With the Sept. 17 deadline quickly approaching, applications are still being accepted for the Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship (SAGES) Capstone Resource Grant.

Through the program, individuals in any discipline working on their SAGES Capstone project can qualify for up to $250 in funding. Groups of students can receive up to $1000.

The money is meant to be spent on resources for the project, which can include supplies and travel expenses. The grant does not provide stipend support.

SAGES Capstone projects are the final step in the SAGES course sequence that undergraduate students must complete. Typically completed in an undergraduate student’s senior year, the one- or two-semester project is required for graduation.

The application process is coordinated by the office of the Support of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE), the Case Western Reserve University department dedicated to finding research opportunities for undergraduate students.

According to SOURCE director Sheila Pedigo, the SAGES resource grant was introduced last spring as a way to encourage more ambitious projects.

In its inaugural semester, over $6000 was awarded to fund 13 projects by a total of 31 students.

Senior Owen Mayer was one of these students. His group worked to develop a wireless keycard-based door-unlocking mechanism that could be placed over existing deadbolt locks. He says that the grant was instrumental to the success of his group’s project.

“Having extra funding available gave us some freedom to explore more technically interesting design routes without being limited by resources,” Mayer said.

Despite the success of the program last spring and the application for this semester being available since May, at press time, SOURCE only had received one application for the SAGES Capstone Resource Grant.

Pedigo attributed this slow start to the fact that the program is still unknown to many students.

“[The reason that we have received so few applicants] is that the word is not out,” Pedigo said. “We are hoping that with this year, we can really ingrain with students that the grant is there, and that it is going to be there.”

Applications for the SAGES Capstone Resource Grant for this semester can be found at http://www.case.edu/provost/source/fundform.html until Sept. 17. According to Pedigo, applications for the spring semester should be available in either November or December.