissertations and grant applications to the Graduate Student Resource Center, which also keeps a library of successful fellowship proposals. The GradPost list of writing resources adds the Graduate Writers' Room and a four-day Intensive Dissertation Write-In for doctoral students in the middle of the dissertation.

Finished theses and dissertations are filed electronically through ProQuest as a single PDF. The Graduate Division's filing guidance says staff check the formatting after the ProQuest submission, and the approval page with the committee's electronic signatures is sent in by email.

Before a manuscript goes to ProQuest, our editors can give it a final check for grammar, consistency and format. See our UC Santa Barbara dissertation and thesis editing and UC Santa Barbara 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
• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit