Summer FRAF provides up to $1750 in summer funding: $1500 for student payroll and $250 for materials. Funding can be used to support multiple students, but the total award amount remains the same. All students must be currently enrolled UTK undergraduate students.

Faculty must list FRAF positions on Handshake for at least 7 days. Faculty must consult with URF (who will contact Federal Work Study) if they plan to hire a work-study student before an offer of employment is made to ensure the student is eligible for hire.

FRAF students will be added to the faculty's department payroll and paid on an hourly basis via bi-weekly timesheet. We allow departments to set the hourly rate of pay. You will want to set the rate of pay depending on how many total hours the student is working for you over each semester. We suggest a rate of $15.00 per hour. At the end of the fall semester, the department must submit payroll distribution reports in order to receive reimbursement. The payroll distribution report is due by August 15, 2025. This deadline must be met in order to receive reimbursements. Faculty in the Herbert College of Agriculture and the College of Veterinary Medicine will receive their funding as a budget transfer.

FRAF faculty are responsible for communicating all FRAF expectations to their department heads/supervisors and their business managers.

Selected FRAF student employees must be current undergraduate students in good academic standing and enrolled for the semester in which they are working. Priority should be given to students who previously have not held a research position.

FRAF students funded by this program are required to meet with OURF staff to discuss future undergraduate research and fellowships opportunities.

FRAF students are required to attend 1 session of URF’s Research Workshop Series per semester on a topic of their choice (https://studentsuccess.utk.edu/urf/getting-started/helpful-resources/seminar-series/).

FRAF students agree to present their research within a year of completing their FRAF position, at either the annual fall research exhibition, Discovery Day, or at the annual spring research event, EURēCA. Students are welcome to present at ASUReS or a discipline specific conference, but it will not replace this requirement.

Students should only be hired for one URF grant at a time; students cannot simultaneously hold a FRAF, DRA, and/or AURA grant.

Faculty recipients of FRAF may be called upon to judge projects at EURēCA and/or assist in reviewing articles for PURSUIT, UTK’s undergraduate research journal.