UCMP graduate student awards 2015-2016

All graduate students in good standing and progressing satisfactorily towards their degree are invited to apply to the UCMP for a:

Research grant
Awards of up to $3,000 (but typically no more than $2,500) made possible by our endowments to facilitate your dissertation research, including (but not restricted to) field work, specimen or sample preparation, lab supplies, and/or purchase of special pieces of equipment (which will remain UCMP property). Funds may be used to offset expenses of attending a summer course needed for your Ph.D. training.

Application in pdf format

Fellowship support
One-semester stipend support. These provide one academic semester of stipend support free of GSI or GSR responsibilities. Students may only receive a Fellowship once in their graduate career.

** You may apply for both a Research Grant and one of the Fellowships at the same time. **

Criteria for awards:

1. Significance of the proposed research.

2. Quality of the research proposal.

3. Impact award will have on the quality of your research and the timeliness of your graduation.

4. The extent to which you have applied for support for your research from elsewhere.

5. Relevance of proposed research to the mission of UCMP: "to investigate and promote the understanding of the history of life and the diversity of the Earth's biota." All proposals must make an explicit link between the proposed research and paleontology.

6. The strength of your contribution to/participation within the UCMP community.

Notes on the award criteria: For the Fellowships, criterion (3) will, all else being equal, favor those who will be in their 4th and 5th (or even 6th) year when the award comes into effect, and criterion (4) is not so important (but all else being equal, students who have never enjoyed a semester free of GSI/GSR responsibilities will be favored over other candidates). Note that as in all decisions that involve multiple criteria, the awards committee will exercise their own judgment when it comes to the exact balance between the criteria to be used.

NOTE: Do not confuse the Research Grants with the UCMP Graduate Student Travel Awards, which support travel for presenting at scientific meetings. You may apply for both in any academic year.

Funds may be used anytime within a 12-month period after the award date to the end of Spring Semester, 2016. An explicit request must be made to carry forward unused balances to the following year (you are not allowed to simply bank past support for future use).

Application in pdf format