The senior thesis is Princeton’s capstone undergraduate experience, allowing students to reflect on and demonstrate mastery developed over four years. PLAS travel funding supports rising seniors and seniors in the design and pursuit of on-the-ground research on Latin America and the Caribbean. Juniors must apply in the spring term through SAFE to conduct research during the summer preceding their senior year and seniors must apply in the fall term through SAFE to conduct research during intersession.  

Finding Context in Contact

PLAS students typically focus their senior thesis on a topic related to Latin America or the Caribbean. Each year, a diversity of interests is reflected, from the effects of exoticism in Mexican beach resorts to the evolution of gang violence in Central America. PLAS senior-thesis funding supports those who aspire to deepen their research through hands-on experience.

Application Details

Eligibility

• Juniors and seniors
• Preference given to PLAS students

Parameters

• Funding: Up to $7,500
• Application cycles: Summer (Juniors apply through SAFE in the spring semester, early February through mid-March); Intersession (Seniors apply through SAFE in the fall semester, late September through late November)
• Funding covers: Air and ground travel (coach only), room and board, living expenses
• Not covered: Equipment, materials, and other expenditures
• Restrictions: PLAS will not fund travel to countries on the U.S. State Department travel-warning list, unless an exception is granted by the University

Application requirements

Students must apply in SAFE. The application includes: research proposal, transcript, budget, and recommendation from an adviser. 

Students are required to list a recommender when applying to this opportunity. SAFE will automatically prompt the adviser to complete an online evaluation form.

IMPORTANT: Students should only have one active application per project. Whenever possible, students should apply for funding from multiple funders such as their home department and to the Office of Undergraduate Research via the same single application. Submitting multiple applications for the same project not only duplicates work for the advisers and department representatives evaluating the proposals, it can also jeopardize a student's funding eligibility. 

Students will be required to register their travel in the University Travel Enrollment System and to have Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval if the research involves human subjects.

Upon their return, students submit photos taken while carrying out their research in Latin America and a one- to two-page synthesis of their research results. Caption details to be included for each photo:

• Project name if applicable
• City, State, Country as applicable
• Name of whom to receive photo credit

Awardees may be invited to present their results at a PLAS event.