How does undergraduate research funding compare at the University of Maryland and UVA?

For a student seeking a clearly defined, potentially substantial individual research award, UVA has a slight edge through the College of Arts & Sciences’ Harrison Undergraduate Research Awards. These awards fund faculty-mentored projects, including summer work, and can support research expenses and, in some cases, allow students to devote significant time to a project. UVA’s Center for Undergraduate Excellence also centralizes undergraduate research advising and opportunities.

Maryland can be especially accessible for students who want to enter research early and build experience through a large research university’s labs, faculty projects, and structured undergraduate programs. The Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research helps students find mentors, navigate project development, present work, and identify funding, while departments, honors programs, and faculty labs may offer their own paid or funded summer positions. UMD’s scale is an advantage in areas such as engineering, computer science, public health, life sciences, and government-related research.

The practical difference is that UVA’s funding landscape is somewhat easier to identify through prominent university-level awards, while Maryland’s support is more distributed across colleges, departments, and individual labs. At either school, the most accessible summer funding often comes from joining a professor’s already funded project rather than proposing an entirely independent one.