Michael & Fran Trevisan Doctoral Research Award Application

Background

This award is intended to support doctoral students in collecting and/or analyzing their dissertation data. The fund that supports these awards is in honor of the service that Dean Michael and Fran Trevisan have provided to the College of Education, Sport, and Human Sciences and Washington State University.

Uses and Purposes

The award will provide funds up to $500 per applicant. Funds are to be used to support graduate students as they conduct their dissertation research. Specifically, doctoral students may apply for this funding for the purposes of:

• Paying for participant incentives for individuals participating in the study (e.g., cash, gift cards).
• Paying for mileage/fuel to and from data collection sites.
• Purchasing specific software (not available through WSU) for data analysis.
• Paying for a second, independent coder to obtain inter-coder agreement or inter-rater reliability.
• Paying for transcription in cases where transcription freely available through software applications or online platforms is not adequate.
• Other specific needs for data collection or analysis that are clearly aligned with the described intent of this award.

As part of the application process, applicants will be required to provide a rationale to ensure that their requests meet the intent of the fund and to ensure that those students with the greatest need are prioritized for funding. We prioritize those on a limited income, such as students who have an assistantship (i.e., teaching assistant, research assistant), fellowship, or scholarship as their primary form of income.

How to Apply

• Submit a completed application, including your Project Narrative, as well as an email from your Dissertation Chair approving your need for funds, through the form below.
• Application is due January 31, 2026. Late applications will not be considered.

Applications will be reviewed with a focus on:

• Fit and alignment with the purpose of the funding, as described above.
• Quality and clarity of the research purpose and methods.
• Applicant’s need for funding.

What we’re looking for in your Project Narrative:

• Title of Project. Please provide the title of your proposed project
• Introduce the problem or project and the expected outcomes.
• Purpose, Questions, and Significance. Provide an explicit statement of the purpose and/or research questions you seek to answer.
• Briefly describe the data collection methods, sample/participants, instruments and procedures, and qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods of analyses.
• Applicant’s Need for Funding.
  • Provide a description for how you plan to use the funds. Your rationale should align clearly with the intent of the funds, described on the previous page.
  • Describe how these funds will support research activities that cannot be funded by other means (i.e., software or equipment that is not available through WSU, transcription that cannot be obtained through no-cost options). Describe current support for your doctoral education and research (e.g., TA or RA with no additional source of income, doctoral fellowship and the source). Please share why your financial situation would benefit from being awarded this funding. Note: Students with the greatest need will be prioritized.
  • List specific costs for items and/or services proposed. Include the number of items or hours of services (e.g., 15 gift cards at $10/card, 4-month subscription to software at $50/month, 6 trips to data site at $40/trip).
• This project narrative should be no more than one page, single spaced. 

Include an email from your chair that states that they have read and approve of your application, uploaded separately from the Project Narrative.

Applications are due January 31, 2026.

This application is now closed.