1. Linda Vong Office of Graduate Studies May 13, 2009
Graduate Funding 101
Linda Vong
Office of Graduate Studies
May 13, 2009

2. Outline for today Who I am and what I do Types of funding
Where to look for funding
A few of the major players
Where to go from here

3. Who I am and what I do Financial Support Unit
Help navigate application procedures
Act as a liaison between agency and student
Act as a second (or third, or fourth…or seventh) pair of eyes for proposals
-basic editing, grammatical errors, etc.
I also may not know the field as well as you do, so my input is just that – an outsider’s perspective on the readibility, the conciseness, and the clarity of the proposal.
that’ being said, let’s get this show on the road!

4. Types of funding Departmental Travel Research Training Fellowship
General Scholarship
Departmental – funds for students, usually in form of TAship, Raship, etc.
Travel – Very specialized awards which allow graduate students to pursue a semester or more abroad. Often combined with another type of grant (i.e. research, training, or dissertation fellowships). Extremely competitive, with deadlines well in advance of actual awarding of grant
Examples:
-All Fulbright grants (full grant, Fulbright-Hays
dissertation research)
-German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Research - The most common type of fellowship; usually intended for Ph.D. or other terminal degree candidates
Support original research which may lead to a dissertation or other long range project
May include stipends for travel, books, and supplies
-Pacific Rim Research Grants
-NIH, NSF, NASA (GSR program, NSPIRES, National Earth and Space Science Fellowship [NESSF]), etc.
Training-Opportunities for first and second year graduate students to work with a faculty mentor, usually in a laboratory, to develop skills for future research.
Can contain a travel element (ex: National Institutes of Health training grants (Ruth Kirchstein) and Fulbright Full Grants
Fellowship - Opportunities to allow graduate students to pursue their own research interests with funding unencumbered by institutional obligation (such as TAships, RAships)
Competitive awards given to outstanding scholars based on the merit of a research proposal, as well as other relevant academic criteria (such as letters of recommendation, transcripts, etc.)
General Scholarship - Typically awarded on the basis of past accomplishments and undergraduate academic record
General purpose: open to almost all subjects
Highly selective, nationwide competitions
-Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships

5. Where to look for funding

6. Where to start UCSD’s SURF database (http://research.ucsd.edu/surf/)
Community of Science (
Other UC’s funding databases
-UCLA’s GRAPES (Grad and Postdoc Extramural Support) (
Favorite professors and department advisors
Blog:
Searching for funding is going to rely heavily on your efforts. We have a lot of announcements that come through our office, and they usually get passed to grad coordinators, posted on SURF, and posted on our funding blog
(DEMO SURF REALLY QUICKLY, AS WELL AS COS!!!)

7. A few of the major players

8. Ford Foundation Predoctoral
Awarded in a national competition administered by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies on behalf of the Ford Foundation. The awards will be made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
Basic Eligibility Requirements
U.S. citizens who are enrolled or planning to enroll in an eligible research-based program leading to a Ph.D. at a U.S. educational institution.
designed 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.
Predoctoral fellowships support study toward a Ph.D. or Sc.D.; Dissertation fellowships offer support in the final year of writing the Ph.D. or Sc.D. thesis; Postdoctoral Fellowships offer one-year awards for Ph.D. recipients. Applicants must be U.S. citizens in research-based fields of study.
DIVERSITY FOCUSED!!

9. David L. Boren Graduate Fellowships [National Security Education Program (NSEP)]
The NSEP David L. Boren Graduate Fellowships enable U.S. graduate students to pursue specialization in area and language study, or to add an important international dimension to their education. NSEP supports students studying languages, cultures, and world regions other than Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Boren Fellowships are intended to support U.S. graduate students who will pursue the study of languages and cultures deemed critical to U.S. national security and who are motivated by the opportunity to work in the federal government.
Basic Eligibility Requirements
Be a U.S. citizen and a graduate student
Those who seek to add a language component to their studies, add a dimension of int’l culture to their studies, etc.
-ALSO-
The Language Flagship Fellowships
The Language Flagship offers a limited number of fellowships to qualified American students interested in receiving full financial support to participate in one of the Flagship Programs in Arabic, Central Asian Turkic languages, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, and Russian.
Most Flagship program have two components: one domestic and one overseas
Flagship Fellowships are awards of up to two years that support academic expenses directly associated with participation in a Flagship Program, including tuition, a modest stipend for living expenses, and support for travel costs and health insurance coverage.
Therefore, Flagship Fellows may not pursue requirements of other degree programs while receiving Flagship Fellowship support, nor may Flagship Fellowships be combined with other sources of funding that would require Fellows to devote less than full-time effort in The Language Flagship. 

