Under this distinctive program, funds are available to encourage well-qualified and strongly motivated students to become familiar with research tools, techniques, and methodology.  Participation is an enriching and broadening experience.  It is particularly valuable to students who intend to pursue graduate work, for they are introduced to the kind of research activities they will encounter at the graduate level.

Projects are chiefly of two types: assisting a professor in research or carrying out a student-planned project under the supervision of a professor.  In either case, the professor and student benefit from the joint participation.

Students are normally nominated for grants-in-aid by a professor with whom they are studying.  Most recipients are known as Robert E. Lee Research Assistants or, if they have and maintain a 3.000 average, as Robert E. Lee Research Scholars; several outstanding students in the sciences will be designated Christian A Johnson Scholars.  While participants receive no academic credit, the grants-in-aid enable them to earn a part of the cost of their education in work that has exceptional educational value.

The Robert E. Lee Research Fund was established in 1960 through a gift from the late Dr. Gustavus Benz Capito, an 1899 graduate of Washington and Lee.  Additional support has come from various sources, including the Christian A. Johnson Foundation.