We just wanted to give a big shout out to all of the 2012 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship winners. This post is a roundup of recent articles we’ve collected from around the web. If you have an article and do not see it here, please feel free to add a link in the comments. Congrats everyone!
Alexandra Bentz (photo credit: Appalachian State University)
Appalachian State University
Have passion, seize opportunities and solve challenges, graduates told
Alexandra Bentz, received a $30,000 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. Read more.
From left to right: Erik Stout, Brian Perea, Michael Kenney, John Ingraham. (photo credit: Chakris Kussalanant)
Arizona State University
4 juniors win top national awards as up-and-coming scientists
Four remarkable ASU juniors who already are doing sophisticated research and presenting their work to national audiences have won Goldwater Scholarships, the nation’s premier awards for undergraduates studying science, math and engineering. Read more.
Bianca Williams (photo credit: Auburn University)
Auburn University
Two Auburn University seniors awarded National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships
Auburn University students Bianca Williams, a senior in chemical engineering, and Devin Kalafut, a senior in mechanical engineering, have been awarded National Science Foundation graduate fellowships. Read more.
(photo credit: Baylor University)
Baylor University
Baylor Doctoral Student Awarded National Science Foundation Fellowship
Zack Valdez, doctoral candidate in The Institute of Ecological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (TIE3S) at Baylor University, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellowship in the geosciences. Read more.
Caroline Smith (photo credit: Veenema Lab)
Boston College
BC grad student wins NSF graduate fellowship
Caroline Smith, graduate student in Alexa Veenema’s lab, has been awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for her research on the neural mechanisms regulating social novelty-seeking. Read more.
Elyas Bakhtiari (photo credit: Boston University)
Boston University
PhD candidate Bakhtiari awarded NSF Fellowship
Sociology Ph.D Candidate Elyas Bakhtiari was awarded one of three graduate student fellowships under the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellows Program. Read more.
Samuel McCandlish (photo credit: Brandeis University)
Brandeis University
Six scientists secure fellowships
Samuel McCandlish ’12 (Physics) , a current student who did research with Michael Hagan and Aparna Baskaran, resulting in a paper “Spontaneous segregation of self-propelled particles with different motilities” in Soft Matter(as a junior). Read more.
(photo credit: City University of New York)
City University of New York (CUNY)
Record 16 CUNY students win NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
A record 16 CUNY students — 15 of whom earned undergraduate degrees at the University — have won National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships for work toward their master’s or doctoral degrees. Read more.
(photo credit: Rice University)
Rice University
20 NSF fellowships awarded to Rice students for graduate study
The six Rice seniors and 14 Rice graduate students chosen as NSF graduate research fellows will receive support for three years of graduate study leading to research-based master’s or doctoral degrees in the fields of science and engineering relevant to the NSF’s mission. Read more.
Jennifer Sepulveda (photo credit: University of Arizona)
University of Arizona
Students Awarded NSF Graduate Fellowships
Five students who participated in federally funded graduate education preparatory programs for low-income, first-generation or underrepresented students at the University of Arizona have earned National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships. Read more.
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Mahoney (photo credit: University of Delaware)
University of Delaware
Ten win prestigious graduate fellowships from National Science Foundation
Ten University of Delaware students and recent alumni have received National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Program Fellowships. Numerous Nobel Prize winners are among past recipients of the prestigious award. Read more.
(photo credit: University of Hawaii at Hilo)
University of Hawaii at Hilo
UH Hilo students earn Graduate Fellowships
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has presented Graduate Student Fellowship Awards to a pair of University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo students enrolled in the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) master’s degree program. Read more.
Left to Right: Cameron Williams, Audrey Cheong, Darren Seibert and Thomas Markovich (photo credit: University of Houston)
University of Houston
5 NSF Graduate Research Fellowships awarded to UH students, alumna
From cognitive neuroscience to theoretical physics, this year’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellows from the University of Houston (UH) have their sights set on careers in fields ranging from medicine to energy. Read more.