10. Fulbright U.S. Student Program
[Institute of International Education (IIE)]
Fulbright U.S. Student Program
The IIE Fulbright U.S. Student Program equips American leaders with the skills they need to thrive in an increasingly global environment by providing funding for open academic year of study or research abroad. Grantees undertake self-designed programs in disciplines ranging from social sciences, business, communications and performing arts to physical sciences, engineering and education. The U.S. Student Program awards approximately 1,000 grants annually and currently operates in over 140 countries worldwide.
Basic Eligibility Requirement
Be a U.S. citizen & have a Bachelor’s Degree
*Please note that OGS administers this award for UC San Diego*
Travel, research, teach english, pursue “your interest” in an overseas setting

11. Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research
Abroad Fellowship Program
[U.S. Department of Education(ED)]
The ED Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship Program provides opportunities for graduate students to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad for 6 to 12 months in modern foreign languages and area studies.
Basic Eligibility Requirements
Be a graduate student and be a U.S. citizen or national or a permanent resident of the U.S.

12. Social Science Research Council http://www.ssrc.org
The SSRC sponsors fellowship and grant programs on a wide range of topics, and across many different career stages. Most support goes to predissertation, dissertation, and postdoctoral fellowships, offered through annual competitions. Some programs support summer institutes and advanced research grants. Although most programs target the social sciences, many are also open to applicants from the humanities, the natural sciences, and relevant professional and practitioner communities.

13. UC Research Institutes
Pacific Rim Research Program
UC Institute for Research in the Arts UCIRA:
UC-MEXUS:
UC Humanities Research Institute:
PRRP - all areas and nations that border the Pacific Ocean, including Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands, and Pacific Latin America. priority on research that is new, specific to the region, and collaborative -- reaching across national boundaries and bridging academic disciplines. Proposals may come from any discipline and should address questions that contribute to an understanding of the Pacific Rim region as a whole.
The University of California's Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA) supports UC artists dedicated to innovative approaches to form and content in the performing, media, and visual arts
The UCIRA provides grants to arts faculty and students for projects with the potential for significant artistic and cultural impact. We support projects that are innovative, experimental, and risk-taking in their approach to form and/or content.
MEXUS –
Mexico-Related Studies-All Disciplines - Latino Studies - United States-Mexican Relations - Critical U.S.-Mexico Issues Mexican and Latino Topics in the Arts and Humanities
UCHRI addresses topics traditional to the humanities in disciplines such as literature, philosophy, classics, languages, and history, as well as the pressing human dimensions that arise in the social and natural sciences, technology, art, medicine, and the professions. Stressing interdisciplinary research

14. Dissertation Writing
UCSD: Fletcher Jones and President’s Dissertation Year Fellowships
Harry Frank Guggenheixm Fellowships
Woodrow Wilson and Charlotte Newcombe Fellowships
Wenner-Gren Foundation
Spencer Dissertation Fellowships
CILAS Grants
Presidents -educationally or economically disadvantaged or whose research or planned career direction focuses on problems related to disadvantaged segments of society. Dissertation Year Fellowships are to be awarded to promising students in the final stages of their doctoral work who demonstrate strong potential for university teaching and research
Guggenheim - proposals from any of the natural and social sciences and the humanities that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence, aggression, and dominance. Highest priority is given to research that can increase understanding and amelioration of urgent problems of violence, aggression, and dominance in the modern world.
Newcombe- original and significant study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, and particularly to help Ph.D. candidates in these fields complete their dissertation work in a timely manner
Wenner-Gren – anthropology
Spencer - projects related to education broadly conceived.
CILAS- Academic Year Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (AY-FLAS) Brazilian Portuguese, Zapotec or advanced Spanish at UCSD
Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (S-FLAS) Brazilian Portuguese or Amerindian languages during the summer.
Previous fellowships have been granted for Brazilian Portuguese, Maya, Nahuatl, Quechua, Zapotec and Haitian Creole.
CILAS Field Research Grants tinker pre-diss travel grant (UCSD grad studs conducting pre-diss research)

