Research Fellowships and Scholarships
With small classes that average 16 students, faculty get to know Illinois Wesleyan students by name and give them the individual attention they deserve. Benefiting from an exclusively undergraduate setting, students work alongside faculty in research, or collaborate with them on their own designs, artwork, musical compositions or other works of fine art.
Illinois Wesleyan offers unique and significant opportunities to encourage and recognize student research. In fact, nearly every program listed below was created by former faculty members, university leadership or alumni who wanted to offer students the same opportunities they enjoyed.
In addition to the creative and scholarly fellowships listed below, Illinois Wesleyan students can apply for grants and scholarships through the Financial Aid department. Students may also work with the Associate Provost's office to apply for post-baccalaureate >awards.
The Robert S. and Nell B. Eckley Scholars and Artists Program supports summer research and creative activity for several students each year, enabling them to stay on campus over the summer to work under the direction of faculty mentors. The program was established by the late President Emeritus Robert S. Eckley, his wife Nell and the Eckley Family Foundation.
Award: $4,000 (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
- Megan Baker ’21 - “Queering Jo March: Investigating Gender Identity and Sexuality
in Alcott’s and Gerwig’s Little Women”
- Bhavin “Bobby” Koirala ’22 - “Constructing Carmichael Numbers of Order 2”
- Yovana Milosevic ’21 - “Exotic Tonguing: Immigration Narratives Told Through Gurlesque
Poems”
- Hannah Ogunnubi ’22 - “My Road to Creating a Complete Visual World for a Play”
- Xiaohan “Erin” Yuan ’22 - “Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Antioxidants in Tea”
- Kayley Rettberg ’20 - “Criminal Record Expungement Policy and its Consequences”
- Adam Cady ’20 - “Redressing the Tragedy: The Place of Otho the Great in John Keats’s
Letters"
- Leah Bieniak ’21 - “Determining Species Abundance and Habitat Preferences of Breeding
Birds in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois”
- Henryken (Minzhao) Liu ’21 - “Quantum State Separation and Demonstration of High-Dimensional
Entanglement”
- Julia Chen ’21 - “Unlocking the Secrets of Two New Viruses With a Unique Type of Blueprints”
- Brent Baughan '19 - “Statecraft and Class Power in the Ancient World”
- Abigail Kauerauf '19 - “Utilizing PDCM to Analyze How Comparable Liberal Arts Institutions
Evaluate Poetry”
- Kate McHugh '21 - “Compupus: From Bark to Boole”
- Sanghyun Nam '20 - “Through the Looking Glass: Coercing Millimeter Wavelength Spectroscopy
to Reveal More About Interstellar Dust and Hidden Regions of Space”
- Minji Will '19 - “Songs of Healing”
- Liuting Chen ’18 - “The Search for Reliable Witnesses”
- Jamie Kreppein ’18 - “Exploring Relationships between Public Events and Audience Reactions
to Theatrical Performances”
- Rebekah Nulty ’19 - “Spanish Translation of 'Living Kidney Donors' Website”
- Mansi Patel ’18 - “The Effects of Thyroid Hormone on Corneal Nerve Regeneration”
- Ashley Sons ’18 - “Health Literacy and Knowledge of Female Reproduction”
Entrepreneurially-minded students of any academic major who have a business idea are invited to submit proposals for the IWU Titan New Venture Challenge for the opportunity to pursue an entrepreneurial idea under the supervision of a faculty member and guidance of a successful entrepreneur.
Award: $5,000 stipend (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
Recipients
The John and Erma Stutzman Peace Fellows Program was created in 2007 to encourage talented Illinois Wesleyan University students to pursue focused study in areas involving peace, conflict resolution, and social justice, areas that reflect the broader University mission. Students are awarded a stipend to support their selected projects.
Award: $1,000 (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
Peace Fellows:
- Aida Cheung '18
- Sunniva Holmlund '17
- Carlos Ruiz '20
- Megan Zsorey '19
- Maeve Plunkett '21
- Adna Mujović '21
- Gwen Robinson '11
- Emily Coles '11
- Jessica Meyer '11
- Marie-Claudine Villacorta '08
- Monica Shah '09
These fellowships are distributed through Illinois Wesleyan's Action Research Center (ARC), which links Illinois Wesleyan students with research projects involving local not-for-profit organizations. Candidates should develop projects that make a meaningful impact on the community.
Award: Up to $1,000 (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
Weir Fellows:
- Devan Patel '22
- Daniel Maisch '22
- Benjamin Nielsen '18
- Hannah Gallee '17
- Leo Martinez '15
- Nettie Rauch '15
- Jacquelyn Schirmacher '18
- Amanda King '15
- Rachel Shaffer '17
- Lexia Swope '15
- Julie Lewis '16
- Matt LaLonde '14
- Annette Rauch '15
- Dave McGrath '15
- Meagan DeSalvo '15
- Kaitie Fancher '11
- Matt Hill '12
- Lindsey Haines '10
- Kenny Woodard '10
- Sneh Rajbhandari '09
- Danny Burke '09
- Laura Maxwell '09
The Criley Student Research Endowment, established in 2008 by alumni in honor of retired biology faculty Bruce and Norma Criley, provides summer research opportunities in the sciences.
Award: $4,000 (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
Criley Research Fellows:
Mark Israel '91 established an Endowed Summer Research Fund in Economics, providing students with the same experience he valued as a student — the opportunity to perform topical economics research, working in close collaboration with members of the economics faculty.
Award: $4,000 (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
Recipients:
The Luis Leal Endowed Scholarship is available to qualified students who carry out Hispanic Studies research off campus in an IWU-affiliated program.
Award: Up to $1,000 (must be a currently enrolled student to qualify)
Recipients:
- Avalon Bruno ('22)
- Colleen Palczynski (’22)
- Jessa Salvador ('22)
Recipient:
- Matthew McGill '17