Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships Blog

Related: Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program

The SMART scholarship includes all university tuition and required fees as well as the following stipends: $22,500 per year for undergraduate students, $31,000 per year for Master’s candidates, and $38,000 per year for Doctoral candidates. Tenure for awardees is given up to the time typically required to complete degree studies. A $1,000 book allowance is also offered. The scholarship is only open to U.S. citizens and to students studying a Science, Technology, Mathematics or Engineering discipline. A full listing of eligible fields can be found on the About SMART page. Approximately 200 scholarships are awarded per year.

The application is open until December 15, 2008.

The National GEM Consortium and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) seek talented applicants with a deep interest in improving science and engineering education for a joint GEM-ASEE fellowship position. The fellow will help develop one or more college-level online introductory engineering courses for the website www.curriki.org, which provides free educational resources for students and educators in third world countries and across the globe. This project is expected to have lasting impact in making engineering more accessible to diverse populations. Under the guidance of an ASEE staff member, course creation will take place through an internship at ASEE headquarters in Washington, DC during the summer of 2009. Prior to this time, the fellow will be expected to gather course materials from ASEE-member (and other) professors, and propose outlines for one or more courses.

A technical background in electrical, materials, mechanical, aerospace, civil, or related engineering fields is a plus. M.S. program applicants (preferred) and Ph.D. program applicants will apply through the existing GEM fellowship module and adhere to all guidelines set forth by GEM. For full consideration, applications must be received by November 15, 2008.

The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program was created from the belief that the global questions of tomorrow will be more channeling and require scientific and engineering solutions that draw on a multitude of information. In order to prepare today’s students, the National Science Foundation has awarded IGRET funding to university departments across the country that seek to strengthen student’s understanding of and ability to do interdisciplinary research. Selected departments are chosen because they provide innovative curriculum that allows students to apply cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills to complete meaningful research and internships. Most importantly, IGERT programs focus on “problem-centered training”, meaning students are given the capabilities to solve real world problems and develop the skills necessary to become leaders in their chosen fields.

Specific IGERT funded departments can be found by searching the IGRET website. Each department program is able to select several fellows (depending on the size of the program) who receive a year long $30,000 stipend and other benefits, such as travel allowance for scientific conferences and coverage of program fees, university tuition and equipment. The program is open to US citizens in the STEM fields.

Related: Transcending Boundaries: NSF program fosters graduate study in the “white spaces” between scientific disciplines

Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program provides support for combined efforts among universities, businesses, industries, research laborites and government to produce qualified STEM graduates, in particularly those that are normally underrepresented in the sciences and engineering. This collaborative effort or “alliance” allows for different kinds of support that reach a broader group of individuals; providing them with long-term meaningful experiences that will lead them to complete their bachelor’s degree and possibly pursue graduate study. To form an alliance at least two institutions of higher education must collaborate with other outside groups. What specific types of groups Universities choose to work with really depends on the individaul scope and goals of the LSAMP program they are purposing.

Examples of past successful LSAMP programs include, the New York alliance between SUNY The City University of New York Graduate Center, New York City College of Technology and a dozen or so other 2 and 4 year colleges. Michigan LSAMP collaboration between the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Western Michigan University departments of engineering is another current example.

The 2008 LSAMP program solicitation opened Febuary 15, 2008 and will close October 10, 2008.

This new bill if passed would provide $5,000 a year, for up to $20,000 per student in educational funding for college. Eligible students pursuing undregraduate degrees in math, science, engineering and health-related fields are eligible if they finish their first year with at least a 3.0 GPA. The scholarship would be named after Henry Ford, and it is being sponsored by Michigan Congressman Joe Knollenberg.

A new site has recently been created for the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). This site provides applicants with useful information about the fellowship, such as reasons for applying, tips to start your application and insights into the essay questions. The new site also has a page dedicated to helping potential applicants connect to people who are familiar with the GRFP in some way. Under the section “Find Experienced GRFP Resource Persons” applicants can search for their university and look up people who will be able to help them with their application. Professors and others who want to get involved with promoting the fellowship can also sign up on the website to be a guide, request an outreach visit for their school or print off promotional material to distribute.

It’s a very nice site and the GRF Operations Center hopes that it will help potential applicants make their applications stronger and also encourage more students to apply. Visit www.nsfgrfp.org

“Fourteen University of Texas at Austin engineering students received the prestigious National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship for 2008″ (read more). Among the winners are Daniel Miller and Patrick Doody.

Doody and Miller are second year students at UT-Austin. Doody is focusing his master’s research on “defining a set of metrics to quantify the degree of inter- and intra-hour wind power variability and intermittency. Such metrics are expected to help grid planners and operators integrate and manage large wind power plants. He is a member of Assistant Professor Surya Santoso’s Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Electric Power and Integration of Renewable Energy Systems.”

Miller is pursing his doctorial degree in chemical engineering working with Drs. Benny Freeman, Donald Paul, and Andrew Ellington. His work focuses on enzymatically-active polymer membranes useful in water purification, pharmaceutical manufacture, and other separation processes.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) “has recently awarded Flordia State Univeristy-Panama City (FSU-PC) a $512,000 grant” that will provide two-year scholarships for “30 FSU-PC students enrolled in electrical, computer, civil, and environmental engineering.” Florida’s News Herald (7/21) noted that this is the first NSF grant FSU-PC has received. FSU-PC plans to award the first 10 scholarships in fall 2009 to students enrolling in engineering who show financial need.

Related Links: Higher Tuition for Engineering Students?

Joshua Atwood is a devoted traveler, he notes: “The world is too incredible to not be seen first-hand.” This love of traveling and the outdoors, hiking, backpacking, kayaking, and even skydiving, led him to his current research, Invasive Plant Ecology. He participated in an undergraduate study abroad program in New Zealand, where he examined successional changes in floral communities on landslide slopes. After graduating from Bowdin College, he was able to travel as an environmental educator and work with invasive plant managers in a variety of locations. The diversity of plant life and competitive strategies he encountered during this experience inspired him to pursue research at the graduate level.

He recommends K-12 students who might be interested in ecology or biology spend a lot of time outdoors, until they discover their specific passion. If they’re interested in studying a plant or an animal, it’s important that they learn about it first and see it in nature. He also recommends volunteering with someone who is doing research in your particular field.

Joshua is studying the evolution of competitive ability in invasive plant populations at the University of Rhode Island. Specifically, he is looking at adaptations in competitive traits associated with the invasion of island habitats characterized by low biotic pressure.