Sigma Xi is a national honors society that, among other activities, provides research funds for undergraduate students in the sciences and engineering.  (The society also publishes the American Scientist magazine.)  Students proposing projects in biological anthropology and archaeology may be especially likely to propose competitive projects, but students proposing projects in sociocultural and linguistic anthropology have also been funded.

You can see a year-by-year list of projects in anthropology that have been funded in the past ten years at:
(For each year, click on “Alphabetical by Subject.”)

Next deadline: March 15!  (March 15 applicants will be notified about funding by the end of May)


The application contains two pages. The first page includes personal information about the student applicant. The second includes proposal information (proposal should be < 500 words).

Our departmental faculty representative for Sigma XI is Prof. Stanley Ambrose.  If you are interested in applying for one of these awards, you may want to discuss your ideas soon with Prof. Ambrose.  And we recommend working closely with your faculty advisor to prepare your proposal!

More information at:http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/index.shtml


Very funny sample application (for Albert Einstein) at:

Online application at:

Tips for preparing a competitive application at:

N.B.  While membership in Sigma Xi is not a requirement to apply for funding from the Grants-in-Aid of Research program, approximately 75% of funds are restricted for use by dues paying student members of Sigma Xi OR students whose project advisor is a dues-paying member of Sigma Xi.