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 here.

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: APPLICATION

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