15. Thinking ahead Agencies: Deadlines: Fulbright IIE
DoE DDRA
Ford
DAAD
Pacific Rim
Boren
Deadlines:
September 11 and October 20
Late October or early November
November 14
Early to mid November
Early January
Early to mid January
Agencies have various deadlines, do the research early!

16. Where to go from here
With deadlines on the mind…

17. Okay…now what?? Do the research Submit your applications
Devise a plan of attack
Rally the troops
Submit your applications
Constant vigilance!
Dot the i’s and cross the t’s
Do the research – I will not know of EVERY funding opportunity out there – heck, I may not even know 10% of the funding opportunities out there, but I disseminate what I do know as best I can to the grad coords, thru the blog, and by posting on SURF. The rest is up to you.
Devise a plan of attack – figure out what you need to do. Create a spreadsheet of critical dates (due dates, when you need to get me papers to review/to be signed, when you need proposals by, if you need human subjects approval…have you GOTTEN human subjects approval, etc.) and get cracking on that proposal. Proposals are usually concise, easy to follow, and convince someone/an agency as to why they should pay you to do what you’re proposing to do!
Rally the troops – give recommenders (and reviewers!!) plenty of time to draft up their glowing reviews of your work. Giving reviewers enough time to review and talk over your app with you ensures that the submission process will go smoothly
Submit your applications – sometimes through me/Kim, sometimes directly to agency, sometimes through grants.gov, sometimes through eRA commons.
Constant vigilance – keep an eye out for new funding opportunities that may pop up. It’s like applying for college, you have a back up school, a back up school for the back up school, etc. Don’t put all your chicks in one basket! Check back frequently on SURF, blog, with grad coords, etc. !! Also, sometimes applications are incomplete at the time of submission, or documents are still pending. Keep an eye out for correspondence from agencies (or from me) requesting more information.
Make sure to thank your recommenders, be aware of proposal review dates, and follow up with the agency as needed

18. Tips for success
Be concise and be clear. Don’t make the reviewer search for the “who, what, when, where, how and why.”
Know your limitations/pitfalls and be ready to address them. If you are the slightest bit unclear about an aspect of your research, be ready to address that.
Formatting may seem like something you can get around – it’s not.
For the larger agencies, they can be reading anywhere from applications in a short amount of time – make yours stand out!
Think about it this way, if they’re reading 30 of these a day, and one of them looks a little different, they will know.

19. Tips for success
Avoid jargon-heavy wording. Can someone outside of your field of expertise understand what you’re trying to do?
Demonstrate evidence as to WHY your project needs to be carried out in the country you are proposing. There is a definite difference between NEED and WANT. The use of vague, general or broad terms in the proposal should be avoided.
Keep in mind that you’re writing a persuasive piece, you have to make the reader feel like they NEED to fund you.
How will you carry out your work? All students should discuss methodology and goals in their statements. However, there are some exceptions (such as NSF).

20. Tools for success Dissertation writing:
Grant writing tips:
HHMI"Making the Right Moves" Chapter 9: Getting Funded
ScienceCareers.org Grant Doctor articles
NIH Grant Writing Tip Sheets
Proposal Writing Websites collected by University of Wisconsin- Madison

21. Tools for success General writing:
Joseph Williams Style: Toward Clarity and Grace. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL.
Joseph Williams Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL.

22. Thank you! Any questions?
Linda Vong
Graduate Fellowship Advisor
4th Floor, Student Services Center