GrantSearch

Two resident scholar programs are open for applications. This competition is for research that will take place during the 2013 calendar year.

The Spencer Baird Society program supports research in an extensive range of subject areas in the Special Collections of various Smithsonian Institution-affiliated libraries in Washington, DC and New York, NY.

The Dibner Library program supports research using the rare books and manuscripts collections at the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Award: Each offers a stipend of $3,500 per month for one to six months.

Eligibility: Open to doctoral students. There is no citizenship requirement; however, it is expected that the candidate will be able to conduct research in English. There are further language requirements for the Dibner Library fellowship.

Deadline: March 15, 2012.

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A thought-provoking article on the usefulness of humanities degrees outside of academia. Read more…

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has opened this year’s competition for its summer program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics.

Graduate students and researchers from a variety of fields who share a common interest in the nonlinear dynamics of rotating, stratified fluids share an intense ten-week research experience, and vigorous discussions of concepts that span different disciplines. Fellows pursue a research project under the supervision of the staff and present a lecture and a written report for a proceedings volume.

Award: Fellows accepted to participate in the GFD Program will receive a stipend $5,500 and an allowance for travel expenses within the United States. Fellows are expected to be in residence for the full ten weeks of the program (this year, June 18 to August 24).

Eligibility: Applicants must be graduate students in any field sharing a common interest in the nonlinear dynamics of rotating, stratified fluids. These fields include classical fluid dynamics, physical oceanography, meteorology, astrophysics, planetary atmospheres, geological fluid dynamics, hydromagnetics, physics and applied mathematics. There is no citizenship requirement.

Deadline: February 15, 2012

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Here’s something to read and review when the holiday rush is over and we have those few precious weeks off campus in January:

As we know, grad students don’t really get a break. If you’re preparing to submit a grant or fellowship application between now and March, these next weeks are your chance to write and polish your proposal. And if you’re planning to submit an application next fall (yes, I said it), the spring semester is the time to start drafting your proposal(s). So follow the link for some tips to help you re-organize and work more effectively in 2012 and beyond.

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Have a safe and joyous holiday season, and best wishes for the coming year!

A good article on common and easily avoidable errors. Not surprisingly, some of this advice applies to grant writing, too; for example, read the announcement carefully, make your experience easy to find and clear, and be careful about applying for something for which you may not qualify, at least on the surface. Read more…

Open Competition: The Jack Kent Cooke Dissertation Fellowship Award.

Description: The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to helping very low income students who have the potential to be high achievers to reach their potential. However, research shows that some of these students succeed where others do not. The Cooke Dissertation Fellowship is for advanced doctoral students who are completing dissertations that further the understanding of the educational pathways and experiences of high-achieving, low-income students. The fellowship is intended to focus more scholarly attention on the population of students the Foundation serves in order to enable parents, policymakers, and practitioners to better support such students in achieving their full potential.

Award: A one-time award of up to $25,000, which may be used for a period of not less than nine months and up to 18 months, beginning in May 2012 when the award decisions are announced.

Eligibility: There is no citizenship requirement. Students must have completed all pre-dissertation requirements prior to the application deadline. These pre-dissertation requirements include: course requirements, qualifying paper or comprehensive exams, official approval of the dissertation proposal, and any other program-specific requirements. Applications are encouraged from a variety of disciplines such as, but not limited to, education, sociology, economics, psychology, statistics, and psychometrics.

Deadline: February 3, 2012.

Read more… (Be sure to click on the FAQ and Guidelines links at the bottom of the page.)

Open competition: The SSRC’s Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship Program (DPDF).

Description: Supports mid-level PhD students in developing innovative dissertation proposals within emerging areas in the humanities and social sciences. Faculty research field directors prepare students for pre-dissertation summer research and proposal writing within workshops in the spring and fall of the fellowship year. In the summer months, students conduct preliminary research to establish connections, test their methods and determine the feasibility of their research projects.

Award: Up to $5,000 toward summer research costs. The DPDF Program pays for travel and accommodations for the two workshops.

Eligibility: Open to second- and third-year graduate students in all humanities and social science disciplines who are enrolled full-time in PhD programs in the U. Applicants are expected to have completed all or most of their required coursework and be ready to begin planning for dissertation research. First-year graduate students who have completed master’s degrees and fourth-year students who have not yet undertaken dissertation research may be eligible.

Deadline: February 1, 2012.

Note: Applicants must apply to participate in only one of the following research fields: Ecological History, Gender Justice in the Era of Human Rights, Governing Global Production, Mediated Futures: Globalization and Historical Territories, and New Approaches to Transnationalism and Migratory Circulation.

Read more…

… we promise to run more of these popular
workshops during the spring semester.

THE WORKSHOP IS FULL!

Tuesday, November 29,
2:30 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Location to be announced
Pre-registration is required.

This workshop is limited to 30 participants and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. See the pre-registration instructions below.

Want to start writing a grant application to an external (non-UMass) funder but can’t get past the blank screen?

Interested in getting experience writing a grant or fellowship proposal (or abstract), even as practice for the future?

Considering applying for external funding next fall but haven’t gotten around to starting your narrative yet?

Trying to get a proposal in shape to submit and don’t know how to get the reviewer’s attention with the all-important first paragraph?

Then attend GrantSearch’s “Start Your Writing” workshop!

Led by UMass faculty, this hands-on writing session will:
- inspire and motivate you to get started on applying for external funding for your research;
- show you how to craft a paragraph that will grab the reviewer and make him/her want to read more;
- give you practice giving and receiving feedback with a peer partner (don’t worry – we encourage constructive critiques and establish a collegial atmosphere!);
- provide you with a skill that will become part of your academic tool kit, which you can use to prepare funding proposals, apply for jobs, submit a conference paper, or impress that major scholar you got lucky enough to meet in an elevator.

Students in STEM fields are especially encouraged to attend!

NOTE: we will assume that you have a basic understanding of the application process for external grants and fellowships. No instruction on this topic will be given at the workshop. For general information on grants and fellowships, go to the Downloads page and review the “Intro to Grant Writing for Grad Students – the Basics” PDF file and other handouts available there (you’ll need a reader such as Adobe Acrobat).

 PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL — THE WORKSHOP IS FULL!
To register,  email the GSGS administrator by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25. Include: your name, UMass email address (not gmail or other), your department and degree program (such as PhD, MA, etc.). Incomplete registration requests cannot be honored, so be sure to re-read your email before sending! The location of the event will be emailed to the first 30 students who register (based on the time each student’s email is received by GSGS) by Monday, November 28. Once we have a list of 30, other students will be put on an alternate list and will also be notified of their alternate status by Monday evening. We will post an announcement once registration is full.

GSGS has been MIA for about a month due to a family emergency. We’re back now, and will be updating our blog and FB posts soon with workshop and funding opportunity announcements.