The Rigel Scholars Program

The Rigel (Baker) Scholars Program offers a select group of outstanding undergraduates the opportunity to extend and deepen their Writing 101 or First-Year Seminar work in the form of an enhanced, intensively mentored research and writing project. The Rigel Scholars Program provides a rising sophomore with funding for summer research followed by a fall small-group independent study (Writing 293) for the Scholars during which they draft and revise a substantive written project based on their research. Scholars’ writing will be published in a spring special online issue of Deliberations, the TWP’s journal of undergraduate student writing.

Project Abstracts

2017 Rigel Scholars Project Abstracts
2016 Lee D. Baker Scholars (Rigel) Project Abstracts
2015 Lee D. Baker Scholars (Rigel) Project Abstracts

Deliberations Online: Scholars' Final Articles

https://sites.duke.edu/bakerscholars/ 

How to Apply

Applications from 2016-17 Writing 101 and First-Year Seminar students has now closed. Check back in Fall 2017 for information about the 2018 Rigel Scholars Application

Call for Proposals

For questions regarding the program, please contact Dr. Denise K. Comer.

For tips on writing grant proposals, please the following: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/grant-proposals-or-give-me-the-money/

For proposal writing advice, proposal resources, and examples of undergraduate research projects, please see Resources for Writing Successful Proposals.

Program History

The Rigel Scholars Program was initially made possible by a Humanities Writ Large grant in 2015, and was available for Writing 101 students. It was named the Lee D. Baker Scholars for 2015 and 2016, in honor of Dr. Lee D. Baker, Professor of Cultural Anthropology and then Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Duke University, who was integral to the initial program's inception. Now, the Rigel Scholars Program, expanded in 2017 to include opportunities for both Writing 101 and First-Year Seminar students, is named for a bright blue star located in the Orion constellation (meant to signify Duke "Blue Stars"), and it is supported by the Thompson Writing Program.