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ORCA

2020 Opportunities in Research and Creative Arts
(ORCA) Program at City College of New York

ORCA — Opportunities in Research and Creative Arts — is a CCNY program that seeks to engage students in cutting-edge research, scholarship, and creativity at City College. The program provides an opportunity to work closely with a member of the City College full-time faculty in a 10-week summer immersion program. ORCA does not provide course credit but does provide financial support in the form of a stipend and a supply budget.

Past projects have included lab and archival research, textual scholarship, service learning opportunities with community partners, and collaborative art.  Projects may be conducted either one-on-one with a faculty mentor or in small teams. (For teams, each student member must apply individually).  We particularly encourage interdisciplinary approaches to problems. Brief descriptions of last year’s projects can be found .

The strongest applications allow the student to work in an apprentice role on the faculty member’s research, articulating a well-defined project for the student that makes a contribution to the faculty member’s research agenda.

Students are required to present their projects in the form of a poster, web-page, or video presentation at  the ORCA symposium held the fall. 

If you have any questions, please contact the ORCA Project team at   orcaproject@ccny.cuny.edu  .

HOW TO APPLY

Choice of Mentor:   

Applicants should identify and develop a proposal with a member of the  full-time faculty at City College.    

Eligibility: 

Undergraduates at any point in their studies who have completed their first year (or equivalent), have a CCNY grade point average of at least 3.0, and will be enrolled at City College in Summer or Fall 2020 are eligible for the summer ORCA program. 

Deadline: April 1, 2020

Required information:  

1.     A brief description of experience relevant to the project, career goals, and reasons for applying to the ORCA program (250 words).

2.     A project proposal (250 words), written by the student in consultation with the faculty mentor.  This should include a description of the work that will be done and its aims, as well as the larger research agenda to which it contributes. 

3.     A budget of up to $3,500 for the project. This budget includes a stipend of up to $3,000 for the student (20 hours/week @ $300/week, up to 10 weeks), as well as a $500 budget for expenses that are essential to the success of the project.  The budget should include explanations for each item, detailing why it is essential to the project.  

4.     A one-page letter of support from the faculty mentor, indicating willingness to supervise the project, detailing experience with the student, and evaluating the student’s qualifications for the project. 

5.     A unofficial copy your transcript, with an official transcript supplied on acceptance (email to   orcaproject@ccny.cuny.edu  )

6.     After the student applicant submits an application, faculty advisors will receive an email requesting a letter of recommendation.

APPLY: 

Applications must be complete to considered. It is the applicant's responsibility to confirm that the faculty member submits the letter of support.