Adam J Dixon (photo credit: adamjdixon.com)
University of Virginia
Ten U.Va. Graduate Students Earn NSF fellowships
This year’s fellowship winners will be conducting graduate work, in biomedical engineering, developmental psychology and social psychology. Four of them, all in biomedical engineering, earned their bachelor’s degrees from U.Va. Read more.
Last night we had a fantastic seminar at the Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences with an audience of talented doctoral students interested in postdoctoral fellowships. It was interesting to hear from these students that at end of their studies, they are generally expected to secure a position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and then seek funding to support their postdoctoral research. The problem? NIH positions and funding are becoming more and more competitive. These students were very surprised to hear that there are alternative sources of funding, as well as alternative career paths after a doctorate.
Some alternatives to NIH postdoctoral positions include the Humboldt Research Fellowships in Germany, sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. These are for young researchers who have finished their doctorate in the past four years. Germany is the European hub for science and technology research, but one of the great perks of these fellowships is that you can spend up to 25% of your fellowship in other parts of Europe. AvH also offers the one-year German Chancellor Fellowship for professionals, which includes 3 months of intensive German language training (I’m an alumni – class of 2003-4).
Other postdoctoral fellowships include the Smithsonian Institution fellowships or the Pews Scholars Program in Biomedical Sciences.
What I hear often from doctoral students is that they’re burnt-out after the intensity of completing a PhD, and they don’t necessarily want to begin a postdoc immediately after graduation. A professional fellowship is the perfect opportunity for a short-term paid position in something other than research. For example, a recent graduate could pursue a science policy fellowship and spend a year in Washington, DC, or consider a fellowship in K-12 teaching. There are a number of teaching fellowships that support your transition directly into teaching and the simultaneous completion of your Master’s in Education, such as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation program. The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation also offers teaching fellowships for individuals committed to teaching high school mathematics, physical sciences or biological sciences.
If you’re interested in fellowships whether postdoc or professional, one piece of advice I give to students is to begin looking for them early, ideally a year in advance of when you would like to begin a fellowship. Fellowships that begin in the summer or fall often have application deadlines as early as October of the previous year, and application preparation can be time-consuming. Often you need to secure reference letters and prepare an essay and/or project proposal. You should also allow yourself time to speak to former fellows and make contact with potential host institutions.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Good luck!
Pursuing a competitive fellowship during or after your graduate degree in biomedicine is an excellent step towards a successful career in research, teaching, or biotechnology. In preparation for my upcoming seminar at the Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, we’ve found a number of fellowships for students in biomedical sciences.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) sponsors the Medical Research Fellows Program, which provides medical, dental, and veterinary students fellowships for a year of full-time biomedical research training.
The Smithsonian Institute (SI) has a wide-range of undergraduate to postdoctoral research fellowships. I previously wrote about funding for the new David M. Rubenstein Fellowship, which allows Fellows to conduct research with giant pandas at The National Zoo in Washington, DC. SI also recently announced the Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellowships in Biodiversity Genomics and Bioinformatics. Fellows are funded for 12-24 months to conduct collaborative research in these fields, as well as build a network of genomics experts in the greater Smithsonian research community.
There are a number of postdoctoral fellowships focused on research in specific diseases, such as the International Rett Syndrome Foundation’s (IRSF) postdoctoral fellowship. IRSF Fellows receive up to $100,000 over 2 years to research relevant to Rett syndrome.
The AAAS Science & Technology Fellowships provide opportunities for accomplished postdoctoral to mid-career scientists and engineers to contribute to the public policymaking process. Jay Grahm won an AAAS Science & Technology Fellowship and went to Haiti to help build hand washing stations and provide other sanitation needs for growing camps full of displaced people.
For graduate students and professionals seeking something different than a career in research and academia, several organizations lure scientists into K-12 teaching through competitive fellowships. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation supports scientists and engineers who commit to teach math, science, engineering and technology for at least 3 years in rural and urban schools.
I’ll be speaking of these fellowships and others in more detail at the Tufts seminar on February 27, 2012. Hope to see you there!
