The Graduate School at UMBC Dissertation Fellowship Application Deadline:  Friday, November 1, 2019

The Dissertation Fellowship is designed to provide doctoral candidates at UMBC an opportunity to devote the necessary concentration and attention towards finishing the writing of their dissertations.  The Fellowship is specifically designed for students with full-time jobs off-campus, for those without any financial support who are making steady progress with their writing, and for whom having additional time and resources would permit them to complete the process more expeditiously.  This Fellowship is not available as an option for students with available graduate assistantship support.

The Dissertation Fellowship could provide promising doctoral candidates with financial support so that they may reduce their current obligations and partially offset any reductions in salary or increases in expenses.  No additional work assignments other than work on the dissertation are to be associated with this support.

Priority will be given to students who demonstrate that the Fellowship will allow them the needed time to complete their writing and to make revisions in time to defend the work within a realistic but expeditious time frame.  Awards will be made to students who have demonstrated a commitment to provide at least 20 hours per week for an entire academic semester to writing the dissertation.

Dissertation Fellowship awards are available for Spring 2020.  The duration of an award is for one semester. The maximum level of support for Spring is a total stipend of $8,919.68 per Fellowship plus tuition remission for two credits of 899.

To be considered for a Dissertation Fellowship, the Ph.D. candidate must:

• be  in good academic standing;

• provide a letter of support from the Chair of the Dissertation Committee that 

1.  describes the state of the dissertation and the probable impact of receipt of the Fellowship on the progress toward completion; and,

2. verifies that no UMBC-administered financial support is available for the student;

• provide, if employed outside the university, written evidence from the student’s employer indicating the employer’s willingness to reduce job time and duties in order for the student to participate in the Fellowship;

• submit a dissertation abstract of no more than two pages in length; and

• submit a 1-2 page management plan signed by the Chair of the Dissertation Committee describing the status of the dissertation work, the steps required to complete the work, and the feasible timeline for completion; and 

• identify, if a prior recipient of a Dissertation Fellowship, the prior term (e.g., Spring 2017) in which the Fellowship was received.

Applications for Spring 2020 Dissertation Fellowships will be accepted by the Office of the Associate Dean of the Graduate School until Friday, November 1, 2019.  Completed applications may be submitted via email as a single PDF to DFSpring2020@umbc.edu or hand-delivered to the Office of the Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Room 208, Administration Building, by 4:30 p.m.  A committee consisting of three members of the Graduate School Leadership Team will review applications and announce recipients of the Fellowship by Friday, November 22, 2019.  Selection will be based on the extent of convincing evidence that the award will provide the critical element needed to complete the dissertation.

LINK TO SPRING 2020 DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION

Three new positions we are recruiting for related to the undergraduate and graduate applied biotechnology programs at UMBC-Shady Grove:

For updated information regarding this opportunity please visit:

https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/FDA-CDER-2019-0447

Looking to hire postdocs with expertise in biochemistry and protein purification/membrane proteins and interest in structural biology.

The lab is located at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland and has access to cutting-edge cryo-electron microscopy equipment.

You can read more about the current research on the website: https://locherlab.ethz.ch/

Meet our PROMISE members (postdocs, faculty and graduate students) and have some fun!

Friday, September 6, 2019

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM

Location: UMBC campus, Commons Building, Floor 2, Game Room

Parking: If you are not a UMBC member, please use the pay to park stations located around campus. For a parking map please click here.

PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is dedicated to increasing the numbers and diversity of Ph.D.s in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math fields. PROMISE also provides a strong support system for underrepresented students of all fields, and for all graduate students. Come out for dinner and connections on Friday, September 6 in the Game Room, 2nd Floor of the Commons.

There is no need to register for this event, food will be provided.

UMBC students please visit: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/72787 to register for the event.

Contact PROMISE Coordinator Yarazeth Medina yarazeth@umbc.edu for additional information.

$100,000 STEM seminar: Applying for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Important, you must bring a laptop computer to attend this event.

Location: UMBC Campus, Sherman Building, Room 003 (Lecture Hall IV)

Parking: If you are not a UMBC student, please use the pay-to-park stations. Click here for parking map. The nearest pay-to-park station to the venue is located in the top of Administration Drive garage.

The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) has been in existence for many years. The fellowships are available to students in STEM (social sciences and psychology are included) and STEM education, and come with a 3-year stipend and other benefits.

Applicant Eligibility:

See the information provided in the Detailed Eligibility Requirements of the solicitation.

Applicants must self-certify that they are eligible to receive the Fellowship. To be eligible, an applicant must meet all of the following eligibility criteria by the application deadline:

• Be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident
• Intend to enroll or be enrolled full-time in a research-based graduate degree program in an eligible Field of Study in STEM or STEM education (psychology and social sciences included)
• Have never previously accepted a GRFP award
• If previously offered a GRFP award, have declined by the deadline
• Have never previously applied to GRFP while enrolled in a graduate degree program
• Have never earned a doctoral or terminal degree in any field
• Have never earned a master’s, professional, or bachelor’s-master’s degree in any field, unless (i) returning to graduate study after an interruption of two (2) or more consecutive years immediately preceding the deadline, and; (ii) are not enrolled in a graduate degree program at the application deadline
• Not be a current NSF employee

For more information about the NSF GRFP please visit: https://www.nsfgrfp.org/

To attend this event please email yarazeth@umbc.edu subject: NSF GRFP and add your name, campus and department.

Drs. Cynthia Leifer and Hector Aguilar-Carreno in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University have been awarded an NIH NIAID Research Education Program grant entitled “Cornell Program to Increase Faculty Diversity and Promote Research Excellence”.

Several departments within Cornell University have successfully employed targeted pre-interviews on an ad hoc basis to increase the diversity of their applicant pool for faculty positions. This has led to an increase in diverse hires.

An exciting part of our program is that it will allow us to expand what has been done on a small ad hoc basis. We are looking for these “Rising Stars”: URM postdoctoral scientists doing high quality NIAID-mission related research getting ready to apply for faculty positions, to invite them to take part in a pre-interview at Cornell University. The pre-interview will include guidance on how to complete the application and formal interview process at Cornell. While taking part in the Rising Star program cannot guarantee a faculty position at Cornell, we can alert participants to upcoming openings. Any participant offered a position will be paired up with a mentor ambassador who can assist them in their decision. Once hired, the Rising Star will become a participant in the career development portions of the overall grant, which includes courses for skill development, research experience enhancement and mentoring.

To be considered for the Rising Star program, please send a copy of your updated cv, a one page research statement and the contact information for 3 professional references to us at pace@cornell.edu.

For more information about our program please visit our website at https://blogs.cornell.edu/pace/