Undergraduate Biology Awards & Scholarships

Did you know? For many years we've provided assistance for KU students through our annual Student Research Awards. The 2025 application period has just opened, and we're offering several $1,000 awards to support student research conducted this year. You don't have to be a biology major—four of the awards are open to any KU student (engineering, art, journalism ... projects connected in some way to the KU Field Station—we hope you'll get creative). Deadline is in March.

Learn moreInfo and apply

The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce several scholarships and awards available to students pursuing a major in the College. We invite you to take advantage of this opportunity by submitting an online application. Brief descriptions of the scholarships and awards can be found on the CLAS website.

Critical Language Scholarships cover all costs of attending Intensive Summer Institutes through the United States Department of State.



Languages offered include: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla/Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.

Students in all fields are eligible to apply after two semesters of college; additional criteria depend on the language being studied.

•    National deadline in mid-November

The Emerging Scholars Program provides research experiences for low-income students in their first year at KU and supports their overall transition to college. Students get paid an hourly wage to work 4-7 hours per week as a research assistant and to complete a monthly professional development activity and attend the monthly professional development workshops. Incoming KU undergraduates who have a Federal Work-Study Award are eligible to apply. Summer Deadline: see site for up to date information.

Dr. George E. Gould graduated from the University of Kansas in 1929 with a degree in Entomology and was generous enough to bequeath funds from his estate to support KU undergraduate students interested in pursuing research with an entomological focus, under the general guidance of a member of the graduate faculty.  The Gould Award is not intended to provide faculty members with assistants, but students may well be associated with faculty research projects as independent investigators.  The George Gould Undergraduate Research Award in Entomology is awarded on the merit of the applicant's proposal, the applicant's academic record, and recommendations from faculty members who are familiar with the applicant and the proposed project.

The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation offers over 250 different scholarships for students in and around Kansas City.

Check the GKCCF site for Scholarship Opportunities

The Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research offers awards to support research by KU undergraduate and graduate students. There are two sets of awards: One that is exclusively for students affiliated with our research unit (Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research Awards), the other available to any student at KU conducting research at the University of Kansas Field Station, which we manage (KU Field Station Awards). Please note the the annual awards process is announced in late February or early March of each year, with award notifications to recipients in April.

KC Scholars supports you on your journey to fulfill your life goals by providing scholarships to college, training programs, and support services to ensure your success.

We invite residents living in six counties to apply for our programs:

• Wyandotte and Johnson (Kansas)

• Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte (Missouri)   

Find out more about KC Scholars

The KU Academic Works Site only shows active scholarships, so make sure to check back often to see if new scholarships have become available. 

Look for scholarships on KU Academic Works

The Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity is honored to be the steward of four QT-centered scholarships which range between $1,000 and $5,000 in non-renewable awards.

• LGBTQ Community Leadership Scholarship
• Chad A. Leat Scholarship
• Damon Kiley Meeker Scholarship
• Mark G. Noller Scholarship
• J.L. Cleland GLBTQIA Non-Discrimination Scholarship (for Incoming Freshmen)

For more information check out the Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity Scholarship Page. 

Undergraduate Research Awards (UGRAs) are $1,000 scholarships provided to undergraduate students pursuing original research or creative projects under the general guidance of a research mentor. The deadline to apply for an UGRA is in October for spring awards and in March for summer or fall awards.

Find out more about the Undergraduate Research Awards

The University Women's Club Scholarship helps to financially assist academically meritorious undergraduate and graduate women students at The University of Kansas.

Open to all women undergrads at KU with 3.5 GPA, $1500-$2500 per year 

Application:

University Women’s Club Scholarship Application