Fellowships and Research Funding
Students in the Saint Louis University Honors Program can apply for competitive grant funding through the Investigative Learning Experiences Grant, as well as other competitive fellowships and scholarships.
Investigative Learning Experiences (ILEX) Grant
The Saint Louis University Honors Program offers competitive grant funding to honors students and Presidential Scholars to pursue scholarly, research, community, or creative practice projects. Applicants may request up to $1200 for the grant, which may be applied directly to the execution of the project, or towards travel to disseminate the results of the project investigation. The academic opportunities available through the ILEX grant are as wide-ranging as the students in the honors program.
Interested in applying for funding? Read the ILEX Funding Proposal Guidelines.
ILEX Winners Announced
Congratulations to the Honors Students and Presidential Scholars who were selected for Investigative Learning Experience (ILEX) Grants for the Spring 2026 semester.
- Jessi Abraham, “Deciphering the Role of Serglycin Expression in Pain”
- Pranavi Athota, “Hormones and Emotional Response Follow Up Study”
- Levi Bandananam, “MyPlate Discovery Day”
- Paige Bostic, “Budding Botanists: Facilitating a Lesson Plan to Introduce Middle Schoolers to the World of Plant Science”
- Jesse Driese, “Bill Severity and Passage Behavior of Nullification Legislation in State Legislature”
- Hannah Johnson, “Optimization of super-libricious copolymer-coated hydrogel microspheres for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis”
- Nathan Krugman, “ESKAPE Antibiotic Resistance: Identifying Environmental Microbes Producing Antibiotic Agents Effective Against Multi Drug Resistant Pathogens”
- Athulya Nair, “Longitudinal Assessment of Social Rejection Sensitivity in the Hormones and Emotional Response”
ILEX Funding Application Cycle Now Open
The Honors Program is currently accepting ILEX grant applications from honors students and Presidential Scholars in good standing. Applicants must submit their cover letter, budget proposal, and a mentor letter by April 15. Proposals are considered on a rolling basis.
Featured ILEX Projects
Julia Griffin, Class of 2020
Project: A Comparison of the the United States, Peruvian, and Spanish Health Care
Systems Through Medical Immersion
Joseph Richard, Class of 2020
Project: Argentine Wine: Analyzing the Relationship Between International Distribution
and Enotourism in a Politically Volatile Environment
Raymond Moylan, Class of 2020
Humanity in Action Fellowship
Other ILEX projects have included:
- Creation of a podcast series that promotes civil discussion among people with disparate views
- Development of active learning outreach materials that inspire local young people on Galapagos to better understand and conserve biodiversity.
- Formulation of ideas and suggestions as to how the Grateful Dead and their fans’ unorthodox approach to an economic system can be used and exist in harmony with the current Capitalistic society
The ILEX grant allowed me to research public health practices in South Africa. Over the course of several weeks, I not only studied various approaches to public health crises, I also found a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices people make for advocacy movements."
Ester Gilbert, Class of 2019
Competitive Fellowships and Scholarships
The Saint Louis University Honors Program also houses the advising function for competitive fellowships and scholarships. Our program manager assists students as they develop their application materials for prestigious awards like the Rhodes Scholarship, the Truman Scholarship, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant and many others. All students are eligible to apply for these awards, but SLU's honors program students are particularly competitive because of their academic performance, their ambition, and their attitude towards service to society.