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Funding & Fellowships

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  • Amos Jeng, Jeannette Cullum, and Abhi Kamboj

    From Applicant to Fellow: Essential Insights for NSF-GRFP Success

    Aug 15, 2024 1:45 pm

    Three National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows share their experience with the application process. 

  • Exploring Career Pathways

    Exploring Career Pathways while in Graduate School

    Oct 27, 2023 2:00 pm

    Exploring your career options can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. Hear from recipients of the Graduate College's Career Exploration Fellowship about their time as fellows.

  • GYSS attendees stand beside an outdoor installation.

    Illinois Graduate Students Share Experiences from the Global Young Scientists Summit

    May 19, 2023 2:00 pm

    Ten graduate students from the University of Illinois traveled to Singapore for the Global Young Scientists Summit. We chatted with them about their experiences—and why others should consider attending. 

  • Joe Coyle

    Ethnography: Anthropological Research on Queer Pentecostalism in Brazil

    Jan 26, 2022 4:30 am

    "I think of anthropological method as the art of being in relation with others, and ethnographic description as the art of writing those relations. It’s a difficult art, stepping into other people’s lives and describing the relations you think you see."

  • Melesse Biniyam

    Meet Our Fellows: Biniyam Melesse, Fulbright-Hays DDRA Awardee

    Nov 1, 2021 4:30 am

    For Biniyam Melisse, winning a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) fellowship was “a match made in heaven.” 

  • Destiny Williams-Dobosz

    Meet Our Fellows: Destiny Williams-Dobosz, NSF Graduate Research Fellow

    Jun 9, 2021 4:45 pm

    “Why is science so hard for students?” This question has intrigued Destiny Williams-Dobosz, a Ph.D. student in Educational Psychology and NSF Graduate Research Fellow.  

  • Matthew Boudreau

    Meet Our Fellows: Matthew Boudreau, NCI Pre/Postdoctoral Fellow

    Sep 28, 2020 1:15 pm

    “All of us, unfortunately, have a personal experience with cancer impacting a friend or family member. It touches a lot of our hearts. I saw the depths of what we could not treat through a life experience of a friend,” Matthew Boudreau, PhD Candidate in Chemistry said. “I think that was the first spark for me to become involved in cancer research.”

  • Raquel Escobar

    Meet Our Fellows: Raquel Escobar, Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow

    Aug 17, 2020 12:15 pm

    Graduate education prepares you for many ways to positively impact the world around you. For Raquel Escobar, recent doctoral graduate in History, the opportunity to have a broad and active impact on the community comes through a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellowship. The fellowship allows Escobar to marry her scholarly expertise in history, memory and public humanities with a position at the Humanities Action Lab (HAL) at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

  • Hands typing on keyboard of laptop

    Fellowship Tips: Crafting a Good Research Question

    Jan 29, 2020 3:30 pm

    A typical fellowship application contains many components of varying lengths, yet it’s the shortest component — the research question — that’s the most important. Without a strong and explicitly-stated research question, a funding proposal never gets off the ground. So, what constitutes a good research question?

  • Schmidt Science Fellow: Daniel Raudabaugh

    Meet Our Fellows: Daniel Raudabaugh, Schmidt Science Fellow

    Sep 9, 2019 8:00 pm

    It’s not every day you get to name a new species of fungi, but Daniel Raudabaugh (PhD Plant Biology, 2019) named two during his time as a graduate student at Illinois. Hongkongmyces snookiorum, named to honor his grandparents who let him collect on their land for his pilot study, and Coniella lustricola, Latin for “bog-loving.”

  • Fellowships: Getting your ducks in a row

    Finding Funding Opportunities: Insights from a Current PhD Student

    Mar 20, 2019 6:30 pm

    Funding is one of the biggest factors in determining what kind of financial decisions you make as a graduate student. Taking on federal student loans, using your employment to fund your degree, using your savings, getting help from family members, etc. We all want to make decisions that will benefit us most - and while the above are all good options depending on your individual situation, nothing beats “free money” like fellowships, assistantships, grants and scholarships. As a former fourth time Foreign Language and Areas Studies (FLAS) Fellowship recipient, current Illinois Distinguished Fellow, and Graduate Assistant, I have searched and applied for many funding opportunities during my college career. It is a long but worthy process. Below are six tips on how to find and secure funding.

