Interested in applying for fellowships and awards but don’t quite know where to begin? Check out the Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards Let’s Meet webpage for more information on how to jumpstart your fellowships and awards journey.
Graduate Student Success
During the month of April, The Graduate School will host the Annual Celebration of Graduate Student Excellence. If you were awarded an external fellowship or grant to support your graduate education for the current academic year (2025-2026), we want to celebrate you! Submit your award information here.
Pro-Tip: The Value of Applying (It's About More than Funding!)
Aside from the possibility of securing funding for research and professional development, applying for fellowships and grants is a great way to build critical skills. At OGFA, we encourage you to view the pursuit of external funding as an integral part of your graduate training—the application process can help you clarify your goals, refine how you communicate your research/work, develop skills in project management, and make you a better collaborator. In the excerpts below, you can see how graduate students who have worked with OGFA to apply for external funding describe the skills and perspectives they built through the process.
Funding opportunities are always competitive, and you’re never guaranteed to win the thing you apply for. But you can be sure that the process is worthwhile. Even if you don’t get the funding, you will engage in meaningful work that furthers your scholarly and professional development. OGFA is ready to support you in that endeavor!
Carine Schermann, PhD Candidate in Modern Languages and Linguistics
Recipient of Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship and the
Boston College African and Africana Diaspora Studies Program Dissertation Fellowship
Applying for fellowships has been both challenging and transformative. Even if I hadn’t received any funding, the application process itself was invaluable. It pushed me to clarify my academic project (its purpose, stakes, and the kind of language I want to use to communicate it). I was also able to reflect on who I am as a scholar: what I value, how I want to present my work, and how my methodologies align with my principles.
The process helped me better understand how to use the resources available to me: how and when to reach out to mentors, how to manage my time strategically, and how to structure long-term goals. Most importantly, it reinforced that academic writing is fundamentally collaborative. Whether I’m preparing a grant proposal or a dissertation chapter, feedback from others (both specialists and non-specialists) makes my work stronger.
Practicing writing for broader audiences has been especially meaningful. Making my research accessible is a priority for me, especially in relation to the communities I work with. Fellowship writing gave me a chance to develop that skill intentionally, and I truly believe it’s made me a better writer (especially in English which is not my first language).
Daniel Gutierrez, PhD Candidate in Biological Science
Recipient of McKnight Doctoral Fellowship and
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Applying for funding has allowed me to improve and practice most, if not all, of the skills that an academic would need for their career: formulating a cohesive research project, identifying relevant hypotheses, designing an appropriate methodology, thinking about broader impacts, and, most importantly, being able to communicate all of this for a broad range of audiences, both general and specialized. Learning how to take and incorporate feedback is a fundamental skill that is only learned through experience, too.
I have learned how to frame my specific work into a broader academic or knowledge framework that is of interest to a larger audience than my direct peers and colleagues. This skill is something that I personally have had to work on constantly, and grant/fellowship writing has forced me to think about the broader impacts of my research and how it fits into larger questions. I have also learned to accept rejections as part of the process; not every application/proposal will be the best fit for every funding source, and there are always very competitive proposals being submitted.
Graduate Students in the News
Courtney Whitcher finds passion in study of fluorescent frogs
Courtney Whitcher, doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology, recently traveled to South America on a monthslong excursion in search of biofluorescence. Read more.
Chemistry doctoral student receives Department of Energy research award
Michael Deck has worked since 2018 to build safer and better batteries that demonstrate potential in electric vehicles, global satellites and reliable energy storage. Read more.
Education doctoral student earns top honors at FSU’s Three Minute Thesis competition
Dionne Wilson, a doctoral student in the College of Education’s Science Education program, won the competition and took home a $1,000 prize. Read more.
‘Coffee and Conversations’ perks up global interest in FSU
In two years, more than 100 Coffee and Conversation video interviews have been uploaded to The Graduate School YouTube channel, and while restrictions from the pandemic have been lifted, the series has been too valuable to discontinue. Read more.
Spring 2023 Professional Development
If you are a current FSU student, please register with your FSU email.
Funding Your Graduate Education: Database Search
OGFA staff will facilitate small group meetings to assist graduate students with navigating award databases to identify fellowships and awards that are a good "fit" to support their graduate education.
- January 25 | 11 AM | Register here
- February 21 | 2 PM | Register here
- March 21 with a focus on international students | 10:30 AM | Register here
- April 19 | 11 AM | Register here
Fulbright U.S. Student Program Info Sessions
- General Info Session | January 23 | 11 AM | Register here
- Academic Grants | January 24 | 10 AM| Register here
- Arts and Creative Projects | January 25 | 11 AM | Register here
- English Teaching Assistantships | January 26 | 1:30 PM | Register here
Building Cohesion in Application Writing
January 31 | 12 PM | Register here
Facilitated by the Center for Intensive English Studies, this workshop is intended to support English as a Second Language students who are interested in developing their fellowship and award application writing skills. “Cohesion,” or flow and connection across an application, is essential for writing high-quality application essays. This workshop will provide guidance and instruction on achieving cohesion.
