Grants and Writing Resources for the University of Idaho
In February 2026 the University of Idaho hosted the state's eighth statewide Three Minute Thesis competition in Coeur d'Alene, where twelve graduate students from Idaho's three public research universities each presented their research in three minutes with one slide. U of I competitors took three of the four honors. A talk on culturally relevant practices in Indigenous early childhood classrooms won first place and the People's Choice Award, and a study of beta-glucan in the path from barley to beer placed third.
Paying for Undergraduate Research
The Office of Undergraduate Research funds student-led research and creative projects in any discipline through OUR Semester Awards of up to $1,000. Applicants send an abstract, project description, budget and faculty letter of support. When the project ends, they file a written report and present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium, and leftover funds and equipment go back to the office.
Summer work has a separate track. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) pays a stipend plus research support for ten weeks of full-time, faculty-mentored work from June into early August, and students in every field can apply. OUR Travel Grants of up to $800 help undergraduates present research, scholarly or creative work at a professional conference during the academic calendar.
Presenting Research
The Undergraduate Research Symposium is held each spring; in 2026 students showed their posters in Memorial Gym. Creative projects are welcome, and an artist's statement can serve as the abstract.
Graduate students compete in the campus Three Minute Thesis: a spoken talk, one static slide, and disqualification past three minutes. Doctoral students qualify after completing half their program credits. Master's thesis students need a committee-accepted research proposal and a third of their credits. Prizes run from $1,000 for first place to $250 for People's Choice, and all four placing students advance to the statewide final.
National Scholarships, English Awards and Journals
The Distinguished Scholarships Program works with high-achieving students and recent alumni on 20 national and international awards, among them the Goldwater, Truman and Udall scholarships and NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Advisers help with essays and application materials, arrange campus nomination and endorsement, and coach candidates for interviews.
The English department awards about $200,000 a year to its majors. It lists the literary journal Fugue and Thistle, its undergraduate literary journal. M.F.A. writers can earn the Hemingway Fellowship, given to a third-year fiction writer, or a Writing in the Wild fellowship, a week of writing at the McCall Outdoor Science School or the Taylor Wilderness Research Station.
Writing Center and Thesis Requirements
The Writing Center works with undergraduates, graduate students, employees, postdoctoral researchers and alumni. Sessions run in person in Room 215A of the University of Idaho Library, by live video, or as written feedback by email. Graduate students, employees and postdocs also have the Graduate Writing Center in Room 323 of the Idaho Student Union Building, with consultations for writers working toward publication or academic jobs. The center produces Resilient Dimension, an annual literary journal made with the Prison Education Initiative.
For thesis and dissertation writers, the College of Graduate Studies offers format review and writing support: a thesis and dissertation advisor checks the draft against the Thesis and Dissertation Handbook, and Graduate Writing Center consultants comment on proposals, theses and dissertations. The catalog requires the final defense three weeks before the last day of the term of graduation. The candidate then has six months to submit the final electronic version to ETD/ProQuest or must defend again. Earlier work is searchable in the U of I thesis and dissertation repository.
Before a paper, thesis or dissertation goes to a committee, our editors can check its grammar, consistency and handbook format. See our University of Idaho dissertation and thesis editing and University of Idaho 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 the University of Idaho, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your U of I writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.