ProFellow Seminar at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Monday, February 27, 4:00 – 5:00pm
Location: Room 316, Sackler Building, 145 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA
Map: http://sackler.tufts.edu/Campus-and-Community/Directions
In preparation for my upcoming seminar at MIT, I’ve gone back through my posts on science and engineering fellowships. Here’s a review of some of the best we’ve found.
Engineering:
- The Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship is a competitive and prestigious fellowship for exceptionally talented doctoral students in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences.
- The Amelia Earhart Fellowship is a $10,000 award for women of any nationality pursuing a doctoral degree in the field of aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering.
- The Hydro Fellowship Program is awarded to mechanical and electrical engineering graduate students in their final year of study who are interested in conducting research related to the improvement of conventional hydropower.
- The KPCB Engineering Fellows Program is a paid summer fellowship for entrepreneurial engineering students at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Science:
- Yale University offers 20-25 annual Gruber Science Fellowships for students of any nationality pursuing a PhD in biomedical and biological sciences or in astronomy and astrophysics.
- The L’Oreal USA Fellowships for Women in Science is a competitive fellowship program that provides five awards of up to $60,000 to women postdoctoral researchers who are pursuing careers in the life and physical/material sciences, as well as mathematics, engineering and computer science.
Tech:
- Code for America is a highly competitive professional fellowship program that recuits talented web developers, designers, and entrepreneurs to work on innovative tech projects in city government agencies across the U.S., including Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington, DC and Boston.
- The Google Policy Fellowship is a paid summer fellowship for undergraduate, graduate, and law students to spend 10 weeks in Washington, DC, San Francisco, Toronto or Ottawa, Canada at public interest organizations working on public policy in broadband access, content regulation, copyright and trademark reform, consumer privacy, and open government.
- The DHS Emerging Leaders in Cybersecurity is a paid professional fellowship program for computer science graduates; fellows complete rotational assignments at the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC.
We hope to see you at our Spring 2012 University Tour in Boston! Read here for details.
Venture Firm Kleiner Perkins is strategic in more ways than one. To attract top engineering talent, they’ve established the competitive KPCB Engineering Fellows Program. In this summer fellowship, engineering students spend a summer at Kleiner Perkins in the San Francisco Bay Area where they will be paid to develop their technical skills while being mentored by an engineering executive within the company. Fellows will also be invited to attend private events, such as talks by reps from Twitter, Groupon, Zynga and Chegg. They will also have the opportunity to network with other talented engineering students and technology luminaries at planned outings like a Giants game, camping in Big Basin, or a hackathon at Klout.
25 Fellows were just chosen from nearly 1000 applicants from over 100 universities. The universities the class of fellows are joining from are Franklin Olin, Rice, Princeton, UPenn, Carnegie Mellon, Brown, UCSD, University of Michigan, Duke, and University of Kentucky. According to TechCrunch, sample summer projects include working on an energy efficiency insight algorithm on Opower’s data platform, and developing graph analysis to provide data insight that will drive product designs at Klout.
Eligibility for the KPCB Engineering Fellows Program is open to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at U.S. universities who are studying computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics or fields related to software development. The next application deadline is likely to be October 2012.
Once in a while I come across a fellowship that re-confirms this: there’s a fellowship for everything. The Hudson River Foundation is offering up to three full-time graduate research fellowships to advanced graduate students conducting research on the Hudson River system. Fellowships awarded to doctoral students include a stipend of up to $15,000 for one year, and those for Master’s students will include a stipend of up to $11,000 for one year.
The Foundation’s Hudson River Fund was created to address the need for an independent institution to sponsor scientific research and education programs on the River’s ecological system. This comes after a long series of legal controversies concerning the environmental impacts of power plants on the Hudson River.
The Foundation also has a summer fellowship, the Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship program, to support research on the Hudson River. $3,800 wouldn’t go far in New York City, but the Polgar Fellowships may be awarded for studies anywhere within the tidal Hudson estuary from New York Harbor to the Federal Dam at Troy, New York, including the four marshes of the National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Applications due March 31, 2012.