NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Application

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is a prestigious, nationally competitive fellowship offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It provides three years of financial support for beginning graduate study leading to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in the STEM disciplines.

Financial support:

The fellowship includes a $34,000-per-year stipend for three years. Additionally, each Fellow receives a tuition waiver via a $12,000 annual cost-of-education allowance that is awarded to the graduate institution. After one year of graduate study, Fellows become eligible to apply for international research funding support through Graduate Research Opportunities Worldwide (GROW) and Graduate Research Internship Program (GRIP). Fellows may request access to cyberinfrastructure resources, including supercomputing time, through the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE). Supplemental funding for researchers with disabilities and a leave provision for dependent care issues are also offered.

The GRFP competition opens in late summer with submission deadlines in late October. Awards are offered the following spring. Fellows must commence graduate study in the summer or fall after accepting the award. About 2,000 fellowships will be offered.

Eligibility requirements:

Citizenship: Must be a United States citizen, US national, or a permanent US resident by the application deadline.

Degree requirement: Individuals are typically eligible to apply...

• as an undergraduate senior or post-baccalaureate, before beginning graduate training;
• in the final year of a joint baccalaureate-master's (BS/MS) program;
• having completed a joint baccalaureate-master's (BS/MS) program and have not completed any further graduate study outside the joint program unless the graduate coursework was required to establish or maintain credentials in a profession such as teaching; 
• Broad Fields of study (disciplines): Life Sciences, Geosciences; Computer and Information Science and Engineering;  Engineering; Materials Research; Psychology, Social Sciences, STEM Education and Learning; Chemistry; Mathematical Sciences; Physics and Astronomy. Interdisciplinary research is also possible. Not eligible: professional practice degrees

Deadlines:

The online application for the NSF Graduate Fellowship program is now open at https://www.research.gov/grfp/Login.do. All applications are due at 5:00 p.m. local time, as determined by the applicant’s mailing address.

October 21, 2019 (Monday)
Geosciences
Life Sciences

October 22, 2019 (Tuesday)
Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Engineering
Materials Research

October 24, 2019 (Thursday)
Psychology
Social Sciences
STEM Education and Learning

October 25, 2019 (Friday)
Chemistry
Mathematical Sciences
Physics and Astronomy

November 1, 2019 (Friday)
Reference letter deadline

Learn more about the application at https://web.archive.org/web/20181012114409/http://grfpessayinsights.missouri.edu or contact nsfgrfp@umd.edu. 

The National Scholarship Office also provides individual appointments and advice, including essay reviews, for UMD applicants. Learn more about the National Scholarship Office at https://www.scholarships.umd.edu.