Criteria and Application Process

The McKinstry Fellows Research Program supports student-faculty (and possibly staff) research teams probing questions that are relevant to society today and that will impact future generations, with an emphasis on providing meaningful research experiences for undergraduate students in Health Sciences and STEM disciplines.

[GU = Gonzaga University, UWSOM = University of Washington School of Medicine] 

Criteria 

A. Proposals must satisfy at least one of these four criteria: 

1. The project focuses on a significant health-related question.
2. The project is co-curricular, mindfully incorporating a non-academic office and/or non-faculty employee(s) at GU and/or UWSOM (e.g., RIDE, MEDEX, CCE, GU-Outdoors, UMEC, LLRC, Clinical Legal Programs).
3. The project is a collaborative effort involving at least one Eastern Washington government agency, nonprofit organization, or industry partner.
4. The project is interdisciplinary and involves faculty and/or students from different disciplines, especially those not traditionally linked. 

We are particularly interested in projects that do at least one of the following:  

• aim to improve the health and/or well-being of rural residents,
• include at least one research team member (e.g., student, faculty, staff) from both GU and UWSOM, or
• articulate how the proposed work connects to at least one of the mission statements of GU and the UWSOM.  

B. Student/Mentor Expectations 

• While awards can be used to support medical and/or graduate students, one goal of this program is to provide meaningful research experiences for undergraduate students. Proposals must address student impact and involvement in the research, and the lead mentor must be committed to work directly with the student(s) throughout the research period.
• Given that the summer research program should provide a meaningful research experience for students, proposals must demonstrate reasonable aspirations for timeline, budget, and goals.
• Projects that involve human subjects must be approved by Gonzaga's Institutional Review Board (IRB). If IRB approval is needed for your project, the expectation is that the lead mentor will have obtained IRB approval by the articulated start date. If IRB approval is not secured in time, funding will be withheld.
• While projects should have clear results and outcomes by the end of the summer, projects may extend into the next academic year after an initial summer period (6-10 weeks); clearly indicate in your application if you wish to do this. If the proposed summer research period is shorter than 10 weeks, it is expected that the project will (most likely) extend into the following academic year.
• Lead mentors must submit a summary of results (~2-3 pages) to CURCI by Oct.15. For projects that have been extended into the following academic year, a preliminary report is due Oct. 15 with a full summary of results due 5 weeks after the proposed project end date.

Who is eligible to apply?

Faculty – affiliated with Gonzaga and/or UW School of Medicine who: 

• will be returning for fall semester, and 
• are able to serve as a research mentor in or near Spokane throughout the proposed research period.

If there are any co-mentors (faculty or staff), each co-mentor will need to submit a separate scope-of-work statement; see the application instructions for more details.

Once a proposal is accepted, faculty lead mentors can either self-identify research students, or CURCI can help recruit as needed. Students will be asked to submit a separate application for database tracking purposes. 

Note the criteria for students listed below. 

• Students must be enrolled at GU or UW School of Medicine, and:
  • will be returning for fall semester.
  • are available to work in the Spokane area throughout the proposed research period.
  • are available to participate in any necessary safety and research ethics training.
  • can present their project through poster or oral presentations in Spokane in the fall (or spring if necessary) immediately following the summer research.
• This program is open to all students, regardless of major, including undergraduate, graduate, medical, and physician assistant (PA) students.

Funding Specifics

• Typical awards are between $15k and $30k; the maximum award will be $32k.
• In general, undergraduate student compensation should account for at least 33% of the proposed budget

Now accepting applications for Summer 2026. Applications are due at 11:59pm on February 25th, 2026. No late applications will be accepted.

Faculty and medical students may request an application by contacting us at curci@gonzaga.edu, with “McKinstry Application Request” in the subject line; members of the Gonzaga Community can also access this info at CURCI's myGU website.

The McKinstry Fellows Research Program exists due to the generous support of Dean and Vicki Allen. Click here to read more about the Allens and the origins of the McKinstry Fellows Research Program.