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Workshops and Information Sessions

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
- Tuesday, November 9 from 9:30 - 10:30, please register

Dear Graduate Students,

Katherine Guns’ last NSF GRFP application was as close to perfect as I’ve seen an application. So I was surprised when she did not receive the fellowship. However, I was delighted to learn that, as she explains below, she did end up being very successful in receiving funding. Read her wonderful story below.

My name is Andrew Kunihiro and I am a 5th year PhD student in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. My dissertation research focuses on the metabolism and bioactivity of curcumin, a dietary polyphenol from the turmeric rhizome. Specifically, I look at how curcumin can prevent bone destruction caused by bone-metastatic breast cancer.

Dear Graduate Students,

Dear Graduate Students,

This month, Fatima, one of your fellow students, shares her disappointments and successes with grant writing and gives advice for a perspective shift on the process. We think you’ll appreciate her reflections.

Shelley and Bethany

Hello fellow Graduate Students!

My name is Elise Bell, and I’m a fourth year PhD candidate in the Department of Linguistics. My research focuses on the variety of Welsh that is spoken in the Patagonia region of Argentina. My dissertation work is an examination of the ways that bilingualism with Spanish affects the way Argentinean Welsh speakers perceive and produce Welsh vowels. Because my research requires fieldwork to collect data, I’ve applied to quite a few fellowships and grants to fund my research related travel.

Dear Graduate Students,

In the coming few months, the GradFunding Advice will come from your fellow graduate students across campus. When considering whom to invite to write an article, I’ve asked students who I believe will have something valuable to say to other graduate students across campus. Meg Mills-Novoa has been persistent in looking for and applying for funding; her efforts have paid off. 

The GradFunding Newsletter distributes information on current funding opportunities.

The Graduate Center Office of Fellowships (formerly the Office of Fellowships and Community Engagement) provides information and assistance to graduate students to help them become more successful in their search for funding outside of the UA.

Please complete the following to express your interest in applying to the FH DDRA.

The purpose of the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (FH DDRA) fellowship is to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the U.S. by supporting full-time dissertation research abroad.

Should you apply to the NSF GRFP as a first- or second-year graduate student? This is a question that you need to discuss with your advisor. However, if you plan to wait (or even if you do not), consider applying to any of the six alternatives to the NSF GRFP listed below. Going through the application process for one of these awards will make you a better candidate for the NSF GRFP next year. Or, you might be successful with one of the awards below.

The purpose of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is to help ensure the vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce in the United States. The program is an excellent source of funding for graduate students – providing awardees with $34,000 annually for three years, as well as additional benefits.  NSF Fellows at the University of Arizona receive full tuition, mandatory fees, student health insurance for the Fellow, and a $500 travel grant during tenured years.

Learn more about DAAD and the selection of the UA priority candidate on Tuesday, Sept 7, 2020 from 12:30 - 1:30 on Zoom.

Please review the information on the DAAD website, particularly eligibility, prior to attending the session.

This program will reopen in Spring 2022

The Summer 2021 Fellowship Application Development Program offers deadlines and writing support to assist UA students in completing fellowship applications over the summer. The program is free and online.

Applications: The application deadline has passed. Please contact us if you are interested in participating. 

The program has two tracks for students at various stages of academic work:

Join us to speak with Kevin Lin, Hertz Representative for the University of Arizona, about applying for the Hertz fellowship. We ask that you read the fellowship website prior to attending.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for students in or going to graduate school. Join us for an overview of the application process and some application tips.

Please review the NSF GRFP website, particularly the eligibility found in the Program Solicitation, before attending:

Hello Graduate Students,

We get to meet the applicants!

Hi! My name is Greg Chism, and I am a fourth year PhD candidate in the Entomology and Insect Science graduate interdisciplinary program.

The Funding for Students Entering the Dissertation Stage Information Session is intended for students who are planning to defend in Spring 2023.

The info session will be held on Tuesday, March 23 from 9:30 – 10:30am Arizona Time on Zoom. The link to the zoom meeting will be shared after you register. If you would like to register for this session, please click "More Information" below.

