Doctoral Research Support Fellowship

Your budget and budget rationale can include a request of up to $5,000 to help defray some of the expenses directly related to conducting your dissertation research.

  Examples of allowable expenditures include the following items:

• materials/supplies to support the research
• travel which directly relates to conducting the research
• equipment with specific configurations or uses not otherwise already available through the university
• other research-related expenses approved by the dissertation committee chair and The Graduate College

  Examples of expenditures not allowed include the following items:

• travel to conferences to present research papers or posters (see Graduate Student Travel Funds for more information)
• equipment already available through the university (e.g., software, computers*)
• cost for printing and/or binding the dissertation
• publication costs
• tuition

*Note: There are, of course, circumstances that may merit the request for a laptop computer, such as international field work or other cases when a student would not have access to equipment available through the university. In all cases, it is up to the applicant and the advisor to justify the expense in the fellowship application and explain why the equipment is not otherwise available to the student. In other words, the budget justification should clearly and convincingly explain the need.

In order to meet the eligibility requirements, you must

• be enrolled in a Ph.D. or Ed.D program in adult, professional, and community education, applied anthropology, aquatic resources and integrative biology, civil engineering, computer science, criminal justice, educational and community leadership, geographic information science, geography, integrated molecular and biophysical chemistry, materials science, engineering, and commercialization, mathematics, mathematics education, and postsecondary student success in learning, literacy, and mathematics
• be in good academic standing
• be advanced to candidacy a week prior to the fellowship application deadline
  • One of the requirements of candidacy includes the approval of your dissertation proposal by your dissertation committee and The Graduate College. If your dissertation project requires IRB (human subjects, including secondary datasets) or IACUC (animals) approvals, please be aware that those approvals must be obtained through Research Integrity and Compliance prior to submitting your dissertation proposal and Dissertation Proposal form to The Graduate College. The Graduate College cannot approve a dissertation proposal that requires IRB or IACUC regulatory approvals prior to those approvals being provided.
• not be a previous recipient of a Doctoral Research Support Fellowship

 If you log into the scholarship system and the Doctoral Research Support Fellowship does not appear in your list of available scholarships, you currently do not meet one of the eligibility criteria, e.g., we may not have received your candidacy paperwork (Form E – Application for Advancement to Candidacy). If you have a question regarding your eligibility, please email us at gcresfel@txstate.edu.

First, you must sign into the Bobcat Online Scholarship System (BOSS) and complete the general application. The additional items below must also be submitted through BOSS in order to complete your Doctoral Research Support Fellowship application. Note: it is the applicant's responsibility to submit the application materials to the scholarship system. However, it is recommended that you first provide a copy of all application materials to your dissertation committee chair, as a support letter from your chair is required. (Your chair will submit the support letter directly to the scholarship system, separate from the rest of the application materials.)

• a narrative description of your dissertation research project using jargon-free language appropriate for a non-specialized audience as often as possible. Please include a title at the top of your narrative, and adhere to the following formatting specifications: 
  • two pages or less (this should not include your reference section; a reference section will be a separate item that you can upload in the scholarship system)
  • single-spaced
  • 12-point font
  • one-inch margins
• a budget section, consisting of the following:
  • itemized budget request with exact costs of items (when possible) and not exceeding the $5,000 maximum allowable with the fellowship.
  • a narrative justification for each item in the itemized budget, including information about purchasing source (when possible).
  • a section answering the following questions:
    • 1. Does this request cover all the costs for your project? YES/NO
    • 2. (If NO to Question 1) What is the total budget for your project? (for this question, list amount only, not itemized costs)
    • 3. (If NO to Question 1) What additional sources of funding have you applied for or already received to support the costs that exceed the $5,000 maximum allowable budget? (list names of funding opportunities, amounts, and status of application)
• a list of cited sources, not to exceed one page
• a letter of support from your dissertation committee chair addressing the following:
  • the merits of the proposed research
  • the appropriateness of the proposal's budget, including:
    • why the requested items are needed to complete the project; and 
    • whether or not the student has access to the items without Fellowship funding
• application checklist

Important: Submitting an incomplete application, an incorrect budget or budget justification, or a budget request that exceeds the maximum allowable amount will disqualify your application from review.

In addition, please remember to follow the formatting instructions noted above regarding page limits, font size, margins, and line spacing in your application materials. Failure to follow the instructions will disqualify your application from review.

There are two rounds of applications each year. All application requirements must be submitted during the following time periods:

• fall semester round: April 15 – June 30
• spring semester round: September 15 – November 15

Successful applications are often begun well in advance of the closing date of the application period.

  All candidacy paperwork (including approved dissertation proposal, Form D) must be formally approved by The Graduate College a minimum of one week prior to the close of the application period. 

Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee appointed by the graduate dean. The selection committee will make its recommendations to the dean of The Graduate College, who will make the final decision.

If you are awarded a Doctoral Research Support Fellowship, you will be required to submit a report, approved by the dissertation committee chair, to the associate dean of The Graduate College within one year of receiving the fellowship or upon completion of the dissertation, whichever occurs first. The final report is submitted online and consists of several short summaries (e.g., summary of project, summary of how funds were spent, summary of how the Fellowship supported your dissertation research) that detail your progress in completing your dissertation and your use of the funds in support of the research.

Please visit our frequently asked questions page for more information or email gcresfel@txstate.edu.