McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University

Murphy Society Awards

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Unrestricted gifts to the McCormick Annual Fund are generously made by alumni and friends of Northwestern engineering. Donors who give $1,000 or more to McCormick are recognized as members of the Walter P. Murphy Society. Each year, a portion of this unrestricted support is allocated to fund special faculty- and student-initiated projects that benefit undergraduate engineering through Murphy Society project grants.

Learn more about funding Murphy Society Grants by visiting McCormick’s page on Northwestern’s development site.

Murphy Society Grant Selection Process for FY13

In the fall, current Murphy Society members and Dean Ottino consider projects to be funded and initiated in the new academic year and implemented over 1 to 3 years. Multi-year Murphy projects for faculty are also reviewed for renewal at this time.

To be supported by the Murphy Society, projects must be innovative, bring a benefit to a significant number of McCormick undergraduate students, support the McCormick School strategic plan, and be self-sustaining. Murphy Society funds are not used for ongoing program support.

As part of the selection process, current Murphy Society members review proposals online or in-person, and then recommend those projects they would like the dean to support. The dean of McCormick then makes the funding decision and announces grant awards to McCormick faculty and student organizations during the fall quarter.

For faculty proposals, department chairperson(s) must approve proposals prior to their submission and student organizations must have a faculty sponsor oversee and sign off on their project.

Proposal Submission and Deadline Dates

Requests for proposals (RFPs) for McCormick Faculty projects will be distributed by Associate Dean Joseph Schofer in spring 2013; RFPs for McCormick Student organization projects will be distributed at the same time by Assistant Dean Ellen Worsdall. The RFPs will also be available on this website.

Proposals must be submitted by June 30, 2013 to be eligible for consideration.

Faculty proposals should be emailed to Associate Dean Joseph Schofer.

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McCormick student organization proposals must be submitted to Assistant Dean Ellen Worsdall.

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