Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships Blog

The National Science Foundation’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant has been awarded to Marquette University.The grant, worth $899,514, was awarded in order to train 24 graduate students to become K-12 teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Funding for the program began June 1 with scholarships intending to be awarded between 2010 and 2014. Students can also benefit from the program by receiving their engineering degree and teaching certificate after 5 years, as opposed to the traditional 6 or 6.5 years.

Barbara Silver-Thorn, associate professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Marquette Noyce Scholarship Program, is very excited about the opportunities offered to her students.

“This is an opportunity to get STEM majors in high-need schools and make their students aware of valuable engineering, science and math career opportunities,” explains Silver-Thorn.

According to Marquette officials, this program will allow up to three years of scholarships: $10,000 for the student’s first year, $12,000 for the second year, and $14,000 for the third year. As a result of receiving funding from the program, students are expected to work two years in a high-need school for every year they accept funding from the program.

Related: Colorado State University Scientists Receive NSF Grant

On May 12, 2009 a major update to the Science and Engineering Fellowships Directory was completed. Award and stipend information for 2009 replaced the previous details, and defunct fellowships were removed from the listing. During the update, approximately nine new fellowships/internships were added, and five were removed.

The improved directory lists funding opportunities for those studying or working in the science, technology, mathematics, and engineering fields. It includes general fellowships, fellowships that are funded through an applicant’s university, funding available only to applicants meeting specified criteria (for example, some are open only to females), funding for conference attendance, internships, opportunities for those already working in their fields, and a section on funding for faculty members. There are currently 95 different funding opportunities listed in the directory.

The Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship aims to encourage women in computer science and other related fields to excel within their research as well as their community. The 2009 Scholars and Finalists were awarded all over the world including the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.

Scholars receive a $10,000 award for the following academic year and Finalists will received a $1,000 award. All Scholars and Finalists will be invited to attend Google’s Scholars Retreat at the Google Campus in Mountain View, CA.

In order to be eligible for the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, the following criteria must be met:

*Be a female student entering her senior year of undergraduate study or be enrolled in a graduate program in the 2009-2010 academic year at a university in the United States;

*Be enrolled in Computer Science or Computer Engineering program, or a closely related technical field as a full-time student for the 2009-2010 academic year;

*Maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale or 4.5 on a 5.0 scale or equivalent in your current program.

Later this year, scholarships will be awarded to women in Australia and New Zealand as well.

For more information, please visit http://www.google.com/anitaborg/.

Department of Energy Issues Funding Opportunity Announcement to U.S. Universities for Nuclear Science and Engineering Fellowships and Scholarships

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to provide approximately $2.4 million in university nuclear science and engineering fellowships and scholarships.

Over 100 scholarships and 10 fellowships are expected to be awarded to U.S. students through this FOA. Undergraduates will receive scholarships that average $5,000 per year. The maximum award for fellowships is anticipated to be $50,000 per year over three years.

“This Funding Opportunity Announcement demonstrates our commitment to increase the number of U.S. students entering the nuclear science and engineering fields,” said DOE’s acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Shane Johnson. “These scholarships and fellowships are critical in ensuring the education of a new generation of U.S. nuclear scientists and engineers.”

“Involvement in the LSAMP program impacted my experience in a number of ways. Because of my involvement, I was introduced to highly motivated and competitive minority students in the college, which motivated me to perform better.”

Reginald Covington is a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) scholarship recipient, and currently a PhD student at Cornell University studying Economics. Covington spent four years in the Marines before braving the University of Maryland to study Mathematics and Economics and beginning to forge a road of great academic accomplishment.

Covington admits the transition from Marine to college student was difficult but if his numerous awards since enrolling at the University of Maryland are any indication, he successfully overcame any initial transition troubles. He received a scholarship from the James A. Yorke Young Scientists and the PRIME Service Scholarship from the University of Maryland’s College of Mathematics and Physical Sciences (CMPS). He also received the Maryland Space Grant Scholarship from the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.

Covington has continued to give back to young people in his community. He devoted a great deal of his time to Beyond These Walls and the Upward Bound Saturday Academy, both organizations where he mentored young minority students in his community. Covington says that his long-term goals are to teach and empower young minority college students as a faculty member of a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and to better understand the socio-economic disparities among communities of color.

* This information is from the University of Maryland’s News Desk and the LSAMP alumni page on the University of Maryland’s website

Related: NYC LSAMP Alumni becomes GRF Recipient in Electrical Engineering – Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) scholarship, our LSAMP overview post

“I am giving many public lectures, to help the public understand the work we have done and hope to do in the future, and to inspire young people to be as excited about science as I am.” Dr. John Mather

Dr. John Mather is currently a Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He attended Swarthmore College in 1964 and in 1968 was a recipient of National Science Foundation Fellowship which he used to fund his master’s and doctoral degree in physics at University of California, Berkeley.

As a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, he led the proposal efforts on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). The success of COBE was the outcome of prodigious team work involving more than 1,000 researchers, engineers and other participants. John Mather lead the project and was the main party responsible for the experiment that revealed the blackbody form of the microwave background radiation measured by COBE. His colleague, Dr. George Smoot, had the main responsibility for measuring the small variations in the temperature of the radiation on the COBE project.

In 2006 Dr. John Mather and Dr. George Smoot were recognized jointly for their exemplary work on COBE and received the Nobel Prize in Physics. From the years 1980 to 2006 Dr. Mather wrote The Very First Light on the process of creating COBE and continued his work with NASA on The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which would be his passion for years to come. The JWST is now planned for launch in 2013. Mather’s role as “senior project scientist” means he chairs the science working group and ensures the mission will meet the scientific requirements. The observatory is fine-tuned to search for extra-solar planets, dark matter and dark energy. The JWST’s infrared cameras will also detect the faint light from the first stars and galaxies to form in the universe, over 13 billion years ago.

* This information is from The Nobel Foundation and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Related: NSF Graduate Research Fellow Profiles – NobelPrize.org – NSF Graduate Research Fellow Profile – Burton Richter

The 2009 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship is now open to applicants. Intended for undergraduate students studying mathematics, science, and engineering, and named for the former senator, soldier, and presidential candidate, the program plans to award as many as 300 scholarships, and is funded by the interest from the Department of the Treasury’s trust fund.

The program will award a maximum of $7,500 annually to cover expenses for tuition, fees, books, and room and board. The awards will be divided among rising juniors and rising seniors, the former being eligible for two years of support, the latter for one year. In order to be considered eligible, a student must be a US Citizen or permanent resident, be a full-time matriculated sophomore or junior pursuing a degree at an accredited college or university during the 2008–2009 academic year, have a college grade-point average of at least “B”, and be in the upper fourth of his or her class. For those who do not meet the requirements, ASEE has a list of other opportunities available on its Science and Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships blog.

Related: 2009 SMART Scholarship 2009 NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program The IGERT Program

The NASA Aeronautics Scholarship Program, a scholarship program for both undergraduate and graduate students, is open for applications. The program is for students focusing on aeronautical research and related degree programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The undergraduate scholarship allocates up to $15,000 awarded for each school year, to be used for tuition and other school-related costs, not to include room and board, while the graduate scholarship allocates up to $35,000 awarded for each school year, to be used for tuition and other school-related costs. Both scholarships also include summer internships (limited to two for graduate students) with stipend in an amount up to $10,000. The application is now open.

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.

Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program provides support for combined efforts among universities, businesses, industries, research laboratories 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 individual 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.