  • Person rides a magic carpet shaped like a dollar bill trailed by money led by a piggy bank over the University of Illinois campus.

    Funding Graduate School

    Feb 20, 2019 6:30 pm

    Graduate school is one of the most important investments in your future you can make, To ensure that you invest wisely, it's essential thatyou identify your main expenses, as well as develop a funding plan and a budget. Think of this as planting the seeds for a successful financial future in graduate school. It’s important to start thinking about these financial questions early and to seek out University resources that can help answer your questions.  

  • Meet Our Fellows: Busra Karagobek, Visiting Fulbright Fellow from Ankara, Turkey

    Feb 4, 2019 1:15 pm

    In this special "Meet Our Fellows" post, SAGE member Meera interviews Busra Karagobek, a PhD student from Turkey, who is currently studying at the University of Illinois under a Fulbright Scholarship. Let's meet Busra!

  • Meet Our Fellows: Safiyah Muhammad, Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellow

    Oct 18, 2018 11:45 am

    Ford Fellow Safiyah Muhammad says that she learned to teach from the best – her mom. Her mother homeschooled her before she was old enough to enroll in kindergarten and served as her fourth grade teacher as well. “She never limited me in what I could do. She never told me I was too young. She was my very first and obviously most impactful teacher,” Safiyah said. With the help of the Ford Fellowship, she hopes to channel that feeling into her work as a researcher, teacher, and scholar at Illinois.

  • Meet Our Fellows: Nubras Samayeen, American Association of University Women

    Jul 20, 2018 1:45 pm

    When she finishes her degree at Illinois, Nubras Samayeen may be the first woman in Bangladesh to hold a PhD in Landscape Architecture. This is the realization of a goal she's had since she was a child and is, in no small part, something she's doing for her own two young daughters and for other Bangladeshi women who, like her, have unconventional dreams. Here’s her story.

  • Meet Our Fellows: Matt Haugen, Fulbright Fellow studying Chinese Sport Industry

    Jun 5, 2018 8:00 am

    Last April, after nearly a yearlong process and an arduous wait, Matthew Haugen was notified that he had been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, which would allow him the opportunity to complete his dissertation research project studying sport education in China. His fellowship experience ultimately encouraged him to pivot his dissertation research project to better represent and inform the future he sees for himself as a scholar.

  • Matthew Klopfenstein at the newly-opened Zariad’e Park, with the Kremlin in the background

    Meet Our Fellows: Matthew Klopfenstein, Fulbright Fellow in Moscow

    Apr 23, 2018 12:45 am

    Matthew Klopfenstein has spend the last seven months deep in the world of Russian archives exploring how the deaths of female pop stars in the early 1900s entered the public realm and became national phenomena. Read about Matthew's day to day life as a Fulbright Fellow living in Moscow, Russia.

  • Letters of Reference for Fellowship Applications

    Sep 14, 2017 11:45 am

    “Applications must include three letters of reference…”

    If you’re applying for graduate research fellowships and grants, you will likely find something along these lines in the application instructions. These letters are absolutely critical to the success of your application, yet you have no control over them — or do you?

    There is no “one-size-fits-all” set of guidelines on this topic. Letters of reference are by their very nature highly personal. Ways of building relationships will also vary according to discipline, the nature of the research, and the applicant’s career goal. That’s why it’s essential to get advice from your advisor and talk with other students in your program about their own successful strategies. However, there are a few overarching points to consider.