DAAD Fellowships provide support for study in Germany. The following opportunities through DAAD are generally most relevant for graduate students:

Expand your horizons through the US Fulbright Student Program. The Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships is excited to host numerous information sessions on the Fulbright US Student program this spring. Come and learn about the global English Teaching Assistant and Study/Research opportunities. The Fulbright Student Program provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students who conduct research in other countries, in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of six to 12 months.

Along with fellowship opportunities, I include some internship opportunities in the GradFunding newsletter. Internships can be invaluable for both the academic and professional life of a graduate student. For more information about internships, I contacted Jeff Patten, UA Career Services career coordinator and counselor, and Cynthia Van Driess Watson, the Assistant Director of the UA Career Services. If you are interested in an internship, their insights may be useful.

Why seek out an internship?

Basic Funding Research

Databases and Information for Graduate Students

If you are just beginning your search for funding, begin with the following databases and websites:

Dear Graduate Students,

Come discuss your fellowship applications and meet the Graduate Editors between 10:00AM - 11:00AM on Monday, September 21st on zoom. A short panel discussion will take place at 10:00AM, followed up by Q & A.

The idea of applying for a graduate fellowship can be daunting. Surrounded by high-achieving individuals, you might wonder if you measure up. Is it worth even trying to apply to a fellowship?

Pivot is a huge database of funding opportunities. And, as a University of Arizona student, you can use it for free. If you are a graduate student interested in funding, one of our top recommendations is to invest a little bit of time in Pivot. Forty minutes is enough to give you a good start.

In any given year, the majority of people who apply for nationally competitive fellowships do not receive the fellowships. It is easy for me to bring up the clichés . . . Keep trying! . . . Rejection is part of the process! . . . Etc. etc. But I am not in the middle of a graduate degree and I am not actively searching for fellowships for myself. I thought it would be better for you to hear from the people who are in the middle of working through the process of applying, being rejected, and trying again.  

One of the trickiest elements of applying for funding is the timing. For example, all of you reading this article know that the best time to apply for summer funding is right now. But, believe me, there will be other students contacting me in April to ask about funding for Summer 2020; there is not much I can do to help them. Here are three steps to nailing the timing of fellowship applications.

The Summer 2019 Application Support Program is currently closed but will reopen for Summer 2020. Please use the information below as a reference.

The Summer Fellowship Application Support Program serves to assist UA students in completing fellowship applications over the summer and to improve the quality of the applications. We provide summer deadlines for students to submit drafts of their fellowship applications for feedback.

If you enroll in the program, you will commit to submitting at least one draft of an application over the summer.

Join us for an overview of the application process for the NIH F31s. This session will be relevant for applicants and their advisors.
Monday, September 16 from 12:00 – 1:00 in University Services Building Room 214

By enrolling in the Summer 2019 Application Support Program, you commit to submitting at least one draft of your application essays over the summer. You do not need to be in Tucson to participate.

Writing for fellowships hard. Writing is hard.

True.

Travis Sawyer, a graduate student who has worked with us in the Office of Fellowships, has had great success both in obtaining fellowship proposals for himself and in assisting other graduate students in writing their own fellowship proposals.

Did you know the National Science Foundation offers funding to graduate students?

Of course you did.

However, did you know that the Romance Writers of America also has funding for graduate students? As does the government of Ireland, the Slovak Academic Information Agency, and the Huntington Botanical Gardens.

But how could you possibly find a funding opportunity that is just right for you?

I’m about to tell you.

STOP!

The purpose of the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (FH DDRA) fellowship is to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the U.S. by supporting full-time dissertation research abroad. UA Internal deadline is June 22nd.

Wed. Mar 21 - 1:30PM - 2:30 PM
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
Walk In Advising Session
University Service Bldg. Rm. 204E - 888 N Euclid

“What I have found,” a graduate student recently told me, “is that I like rejections. They are a chance to learn, a path forward.”

Just to be clear, this student had had a few days to contemplate his most recent rejection; I imagine that this was not his first reaction to the news. Additionally, he had received a beautiful rejection with all sorts of accolades for his work accompanied by very concrete suggestions for improvement.

Hola! My name is Laura Zambrano-Vazquez and I am a graduate student in the Psychology Department at the University of Arizona. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) in 2011.

My name is Andrea Stevens and I am in the 3rd year of my PhD program in the Geosciences Department at the University of Arizona. I received my NSF Graduate Research Fellowship the second time I applied in 2014.

