PLAINVIEW, TX — The Welch Foundation has awarded Wayland Baptist University a three-year, $135,000 grant to continue its undergraduate summer research program, increasing annual support to the highest level in the program’s 21-year history.
The renewed Welch Departmental Research Grant provides $45,000 per year through summer 2029, up from $40,000 annually during the previous grant cycle. Wayland has received the grant continuously since 2005.
“The continued growth of this grant says a great deal about the relationship Wayland has built with the Welch Foundation and the confidence they have placed in our program,” said Dr. Robert Moore, Professor of Chemistry and director of the Welch Summer Research Program. “More importantly, it allows us to continue providing undergraduate students with research experiences that can shape what they do academically and professionally for years to come.”
Welch support for undergraduate research at Wayland began at $25,000 per year in 2005 and remained at that level through 2017. Annual funding increased to $28,000 in 2018 before climbing to $40,000 with the previous three-year renewal. The new $45,000 annual award represents an 80% increase from the amount Wayland received when the program began.
The growth has helped Wayland expand opportunities for students while increasing the financial support available to those selected for summer research.
When the grant increased to $40,000 annually in 2022, Wayland was able to raise student stipends to $4,000 for eight weeks of research, up from $3,000 at the start of the program. That grant also provided additional resources for students to travel to scientific meetings and present their findings.
“The program has changed tremendously since 2005, but the purpose has remained the same,” Moore said. “We want to put students in a position where they are doing real science, facing real research problems and learning how to work through them. Welch has given us the ability to do that year after year, and each increase in support has allowed us to strengthen that experience.”
The results of that investment extend well beyond the summer months.
By 2022, 59 Wayland students had participated in the program, some for multiple summers. At that time, approximately 88 percent of participants who had graduated had continued into science or related careers, and more than half had earned advanced degrees.
Those outcomes have continued to grow. By 2024, Wayland reported that more than 90% of past participants had pursued science-related careers and 75% had advanced to higher degrees.
Wayland students supported through Welch also have built a record of success presenting their research alongside students from much larger universities at state, regional and national scientific meetings.
“For me, that is where you really see the value of what Welch has helped create at Wayland,” Moore said. “Students come into the program as undergraduates who are learning science, and they leave with the experience and confidence that comes from actually being scientists. We have watched that happen again and again for more than two decades.”
The new grant ensures that opportunity will continue for another three summers, extending a partnership between Wayland and the Welch Foundation through 2029.
