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Funding Opportunities

Internal Fellowships for Entering Students

You are responsible for applying for financial assistance. Please refer to the University fellowship application below for an outline of available scholarships and fellowships and the fellowship application form. The Graduate Group in Ecology awards a small number of fellowships through a University Block-Grant allocation; including nonresident tuition fee fellowships to domestic students. Fellowships are awarded on academic merit and are therefore very competitive. The application deadline, for admission and fellowship, in Ecology is December 15, 2009 for fall 2010 . This deadline overrides any deadlines that may be posted by the Office of Graduate Studies.

To be considered for a fellowship you must submit a University electronic application for graduate admission by the admission deadline. Supporting materials must include:

  • University fellowship application (please ignore the January 15th deadline, this applies to currently enrolled students only)
  • Statement of Purpose and personal statement - the same statement of purpose that is used for the admissions evaluation, a second statement is not necessary
  • Academic Record - official transcripts, only one set for admission and fellowship consideration
  • GRE Scores
  • Letters of Recommendation - three letters of recommendation, only one set for admission and fellowship consideration are required
  • Resume or Curriculum vitae

Atmospheric Aerosols and Health (AAH) Graduate Training Grant: The AAH graduate training grant is designed to prepare students to work in the field of ari quality through a combination of interdisciplinary coursework, problem sovling and team building activities. Our goal is to use AAH as a recruitment tool to encourage new, incoming students to attend UCD and pursue research in an area realated to air quality. However, if space allows, we also consider applications from current UCD students. Please contact Kate Shasky, 530-754-9646, or via e-mail: aah@ucdavis.edu, website: http://aah.ucdavis.edu.

Responding to Rapid Environmental Change (REACH) Graduate Training Grant: The REACH IGERT is designed to develop a multidisciplinary understanding of the biological and social mechanisms needed to respond to rapid environmental change. The dynamism of environmental problems means that solutions must be on-going accomplishments, requiring continuing commitment to monitoring, management, and adaptation. Students will become proficient in the fundamental scientific and social issues involved in responding to rapid environmental change through a program of coursework, research collaborations, and internships. They will organize workshops that bring together citizens, agency representatives, policymakers, NGO's, and industry. They will have opportunities to develop international collaborations through internships and research activities. All of the activities of the REACH IGERT make direct contributions to solving society's most pressing environmental problems. Please see: http://reach.ucdavis.edu

Internal Fellowships for Continuing Students

The annual deadline for fellowships is January 15th. Beginning with the Winter 2008 application cycle, applications will be submitted electronically. Hard copy materials will not be accepted. Please follow the instructions carefully to avoid being disqualified. Required application materials consist of:

  • Electronic Fellowship Application (Note for international students: a complete application packet, including all materials listed below, are required for Non Resident Tuition Fellowship consideration)
  • Major Professor Letter of Recommendation (you must register your major professor as a recommender on the electronic application)
  • Two additional Letters of Recommendation.
  • Transcripts (provided by the GGE office)
  • Resume or Curriculum vitae (Please include at the end of your proposal as a two page addendum in the same electronic file)

Graduate Student Researcher Assistantships

Research assistantships are awarded by individual faculty members from faculty research grants. Traditionally, research assistantships are negotiated with your major professor during the admission process. Registration fees will be covered under the UC Fee Remission program for any research assistantship appointment of 25% or greater. During the application process if a faculty member indicates an interest in sponsoring an applicant, the GGE will ask for any information on funding arrangements that have been made. You should also request this information from your faculty sponsor.

Teaching Assistantships

The Ecology Graduate Group does not award or have access to teaching assistantships. They are awarded by academic departments. You are free to apply for any teaching assistantships hired by individual departments that you feel you are qualified to teach. You should contact departments (listed here) individually to request an application, please note that each department has a different deadline. The GGE office will supply supplemental application information such as: copies of your transcripts, GRE's, letter of recommendation and resume from your admission packet. If you would like to take advantage of this service, please provide the GGE office with a list of departments that you have applied to. If there are supplemental letters of recommendation that can attest to your teaching background or experience, we highly recommend that you have these included with your TA application.

NOTE: To applicants to the Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology: Applicants to the JDPE program with SDSU do not need to apply for teaching asistantships. JDPE students are in residence at the SDSU campus their first year and are not eligible to hold a UC Davis fellowship.

Travel Awards

You may apply for UC Davis travel awards (awarded by the Office of Graduate Studies) twice a year, October and March. Nominations are made for advanced students to attend a conference, where they will present a paper and are also seeking employment opportunities.

The Major Professor's letter of recommendation should state why this particular conference is important for the students' professional development.

Work Study and Financial Aid

Financial aid is available. Please contact the UCD Financial Aid Office at (530) 752-2390 for information and deadlines. The Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA) is available by the beginning of January online: www.fafsa.org. Be sure to complete the application by the March deadline. Your eligibility will be determined and forwarded to the UC Davis Financial Aid Office. Other federal student assistance might be found through the US Dept. of Education, Office of Postsecondary Information.

Work study funds are allocated to graduate programs in the form of a work study block grant. These funds are awarded to students in their programs. In order to be eligible you must be: determined financially eligible by the Financial Aid Office; be a US Citizen or Resident; and be selected for a graduate student researcher assistantship of 25% or more by a UCD faculty member. Your major professor should make a request to the GGE office for these funds in the spring for the following academic year, confirming that the matching funds are available. Awards will be made to students in writing with a copy to the faculty sponsor in May. Awards will be made for either 25 or 50%.

In addition to the financial eligibility requirement, students must be eligible for employment as a UC Davis graduate student.

Other Resources

The Office of Graduate Studies keeps a list of fellowships and grants available to continuing graduate students. You can find out more about these by checking their listing regularly.

The Office of Graduate Studies has just started to post on-campus postdoctoral opportunities. Check this listing regularly if you are interested in finding postdocs with UC Davis investigators.

Other useful links of funding sources:

  • Jastro Shields Research Fellowship is funded by the College of Agriculture and Environmental Science (CAES). Applicants whose major professor is housed in a department in CAES are eligible to apply. Funding is restricted to Continuing students. The GGE Awards Committee requires that students apply at the same time as the block grant application on January 15th, which is different than what is announced via the CAES Dean's office. A web resource is not available. However, here is some information regarding the process: 1)  Feedback from the Jastro Shields Review - research funding, and 2) GGE instructions.
  • Winifred Spurr Award - in recognition of outstanding outreach to the general public in the field of Ecology.

Winifred (Winnie) Blair Spurr - November 3, 1916 - January 22, 2003

In recognition of the GGE's 40th Anniversary, we're pleased to announce a scholarship named in honor of one of the people who shaped the GGE in its first four decades, Winnie Spurr.

Winnie was a former staff adviser for the Graduate Group in Ecology in its' formative years. She was loved by both students and faculty. In recognition of her service, both to the Ecological community at UC Davis and to the Davis community, the Graduate Group in Ecology has named a service award in her honor.

The Spurr award is awarded to an Ecology student each year in the Spring. This award provides the winning candidate with a monetary award of $400.

 

 

External Fellowship Opportunities
Searchable Databases
Funding Sources for Specific Needs or Interests
Other Resources

Social Science Research Council. "The Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Social Science Research Council Competitions" Published on: Jan 07, 2004, By Adam Przeworski and Frank Salomon