As a follow up to the Fellowships 101 post, I’d like to share some advice specifically pertaining to the NSF. Just to be clear, I’m referring to the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). Mainly, I want to emphasize the importance of the “Broader Impacts” criterion.
I have encountered a number of extremely intelligent graduate students who applied, but did not receive an NSF award (or at least not on the first time around). In every case, the reviewers praised the Intellectual Merit aspects of the application, but cited a failure to fulfill the Broader Impacts criterion.
If you’d like to win an NSF fellowship, do yourself a favor: demonstrate in every way possible how and why you have and will continue to fulfill the Broader Impacts criterion.
To that end, here are some suggestions:
1) Read and study this list of Broader Impact Representative Activities
2) Think of one or two ways you’ve exemplified each item listed under the Broader Impacts criterion (e.g. encourage diversity, broaden opportunities, and enable participation of all citizens in science/research, benefit society, etc.). Include abundant examples, especially in your previous research and personal statements.
3) In your previous research statement, emphasize the significance of your research, as well as how it benefits society. Where applicable, be sure to mention that your work has been published and/or presented to an audience.
4) Investigate volunteer/tutoring/teaching/mentoring opportunities within and around the Stanford community*. Consider joining and/or participating in an organization or activity. If you don’t have time, mention an organization or two with which you’d like to become involved in the near future. Reviewers appreciate a continued interest in outreach and community service.
*Check back for upcoming posts on science outreach opportunities.
One final comment. Make a case for why you are perfectly positioned to carry out your proposed plan of research. In other words, be very clear that you have the appropriate background training, access to the best mentors and laboratory equipment, and that you are passionate about your work. Leave the reviewers thinking "It would be a mistake NOT to fund this candidate."
Best of luck writing about what an amazing, dedicated, well-rounded scientist you are!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Graduate Research Fellowships 101
Applying for fellowships is an integral part of the graduate experience. Some (but not all) Stanford Bioscience PhD programs require their first- and second-year students to apply for outside sources of funding. Whether it’s required or not, there are many good reasons to apply for research fellowships.
Winning a nationally competitive fellowship is a highly prestigious accomplishment. This recognition will follow you for the rest of your scientific career. Having your own research money can afford more flexibility in terms of choosing a graduate program, research lab and/or project. Fellowships often provide funds for lab supplies, conference fees and travel expenses. As tedious as it may seem, the application process is a good exercise in grant writing, an extremely important skill to hone as a scientist. As long as you meet all of the applicant criteria, there’s really no reason not to apply for a fellowship.
Nationally competitive fellowships awarded most frequently to Stanford Biosciences graduate students are the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP, or simply NSF) and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG). Having said that, there are countless research fellowships from which to choose. At the end of this post you will find links to fellowship databases as well as a link to a list of fellowships available to minority students.
Here is some general advice relevant to the fellowship application process:
Getting organized
- Research fellowships, decide to which ones you’ll apply
- Make note of deadlines
- Generate a timeline by which materials must be submitted
- Become an expert on the fellowship philosophies and agendas (e.g. Broader Impacts carries a lot of weight in the NSF fellowship application)
- Develop an organization system for you applications (i.e. directories/subdirectories on your computer)
- Don’t procrastinate!
Requesting letters of recommendation
- Make sure you understand the recommendation letter criteria of the fellowship(s) to which you apply (e.g. how many are required?)
- If possible, ask for recommendation letters from the same people who wrote letters on your behalf for graduate school applications
- If you feel your current Stanford rotation advisor knows you well enough to write a recommendation letter for you, don’t hesitate to ask
- Be very clear in communicating what’s required of recommendation letter writers for any given fellowship (how/where/when to submit letters, required forms, etc.)
- Send a current CV/resumé to those who agree to write letters for you
- Send polite email reminders to your letter writers one or two weeks before the submission deadline
Obtaining input from peers and colleagues
- Read and learn from award-winning fellowship applications
- Have your parents, friends, classmates, etc. (as many people as possible!) read your personal essays and statements
- For more technical research proposals, have classmates, older grad students, postdocs, and/or advisors read your proposal(s)
- Ask for advice from anybody who has been awarded a research fellowship*
*Philip Guo is a Computer Science PhD student at Stanford who has written an informative article titled Advice for applying for graduate science fellowships: NSF, NDSEG, Hertz. If your goal is to win a research fellowship, I HIGHLY recommend reading this!!!
As mentioned previously, BioAIMS is hosting a ‘How to write an NSF’ workshop next week. Students who have been awarded the NSF fellowship will share their advice and provide NSF applications of past award recipients. If that’s not enough to entice you, there will be free lunch!
Fellowship Databases
Stanford offers a number of gradate fellowships. These will be the topic of a future post. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.
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