College of Science & Health (CSH)

Graduate Research Fellowship

Graduate students in the College of Science and Health may apply for a summer fellowship stipend to support their scholarly efforts. Awards are made on a competitive basis in the amount of $6,000 for work in June, July and August.

Fellowship Expectations

Recipients of a $6,000 Graduate Research Fellowship are expected to:

commit at least 30 hours per week over a 10-week period during the summer,
meet with their faculty mentor at least once per week,
attend the Summer Seminar Series in conjunction with the Dean's Distinguished Fellowship program,
provide a 3-5 minutes summary presentation of your proposed work at the Summer Seminar Series.
communicate the results of their work by preparing:
1. an oral or poster presentation for the annual CSH Summer Research Series held in August. Presentations at local, regional, or national conferences is also encouraged, in consultation with the faculty mentor,
2. a concisely written summary report submitted to the dean of the College of Science and Health no later than December 31 of the year of the award.

Applying for a Graduate Research Fellowship

Review the information below to inform your application for a Summer Graduate Fellowship.
All application materials are due 4:30pm on the first Friday of March.

Eligibility Requirements

The applicant must:

be enrolled, in good standing, as a graduate student in a program within the College of Science and Health;
be continuing a research project in the summer semester either
- directly related to the completion of degree requirements (e.g., thesis work or capstone project), or
- a necessary component for their scholarly or professional trajectory.
be enrolled in a graduate course for the following fall semester.

One may receive this form of fellowship only once.

If you have questions about eligibility requirements, please contact the associate dean of the College of Science and Health.

Application Materials

The application consists of the following items:

cover page,
proposal narrative - 5 page maximum, single-sided, double-spaced pages, 10-point font,
letter of support from faculty mentor - 2 page maximum,
unofficial graduate transcript.

Complete instructions on how to apply for a Graduate Research Fellowship can be found in the CSH Grants & Programs Canvas portal.

Deadline and Selection

Applications are due the first Friday of March by 4:30pm. Applications must be submitted through the Canvas portal.

Applications will be reviewed by a standing committee of graduate faculty representing various programs within the College of Science and Health using the following criteria:

Project feasibility
the extent to which the proposed project is conceptually and methodologically appropriate and can be completed and represents an appropriate amount of work during summer research.
Benefit to student
the extent to which the proposed project will have direct benefit to the student. A successful proposal describes how the project contributes to student progress toward degree completion or development as a scholar. A proposal in which the student participates in multiple phases of an overall project is stronger than one where the student only see fragments of the research process. A proposal in which the student anticipates presenting or performing his or her work to a local, regional or national audience is stronger than one where the student has no plans for sharing the work.
Clarity of proposal
the extent to which the proposal exhibits writing that clearly articulates the project and its merits to an interdisciplinary faculty evaluation committee.
Contribution to discipline
a successful proposal describes a project in which the student engages in original work that has the potential to inform the understanding or practice of his or her discipline/profession.
Strength of faculty support
the extent to which the sponsor makes a compelling case for the student and the student's ability to complete the proposed summer project.

Access the Canvas portal to begin your application.

Kaitlyn Schneider

M.S. Cellular and Molecular Biology

"I’m so passionate about molecular biology, cellular biology and studying cancer. I love to be here to learn. I’m glad I have this Graduate Research Fellowship to help support me and take some financial stress away. I can get everything out of the master’s program that I can."