My name is Linnea Honeker. I am a Graduate Editor and I am working toward my Ph.D. in Environmental Science with a Microbiology Minor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Sciences. I was awarded the NSF GRF in 2013.

Hi!  I’m Antonio Gómez, and I was a Master’s student in the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology and Insect Science at the U of A from the fall of 2012 to the summer of 2014.  I’m on a short break with lots of trips in the field to collect beetles in our wonderful outdoors in southern Arizona before moving to Oregon to start a Ph.D. in the Integrative Biology Department. 

The purpose of these workshops is to help you get some writing done. Feel free to come if you are just beginning the essays, if you are polishing the essays, or in somewhere inbetween.

My name is Kat Compton and I’m in the 4th year of my PhD program in Geosciences at the University of Arizona. I received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2012.

Let me tell you a story.

About a year ago, I received an email from a student in linguistics asking if I would review a draft of her proposal for the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research. This was the first time I had heard of the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, or at least, the first time it caught my attention. With a little investigation, I found that the American Philosophical Society supports the fund and that several UA graduate students in geology have previously received the award.

Now that it is the middle of application season, we have gotten a number of questions about writing timelines for fellowship applications. Here are a few tips:

You may have heard of a student who decided to apply to a fellowship two weeks before it was due, dashed an application together, and received the fellowship.

Sometimes this happens. But not often. Although it makes for a less interesting story, most successful applicants plan well ahead of the deadline, work strategically towards making themselves good candidates, and then systematically apply.

As summer approaches, consider putting together a plan for fellowships to which you might apply. Below you will find a general guide to help you think about process.  

If the prospect of all the holiday social obligations fills you with unmitigated delight, you can stop reading this article now. Go ahead and click on another article.

Now that it is just those of us who feel at least some measure of anxiety anticipating social events we can discuss the topic at hand – holiday parties.

With all of the fellowship opportunities in the fall, a graduate student could spend the semester writing fellowship applications. Don’t.

Your main goal as a graduate student should be to, as quickly as is reasonably possible, set yourself up for the next step in your career. Applying to a few choice fellowships can help you achieve this goal.

But how do you decide which fellowship application is worth your time?

Do your research. Ask yourself, how well do I fit this opportunity?

With approximately 1,600 annual awards, the Student Fulbright is one of the largest and best recognized national fellowships. I often talk with graduate students who think that they might be interested in a Fulbright but are not sure about the details. If you are one of those people, read below for insight from Emily Kotay, the Scholarship Advisor in the Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships (ONCS).

Thank you for participating in the NSF GRFP Application Support Program. We hope that it was helpful for you! We would greatly value your feedback in order to improve the program next year.

Elizabeth Stahmer, the Director of the Social and Behavioral Research Institute, has worked on applications for funding from multiple organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Defense, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the State of Arizona, and dozens of private foundations.

In my recent interview with her, she gave numerous nuggets of excellent advice for finding and applying for funding. I share them with you below.

What do you do?

Money for graduate fellowships generally comes from the following sources:

Finding funding is like finding a job. There is no one way to go about it and talking to people is usually your best strategy. However, an additional excellent strategy for finding funding is to sign up for funding alerts.

Yes, it is true, you can receive email alerts specially designed to fit your research interests! You can also receive funding alerts from organization that you think might be interested in your research.

Last spring a student came into my office to discuss a specific funding opportunity. I found her research compelling and I looked forward to learning more about it when she sent me her essays. But when I began to read the draft of her fellowship proposal, I soon found my mind drifting to topics like snacks. I gave her comments and we are still waiting to hear the results of the competition.

Librarians are treasure chests for graduate students. A few good tips from a librarian can provide a graduate student with just the right resources and save him or her hours of work. With this in mind, I interviewed University of Arizona librarian Jill Newby for a few tips on creating a bibliography for fellowships.

For a graduate student who is new to grant writing, or even a seasoned grant writer, an RFP (Request for Proposals) can be intimidating. Every organization arranges the document differently and the language used is often abstruse. Depending on the agency, there may not even be a single document but a scattering of information across webpages. This GradFunding article will help you navigate RFPs, in whatever their form, and get the information that you need. 

Application support is available for UA students applying to the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program! Registrants will have access to successful essays, assistance with an application plan, and more.