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External Fellowships

Grad Students: When you apply for a major national predoctoral fellowship or other fellowship/grants of $12,000 or more, the Graduate Division will give you a $200 Incentive Award just for applying! Learn more.

 

Per federal guidelines, all fellowship and tuition support is taken into consideration when determining student loan eligibility.  If you will receive federal student loans during the same academic year as a fellowship, please note your student loan eligibility could, and most likely will, be reduced by the amount of the fellowship stipend.

Students funded from full external fellowships are not permitted to hold employment during the tenure of their award or receive another full fellowship. Full fellowships are typically defined as providing a stipend commensurate with a teaching or research assistantship; that is, sufficient to cover general support (living, transportation, personal, and research expenses) necessary to support the pursuit of educational goals within the award period.

Prospective & New Students

The Hertz Foundation Fellowship

The Hertz Fellowship provides financial and lifelong professional support for the nation’s most promising graduate students in science and technology. The fellowship includes up to five years of funding, valued at up to $250,000 and the freedom to pursue innovative projects. In addition, fellows take part in ongoing mentoring, symposia, and workshops with more than 1,200 fellows.

Estimated Support: Up to 5yrs: $34,000/yr stipend + tuition & fees, $5,000/yr stipend for fellows with dependent children.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Submission now limited to one application for graduate students in their first OR second year.  Please see their Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 16-050) and FAQs (NSF 16-05).
Estimated Support: 3yrs; $34,000/yr stipend + $12,000/yr tuition & fees

National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship

The DoD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Program is a competitive fellowship that is awarded to U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, and U.S. dual citizens who intend to pursue a Doctoral degree aligned to the DoD services Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) in research and development at a U.S. institution of their choice.

Estimated Support: 3 years and pays for full tuition and all mandatory fees; a monthly stipend ($38,400 annually); a $5,000 travel budget over the Fellow’s tenure for professional development; and up to $1,200 a year in health insurance

Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR)

The goal of the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is to prepare graduate students for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission, by providing graduate thesis research opportunities at DOE laboratories. The SCGSR program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to pursue part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE laboratory/facility in areas that address scientific challenges central to the Office of Science mission. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the DOE laboratories/facilities.

Estimated Support: up to $3,000 for general living expenses while at the host DOE laboratory/facility during the award period;  total travel benefit of up to $2,000 per award

NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)
The Kirschstein-NRSA program helps ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in adequate numbers and in appropriate research areas to carry out the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research agenda. Fellowship activities can be in basic biomedical or clinical sciences, in behavioral or social sciences, in health services research, or in any other discipline relevant to the NIH mission.  The major emphasis of the application should be the research training experience and broadening of scientific competence of the applicant.
Estimated Support: Up to 5yrs; $24,324/yr stipend + up to $16,000/yr tuition & fees
 
Ford Foundation Fellowship 1
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.
Estimated Support: 3yrs; $24,000/yr stipend
 
DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF)
The DOE CSGF provides outstanding benefits and opportunities to students pursuing doctoral degrees in fields that use high-performance computing to solve complex science and engineering problems.
Estimated Support: Up to 4yrs; $36,000/yr stipend + tuition & fees
 
NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP)
The NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program is an Agency-wide fellowship program for graduate study leading to masters or doctoral degrees in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering related to NASA research and development.
Estimated Support: 1yr; $27,000 stipend/travel + $3,000 for PI
 
NASA Interns, Fellows & Scholars (NIFS) One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI)
OSSI is a NASA-wide system for the recruitment, application, selection and career development of undergraduate and graduate students primarily in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
Estimated Support: Varies
 
Environmental Protection Agency Science to Achieve Results (EPA STAR) Fellowship
EPA's STAR graduate fellowship program supports masters and doctoral candidates in environmental studies. Each year, students in the United States compete for STAR fellowships through a rigorous review process. Students can pursue degrees in traditionally recognized environmental disciplines as well as other fields such as social anthropology, urban and regional planning, and decision sciences.
Estimated Support: 3yrs; $27,000/yr stipend + $5,000/yr expense allowance + $12,000 toward tuition & fees
 
UC MEXUS-CONACYT Doctoral Fellowships 2 & 3
The UC MEXUS-CONACYT doctoral fellowships provide up to five years of funding for Mexican students doing their doctoral studies at any one of the ten University of California campuses. Students may pursue doctoral studies in most of the academic disciplines, with the exception of the arts.
Estimated Support: 5yrs; $1,100 - $1,375/mo stipend + tuition & fees
 
Fulbright US Student Program
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The program currently awards approximately 1,900 grants annually in all fields of study, and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Fulbright U.S. Student alumni populate a range of professions and include ambassadors, members of Congress, judges, heads of corporations, university presidents, journalists, artists, professors, and teachers.
Estimated Support: Round-trip travel to host country + cost of living in host country
 

1 DACA students eligible
2 Diversity preference/requirement
3 International students eligible

 

Advanced/Dissertation Year Students

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships 1 & 3
ACLS invites applications for the ninth annual competition for the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships, which support a year of research and writing to help advanced graduate students in the humanities and related social sciences in the last year of PhD dissertation writing. The program encourages timely completion of the PhD. Applicants must be prepared to complete their dissertations within the period of their fellowship tenure and no later than August 31, 2016. ACLS will award 65 fellowships in this competition for a one-year term beginning between June and September 2015 for the 2015-16 academic year.
Estimated Support: 1yr; $30,000 + $3,000 research costs + $5,000 toward tuition & fees
 
UC MEXUS Grants for Dissertation Research 3
Projects funded are expected to lead to the completion of dissertations or MFA degrees in these areas. Preference will be given to projects that hold significant promise for the advancement of science or scholarship in areas of interest to UC MEXUS; that involve meaningful collaboration with a Mexican institution and/or a Mexican scientist or scholar; or that address issues of importance to Mexico and/or the Mexican-origin population in California and/or the United States.
Note: Due to budgetary constraints, the UC MEXUS Dissertation Research Grants Program is no longer avaiable.

1 DACA students eligible
2 Diversity preference/requirement
3 International students eligible

 


Additional Resources

Important :There has been a change in the way you receive fellowship awards and how you accept them. If you are awarded a fellowship, you will be notified through OnBase, the document management system used by Graduate Division. Please be sure to review these emails and accept or decline your awards in a timely manner. Read helpful handout.