  • Meet Our Fellows: Ford Fellows on Campus

    Jul 26, 2017 10:00 am

    To increase diversity in higher education, the Ford Foundation offers predoctoral, dissertation, and postdoctoral fellowships. The goal is three-fold – increasing university’s ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity, and increasing the number of professors who use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

    We talked to three University of Illinois graduate students from across campus who received a Ford Fellowship to learn more about the program.

  • Get an Early Start on this Year's Fellowship Applications

    Jul 11, 2017 11:30 am

    Are you thinking of applying for an external fellowship or grant this fall? If so, summer is a great time to strengthen your application’s foundation. There are many things you can do over the summer to give yourself an all-important competitive edge.   

  • The Art of Proposal Writing: Proposal as Roadmap

    Jun 22, 2017 4:00 pm

    In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the proposal as a genre — the story of your journey into uncharted intellectual territory, driven by a vision of your contribution to your discipline and beyond. Your reviewers are excited! They want to help you complete your journey! But, they want some details. The proposal is the roadmap you provide.

    There is no right or wrong way to structure a proposal. There may be disciplinary norms or funder guidelines, which is why it is essential to look at successful proposals in your discipline and read the program solicitation carefully.  Regardless of the structure, there are some commonalities in proposals across all disciplines and funders. Here are some tips for putting together a good roadmap for the reviewers...

  • Sloan UCEM at Illinois Helps Underrepresented Students Pursue Advanced Degrees and Career Paths

    May 31, 2017 11:30 am

    “Illinois is committed to the goal of achieving diversity and excellence,” says Dr. Ellen Wang Althaus, director of Sloan University Center of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM). 

    The Sloan UCEM at Illinois is one of the eight centers in the country funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. With a one-million-dollar, three-year grant, the Illinois UCEM was created to broaden participation and provide support for underrepresented minority graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. It  provides activities designed to support students toward doctorate completion, such as professional development opportunities, mentoring, research opportunities, workshops, and seminars. 

  • The Art of Proposal Writing: Proposal as Genre

    May 15, 2017 3:30 pm

    Mystery and suspense, a hero going on a quest…why am I talking about this in a blog post about proposal writing?  Because when you write about your research, you’re writing a story of ideas that explores uncharted intellectual territory. As you’ve developed your skills and knowledge of the field, you’ve identified a gap in what we know and a means by which you believe you can fill it. That’s what makes proposal writing a special genre.

  • Applying for Fellowships: Telling the "Story of You"

    Mar 29, 2017 4:30 pm

    When applying for fellowships, you may be asked to provide a personal statement, professional goals statement, or something similar.

    A personal statement gives you an opportunity to elaborate on and offer context for information contained in other documents, such as a résumé, CV, research statement, or letters of reference. It gives you a chance to write the story of you:  experiences that have motivated you, people who have inspired you, ideas you’ve pursued, and choices you’ve made. I’ll offer some strategies for approaching these kinds of statements, but first are some suggestions for what to avoid.

  • A view of Fellowship Finder.

    How to Find Fellowships That Are Right for You

    Sep 6, 2016 2:15 pm

    Let’s talk funding.

    Maybe you've heard someone say, “There’s a lot of money out there, you just have to look for it,” and thought to yourself, "Great, but where do I look?" Don't worry - we've got you. Our brand new Fellowship Finder database is now live. It showcases over 1,100 fellowship and grant opportunities that help students fund their graduate studies, and it features a new search process, with lots of options to make your search quicker and more precise.

    Fellowship Finder specializes in awards offered by external funders: government agencies, private foundations, corporations, and other entities outside of the university. We also include a handful of campus opportunities such as those offered by the Graduate College. Best of all, Fellowship Finder is a curated database, meaning that real people (we here in the Office of External Fellowships) make sure that the listings we include are truly useful to graduate students.

    How does the database work? Let’s take a look.

  • Lauren Hagler, Illinois Sloan Scholar

    Meet Our Fellows: Lauren Hagler, Illinois Sloan Scholar

    Mar 9, 2016 9:15 am

    Lauren Hagler fell in love with Chemistry during her first general chemistry class at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.