CV/Resume Workshop with The Career Center
March 22 | 10:30 AM | Register here
CVs and Resumes are an important part of your scholarly and professional profile, and they play vital roles in the fellowships and awards application process. Join OGFA and the Career Center for a workshop on preparing high-impact CVs and Resumes! Time-allowing, we will also provide feedback on your CV/Resume!
Proposal Planning and Writing with the Office of Research Development
March 30 | 2 PM | Register here
This workshop will focus on breaking down fellowship application guidelines to identify what is required in a competitive application. Evangeline Coker from the Office of Research Development will discuss how to strategize and plan an application and provide tips for writing high-impact proposals.
Communicating the Significance of your Research
April 13 | 1 PM | Register here
Explaining your research to a broad audience of fellowship reviewers can be challenging. In this interactive workshop, we will practice pitching the significance of your research to your target audience and refining the answer to the elusive “so-what” question.
Master's in Four Competition
Are you a Master's student interested in developing your academic, presentation, and research communication skills? Then, present your research at the Master's in Four competition! Prizes range from $250 to $1000.
Read more about Lorem Ipsum
Three-Part Grants Workshop
OGFA, OPDA and the Office of Research will host three interconnected workshops to assist postdocs and grad students in preparing external grant applications. Attend all workshops and submit an external award application to receive a $1000 scholarship!
Read more about Lorem Ipsum
HSF Excellence in the Visual Art Award
Are you an artistic graduate student? Then, apply to participate in the HSF Excellence in the Visual Arts Exhibition Awards! You can win up to $500 and have your work exhibited in the HSF House. Click here to see the 2022 winners.
Read more about Lorem Ipsum
Networking Event
Kick off the Spring 2023 semester by making connections with graduate students across campus! On February 15, 2023, the Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards will host a Networking Event aimed at creating interdisciplinary collaborations and peer support networks. Get out of your disciplinary silos! Come grab a bite to eat, learn about fellowships and awards, and meet other FSU graduate students! The Spring Networking Event will take place in the HSF House Great Hall from 4 to 6 PM. Space is limited. Register here.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Short Term Fellowships
The Short-Term Fellowship Program allows selected candidates to come to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at any time of the year to receive support and be introduced to tropical research. Fellowships are open to graduate students at any level and provide a stipend to cover living expenses while at STRI (currently $1,000/month, a total amount of $3,000 for stipend), a research allowance, and a round-trip coach airfare.
Deadline: February/April/July/October 15
Institute for Humane Studies Conference and Research GrantS
IHS offers a Conference Accelerator Grant for master's and doctoral students who have not advanced to candidate. These $2,000 grants are intended to provide funding needed to develop a conference paper. IHS also offers Graduate Sabbatical Grants for advanced doctoral students, providing up to $15,000 to buyout teaching or research responsibilities so a student can devote full attention to dissertation work.
Deadline: Applications accepted on a rolling basis
Golden Key Graduate Scholar Award
Golden Key International Honour Society is the world's largest collegiate honor society for graduate and undergraduate students. Master's and Doctoral students can receive up to $2,500 for the Graduate Scholar Award. Eligibility is restricted to members of Golden Key, but awards are open for both U.S. Citizens and International Students.
Deadline: April
URA Fermilab Visiting Scholars Program
The program allows awardees to conduct work at Fermilab for up to one year. Visits can range from attendance at Fermilab conferences and summer schools to year-long stays at the Lab. Proposals may be submitted twice a year, in February and August.
Deadline: February 27, 2023
Celebrating Graduate Education
The work and research in action of graduate students at Florida State University broadly impacts the campus community and the world around us. OGFA initiated the Grad Impact: Digital Narratives Project to capture and amplify the lived graduate student experience at FSU. Check out some of our grad student highlights below.
Nelson Jean Francois
Social Work
"Graduate degree = competency = efficient leadership = better world"
View Profile
Bertha Crombet
Creative Writing
"A chance to explore your passions"
View Profile
Benjamen Goff
History
"The past can be a weapon"
View Profile
Virginia Machado
Spanish Literature and Linguistics
"Personal and Professional Growth, Building Networks"
View Profile
Zida Wang
Art Education
"You will need a bigger boat"
View Profile
Hanim Astuti
Information
"Gain expertise, a brighter future career in education"
View Profile
Click here to see more #Gradimpact student profiles.
Coffee and Conversation Video Series
Coffee and Conversation video series was created to build community amongst graduate students during pandemic when all things teaching and learning shifted to a remote space. The virtual video chats are informal and allow graduate students to engage in discussion about their research, a typical day in the life as a graduate student, and other topics. During these interviews, graduate students serve as an inspiration to others by sharing their lived graduate student experiences. To date, 97 video interviews have been published on The Graduate School YouTube page.
Interested in an interview? Reach out to Honorine Rouiller (hrouiller@fsu.edu), Digital Narratives Program Manager! To share your story or nominate a Rockstar graduate student for us to highlight, submit information here.