The department strongly encourages graduate students to apply for outside funding.
Being awarded an outside fellowship is not only an honor that looks good on your CV, but will also release you from teaching responsibilities (apart from the one-semester requirement), and helps the department provide finanial support to other students.
We have assembled a list of prominent fellowships below. Keep in mind that all listed deadlines are approximate; be sure to check each fellowship's website for precise deadlines and other details.
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP)
Deadline: Late October or Early November
The purpose of the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to ensure the vitality of the scientific and technological workforce in the United States and to reinforce its diversity. The program recognizes and provides three years of support for outstanding graduate students who are in the early stages of their graduate study. Applicants must be United States citizens or nationals, or permanent resident aliens of the United States. Individuals are typically eligible to apply: during the first year of graduate school; prior to completing the first term of the second year of graduate school.
Fellows share in the prestige and opportunities that become available when they are selected. Fellows benefit from a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 ($2,833 per month) along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education they choose.
The NSF welcomes applications from all qualified students and strongly encourages under-represented populations, including women, under-represented racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities, to apply for this fellowship.
Deadline: Mid-November
Dissertation Fellowships offset a scholar's living expenses while she completes her dissertation. The fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all course work, passed all preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research proposals or plans by the preceding November.
Students holding fellowships for writing a dissertation in the year prior to the AAUW fellowships year are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering, and math fields or researching gender issues are especially encouraged to apply. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Candidates are evaluated on the basis of scholarly excellence; quality and originality of project design; and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research.
Deadline: Early December
International Fellowships are awarded for full-time study or research in the United States to women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Both graduate and postgraduate studies at accredited U.S. institutions are supported. Applicants must have earned the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree by September 30, and must have applied to their proposed institutions of study by the time of the application. Up to five fellowships are renewable for a second year.
Recipients are selected for academic achievement and demonstrated commitment to women and girls. Recipients return to their home countries to become leaders in business, government, academia, community activism, the arts, and sciences.
Deadline: Mid-November/Early December
Through its Fellowship Programs, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Ford Foundation Fellowship awards are offered at the Predoctoral, Dissertation and Postdoctoral levels. Fellowships are awarded in a national competition. Awards are made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
To be eligible to receive a Ford Foundation Fellowship award, you must be a citizen, national, and permanent residents (holder of a Permanent Resident Card) of the United States, or individuals granted deferred action status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Receipt of the fellowship award is conditioned upon each awardee providing satisfactory documentation that he or she meets the eligibility requirements.
Ford Fellowship awards are made based on evidence of superior academic achievement (such as grade point average, class rank, honors or other designations), and a stated commitment to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level. Awards will be made for study in research-based Ph.D. or Sc.D. programs; practice oriented degree programs are not eligible for support. In addition to the fellowship award, Ford Fellows are eligible to attend the Conference of Ford Fellows, a unique national conference of a select group of high-achieving scholars committed to diversifying the professoriate and using diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
In addition to the fellowship award, Ford Fellows are eligible to attend the Conference of Ford Fellows, a unique national conference of a select group of high-achieving scholars committed to diversifying the professoriate and using diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Deadline: Early November
Fellows are selected on the basis of merit – the specific criteria emphasize creativity, originality, initiative and sustained accomplishment – in annual national competitions. Each fellowship supports up to two years of graduate study – in any field and in any advanced degree-granting program – in the United States. Each award is for up to $25,000 in maintenance grants and up to $20,000 in tuition tuition and fees or 50% of required tuition and fees/year. Eligibility guidelines can be found here.