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OpenSolaris Undergraduate Student Research Grant Program FAQ

Registration
Sun Contributor Agreement
Eligibility
Mentors
Proposal Submission
Proposal Evaluation Criteria
Project Report

What Is the OpenSolaris Undergraduate Student Research Grant Program?

The OpenSolaris Undergraduate Student Research Grant Program is intended to build working relationships between the OpenSolaris community and colleges, faculty, and students. The program is designed to recognize and award grants for outstanding student engineering or research projects related to OpenSolaris.

We hope these awards will encourage more students and faculty to participate in the OpenSolaris community. Join a community, a project, a forum or other discussion. Use OpenSolaris. Study OpenSolaris.

This program will award up to USD $75,000 in grants for undergraduate research on OpenSolaris. Candidate topics for research include virtualization, performance, security, file systems. There are many others.

We expect to award grants of up to $5,000 to teams of one undergraduate student and one faculty advisor. Other scenarios are possible. See the official rules in the Call for Proposals.

All grants are in U.S. dollars.

Dates

Thursday May 15, 2008 at 11:59 pm PT Submit grant proposal
June 16, 2008 (approximately) Receive notification if you have won a grant
June 30, 2008 (approximately) List of grant winners posted on this site
August 15, 2008 (approximately) Award checks mailed to grant winners
December 16, 2008 Final research report due

Registration

How Do I Register for This Grant Program?

To register for this grant program, go to the registration and submission site and follow the directions given in Step 1. Even though Step 1 is labeled "Register for the Contest," this is also the first step to register for the grant program. You will be sent a password that you can then use to sign in to the site. You can sign in at any time and modify your registration.

If you have any problems with the registration process, send email to grant dash submit at sun dot com.

If you registered but did not receive your password:

  • Make sure you entered your email address correctly when you registered. Your password will be sent to that email address.
  • Make sure your spam-blocking tool allows you to receive email from grant dash submit at sun dot com.

Sun Contributor Agreement

You must sign and return the Sun Contributor Agreement (SCA) before you submit your proposal.

Note: Allow 3 days to receive your SCA number after you submit your signed SCA.

Eligibility

Each proposal must be submitted by a team of at least one faculty advisor and one undergraduate student from the same institution. A team may include up to four undergraduate students. A faculty advisor may advise more than one team.

Each person involved in any grant proposal must register on the www.opensolaris.org site. Each person involved in any grant proposal must have a signed Sun Contributor Agreement (SCA) on file before the proposal is submitted.

Employees of Sun Microsystems, Inc., and its parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries, and family members of Sun employees who live in the same household are not eligible. See the official grant rules for details.

Sun Campus Ambassadors are eligible to participate with the following additional restrictions:

  1. Ambassador's participation must be voluntary, and without direction, encouragement, or other involvement from Sun Microsystems, Inc.
  2. Ambassadors must not be paid by Sun Microsystems Inc. for any work conducted in conjunction with the Program.
  3. Ambassadors may not submit any work that they have conducted for Sun Microsystems, Inc. as part of a Proposal or Project.
  4. Ambassadors must work on Proposals and Projects outside of scheduled Sun Microsystems Inc. work hours.
  5. Ambassadors may not use any Sun Microsystems Inc. resources to work on a Proposal or Project.

Mentors

While Sun employees are not, in general, eligible to receive grants or to enter the contest portion of the awards program, Sun employees are allowed to mentor grant recipients. Also, non-Sun community members who have expertise in the particular area could act as mentors.

If you would like to work with a mentor on your grant research or project, please write to grant dash submit at sun dot com.

Proposal Submission

Proposals must be received by Thursday May 15, 2008 at 11:59 pm PT.

Sun Contributor Agreement

You must sign and return the Sun Contributor Agreement (SCA) before you submit your proposal.

Note: Allow 3 days to receive your SCA number after you submit your signed SCA.

How do I submit my proposal?

To submit your grant proposal, go to the registration and submission site and follow the instructions in Step 3, "Upload Your Awards Entry Submission(s)." Your proposal must meet the requirements described below. You must have already registered. If you have any problems with the submission process, send email to grant dash submit at sun dot com.

Note: You must complete both Step 1 (Register) and Step 2 (Declare Your University Grant Proposal) before you can start Step 3 (Upload Your Awards Entry Submission).

Submit your proposal as a single PDF file.

All proposals must be written in plain text, must be in English, must be typed in single column, double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font. The proposal must not exceed 10,000 words or 20 pages. Source code references are exempt from this limitation and may be uploaded as a separate file. There is no minimum length for the proposal. In addition, all proposals must include the following:

  • A written description of a project that applies to OpenSolaris in some way, including, but not limited to, operating system development, device driver development, OpenSolaris technology in alternative software, ports to experimental/research hardware, kernel development, or porting of research applications and/or platforms to run on OpenSolaris. Your project description must:

    • Provide a statement of purpose for the project.

    • Provide a brief background and cite any supporting or related research already performed with a concise set of references.

    • Describe the approach to be used for the project.

    • Describe how this grant will specifically facilitate the project.

    • Describe the key technology goals of the project.

    • Describe briefly what the expected outcome of this research will be.

    • Describe the significant deliverables, such as progress reports, annual reports, seminar exchanges, prototypes.

    • Provide a schedule for outcome reports which will detail each potential Grantee’s progress toward their objectives, goals, and deliverables.

  • Documentation, including:

    • The name of the proposal team's university or college.

    • A brief C.V. for each Team Member, including the name, email address, and phone number of each Undergraduate Researcher; and the name, email address, web page, and phone number of each Faculty Advisor who submits a particular proposal.

    • A detailed budget for the Project, including cash and/or equipment expenses. For example, specify whether you plan to use the Grant to:

      • Pay salaries, wages, or stipends
      • Purchase, lease, or borrow equipment or supplies
      • Pay for contract services
      • Pay for travel, membership, or publication expenses

    • A reference list or bibliography, including open source code references used for the Proposal

  • Proof of university or college affiliation for both the faculty advisor and student(s), which may include, for the faculty advisor a link to the faculty advisor's web page, and for the student(s), a copy of the student's transcript.

  • An image file of a scanned document listing all proposal team members, the signatures of all team members (including faculty advisor and students, and the percentage of the potential grant to be awarded to each team member. Grants may be awarded to student researchers, faculty advisors, or to the team's college or university as allowed by the team's country of residence. If a potential grantee's country of residence requires that grants be awarded to the college or university, the grant will be awarded to the appropriate institution, regardless of the request indicated on the proposal.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

All proposals will be judged by a panel of experts comprised of members of the OpenSolaris community, based on the following evaluation criteria:

  • Novelty
  • Feasibility and significance of proposal
  • Accomplishments of the student researcher(s)
  • Accomplishments of the faculty advisor
  • Evidence of institutional affiliation
  • The research environment

All proposals must comply with the proposal requirements set forth above.

If your proposal is selected, you will be notified on or about June 16, 2008, by email, phone or postal mail, as provided during registration.

Names of grantees will be posted on this web site on or about June 30, 2008.

Project Report

Each grantee team must submit a written report of the project by Tuesday, December 16, 2008 and must attribute Sun Microsystems, Inc. in all publications regarding the winning proposal and project, according to the terms and conditions of the Sun Contributor Agreement.

For more information, see the official rules in the Call for Proposals.