UCLA Lewis Center Graduate Research Grant (GRG) Program

The Lewis Center supports research that is aligned with its initiative areas: transportation, environment, housing and economic development. Each fall, the Lewis Center allocates approximately 6 graduate student awards of $1,000 to $4,500 each in support of theses, Applied Policy Projects (APP's), client projects, Applied Management Research (AMR's), and law school related research projects in these fields of study. Priority is given for research focused on policy issues relevant to California. The grants may be used for research costs such as data, software, travel for data collection, production of final report, and undergraduate research assistance. The program will not cover graduate student salaries, tuition remission, meals, or gift cards.

The posted deadline for academic year 2011-2012 is October 21, 2011, and the application procedure will be widely publicized at the beginning of fall quarter. New this year: students who engage in early research are welcome to apply for Lewis Center support anytime ahead of deadline, to be evaluated on a rolling basis.

Proposals should include the student’s name, department, phone and e-mail addresses; a one-page proposal containing an overview of the topic, methods, and relevancy to regional policy issues; and a letter of recommendation from one faculty member.

Please submit hard copies of application materials to Allison Yoh, Graduate Research Grant (GRG) Program, UCLA Lewis Center, 3320H Public Affairs Building, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656

Recommendation forms and other materials are available for download

If you have further questions, feel free to email us.

Examples of previous award-winning GRG projects   

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Awards (deadline: June 3, 2011)

The Lewis Center allocates annual awards to promote the use of spatial analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) to study California planning and policy issues. Submissions are evaluated on research organization and methods as well as the use of GIS to produce descriptive and analytical insight regarding the policy question. Winners will be selected by the GIS coordinator and the Director of the Lewis Center. Awardees must be enrolled spring quarter in a UCLA graduate program.  Contest winners will be required to prepare a poster board highlighting their project for display at the Lewis Center and an electronic version that will be posted to the Lewis Center website. All costs associated with producing these materials will be covered by the Lewis Center. The deadline for applying for a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Awards is June 3, 2011. 

If you have further questions, feel free to email us.

Examples of previous award-winning GIS projects

Student Research Employment Opportunities

Student research employment opportunities as a Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) are primarily faculty-driven: they occur intermittently throughout the year and are based on faculty members’ areas of research interest.  For more information, please check with individual faculty members and the Lewis Center Faculty Fellows, or email us.

Support for Student Events

Support for student events is available from the Lewis Center, and may include room-booking, promotion or planning assistance, or similar services. Please note that to effectively assist you with your event, we request an advanced notice of four weeks.  Some funding support may also be available for student events and initiatives, and requests are reviewed on an ongoing basis, as funding allows.  For more information, please email us.

Student Invitations to Professional Events

On an ongoing and regular basis, the Lewis Center extends invitations to students to attend professional and academic events.  These events and activities may include faculty research presentations, special panel discussions, guest lectures, roundtable discussions by policymakers and practitioners, and other invitation-only events as available.  To receive notification of these opportunities, please join the Lewis Center mailing list here.