What is a GRA ?

1. GRA = Graduate Research Assistant, or Graduate Research Assistantship
2. In our department, GRAs and GTAs have the same benefits (salary, tuition, etc.). For GRAs, the grant pays the student's salary and benefits as well as the tuition, so the cost of a GRA to the grant is considerable. Occasionally, GRA funding comes without tuition support; prospective GRAs should make sure they know what the grant may cover.
3. GRA is associated with some funded project associated with the faculty adviser (supervisor). Typically this means the supervisor wrote a grant proposal which included a Graduate Research Assistantship in its budget, for full or partial academic year, possibly including also (some) summer support.
   The grant typically has a beginning and an end date, even though the end can be postponed if there are remaining funds.
   The faculty has a certain fixed amount of funding to be assigned as GRA funds, which usually cannot be extended ad-hoc to cover longer funding period, or more students.
4. Many grants awarded to faculty in Mathematics come from NSF (National Science Foundation), some come from DOE (Department of Energy), and/or other agencies. In our department the list of active grants can be found at http://www.math.oregonstate.edu/research_projects
   Sometimes the available GRA positions are advertized in the newsletter or by email.
5. The time lag between the submission of a proposal for funding and the beginning of a grant varies. For the NSF or the DOE grants, the time-lag is usually between half a year and a year, and it is preceeded by a long proposal writing process (faculty) followed by the review and decision process (funding agency). Typical submissions have deadlines once a year, and the faculty obtaining a new grant advertise this fact in the newsletter. Sometimes extra funding becomes available from ad-hoc funds, but a prospective GRA should identify exactly what the grant would cover and for what term the funding would apply.
6. Grants are very competitive and the competition is stiff so your success in contributing to the project will be important to your supervisor (For the NSF, the official success rate of obtaining the funding is about 20%. See overview)
7. The grant and GRAs are managed by the faculty supervisor who makes decisions about any expenditures from the grant. They also make decisions about continued funding for a given GRA.
8. A graduate student can serve as a GTA for one or more terms, and as a GRA in some other terms. Students should obtain a committment in writing from their superviser as for what terms they would be supported as GRA, and this committment usually informs the Graduate Committee, the Department Head, and department office staff (Graduate Coordinator and Office Manager) in weak 4 or 5 of the term preceding the term of the GRA appoinment.
9. Summer GRA support, if available, can be arranged in various ways, depending on the funds available as well as supervising faculty plans. In particular, it may involve summer registration, or it may not require it. In the latter case the salary can be paid as hourly wages.
10. What does being a GRA mean? In general terms, it means that a student spends part of their week doing research in the direction of the grant, and this is typically closely monitored by the supervisor of the GRAship. In most circumstances, this research is closely related to the students' thesis project. There may be additional tasks a GRA would be assigned to do to help get the project, or the reporting, going.
11. What are the advantages of being a GRA ? You (i) spend more time doing research, and have a chance to (ii) advance faster towards writing publications, to (iii) get experience attending conferences, giving presentations etc. Sometimes the grants include (iv) some travel support which your supervisor can use to help you to attend professional meetings, workshops etc.
    You (can) (v) also gain visibility.
12. Being a GRA is a privilege and a job, at least as demanding as being a GTA. GRAs require committment from the student. Faculty's committment is implicit since they have to report on how the grant funds are being spent to further the grant's goals and deliverables. They also want to apply for future funding, thus the success of a GRA is important to them and to the project.
13. What are the disadvantages ? GRA requires self-motivation and self-direction, and a committment to a particular research direction, and to the project as outlined by the faculty member. If you are not there yet, perhaps this is not for you.
14. When requesting to be a GRA on a particular project supervised by a faculty member, you should consider the same factors as those when seeking the academic adviser.
15. If you want to work with someone as a GRA, you can ask for the general theme of the project. Beyond that, it would be highly unusual to be shown the project description or the proposal that got funded.
16. Some research projects require specific and/or advanced background to get started. Some other projects have entry points for undergraduate and MS level research. You should inquire with the potential supervisor.
17. GRAs are expected to work under the direction of the faculty supervisor, and should discuss with them the expected effort, work schedule etc. Generally, GRAs are not expected to work in MLC, hold office hours, or proctor.
18. Since the student working as a GRA does not apply to the funding agency directly, the student cannot list the GRA as "their grant" on their resume. They can however list it as professional experience. Also the student *must* acknowledge GRA support in every publication or presentation that resulted: this is required by the funding agencies.
    The proper way to acknowledge grant support in a publication, presentation, and resume materials, should be discussed with the faculty supervisor. One possible way is to say "This research was partially supported by XXXXX, (PI: faculty name)", or "I served as GRA for the grant XXXX (PI: faculty name)". Or, ask your faculty supervisor.