***This website is not endorsed by the NSF-GRFP. It is strictly informational for potential applicants looking to apply to the NSF Fellowship. If you e-mailed me through FASTLANE and I sent you here, this information is also for you.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is the country’s oldest graduate fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. They award three years of financial support within five years of tenure (you may use the three years anytime during the five years). At this point, there is a $32,000 stipend associated to a $12,000 cost of education allowance to the institution. Fellows also receive international research opportunities and professional development as well as access to the XSEDE supercomputer access. Approximately 45-50,000 individuals apply every year, with only 2,000 funded awards and another percentage allocated to honorable mentions (no monetary award). It is awarded to those enrolled or planning to enroll in research-based degrees (Master's or Ph.D) in biological sciences, computer sciences, chemistry, engineering, geosciences, information science, social sciences, life sciences, mathematics, psychology, physics, astronomy, etc... in addition to STEM Education. According to the NSF GRFP website "Since 1952, NSF has funded over 46,500 Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants. More than 30 of them have gone to become Nobel laureates, and more than 440 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program has a high rate of doctorate degree completion, with more than 70 percent of students completing their doctorates within 11 years."
Now on a personal note, the NSF Fellowship for me is one of the most prestigious fellowships you can receive as a graduate student. Not only for those pursuing careers in the sciences, but also for awardees in the social sciences/education. I know for a definitive fact that my graduate applications and admissions would not have been as overwhelming if it was not for the prestige attached to both the NSF Fellowship and GMS Scholarship (although at the graduate level, people know less about GMS than NSF). I applied to 11 institutions with the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers exclusively (I did not apply outside their consortium), and was accepted to 7 institutions, 6 of which offered me 3+ years of funding in addition to the NSF Fellowship. Granted, not all institutions (or faculty) were aware of the prestige attached to the NSF Fellowship, because although many of them received NSF grants, not many of them knew of the GRFP. I had to sell myself in interviews, or e-mails to prove the validity of having such a fellowship. This may have also been because not many people in Education receive this grant overall, so it may Many of the faculty members I spoke to were bewildered to know that such a fellowship exists, even after being awarded since 1951!!! The NSF grants the proposal and its intellectual merit as well as broader impacts (defined later), but I also believe NSF grants the individual, as that person will go on and take this experience to obtain other NSF grants at the institutional level. I am not a supreme grant writer, but I know that if I wanted to apply for a STEM Education grant for a program which I hope to design using these research results, while proving to increase student retention or knowledge of science subject areas, then that will be a compelling argument to receive another award to impact a greater amount of students and so-on.
Again, all the information attached to the NSF-GRFP including preparing a proposal, personal statement, previous research experiences, and letter of eligibility are on the website, but I think that other than the obvious, one of the most important parts in applying is being able to match your research interests to yourself, how you think you will engage in the research statistically or otherwise, and ultimately how that research will benefit the U.S. in its endeavor to be more scientifically and research oriented. I know *many* *many* smart people that applied to this fellowship twice, and were denied. Although I do not know the details of their proposal or research to give an opinion, I noticed that those people to whom I did have a chance to see their applications were able to tell a story about their passion to conduct research and how their passion will directly translate into success. All three of my scoring cards had the words "strong passion for science education" written all over them. So essentially this is the theory I am building in applying to the NSF Fellowship (it may work, or not depending on your experiences, but this is what I think worked for *me* ****more to come
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is the country’s oldest graduate fellowship program that directly supports graduate students in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. They award three years of financial support within five years of tenure (you may use the three years anytime during the five years). At this point, there is a $32,000 stipend associated to a $12,000 cost of education allowance to the institution. Fellows also receive international research opportunities and professional development as well as access to the XSEDE supercomputer access. Approximately 45-50,000 individuals apply every year, with only 2,000 funded awards and another percentage allocated to honorable mentions (no monetary award). It is awarded to those enrolled or planning to enroll in research-based degrees (Master's or Ph.D) in biological sciences, computer sciences, chemistry, engineering, geosciences, information science, social sciences, life sciences, mathematics, psychology, physics, astronomy, etc... in addition to STEM Education. According to the NSF GRFP website "Since 1952, NSF has funded over 46,500 Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants. More than 30 of them have gone to become Nobel laureates, and more than 440 have become members of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, the Graduate Research Fellowship Program has a high rate of doctorate degree completion, with more than 70 percent of students completing their doctorates within 11 years."
Now on a personal note, the NSF Fellowship for me is one of the most prestigious fellowships you can receive as a graduate student. Not only for those pursuing careers in the sciences, but also for awardees in the social sciences/education. I know for a definitive fact that my graduate applications and admissions would not have been as overwhelming if it was not for the prestige attached to both the NSF Fellowship and GMS Scholarship (although at the graduate level, people know less about GMS than NSF). I applied to 11 institutions with the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers exclusively (I did not apply outside their consortium), and was accepted to 7 institutions, 6 of which offered me 3+ years of funding in addition to the NSF Fellowship. Granted, not all institutions (or faculty) were aware of the prestige attached to the NSF Fellowship, because although many of them received NSF grants, not many of them knew of the GRFP. I had to sell myself in interviews, or e-mails to prove the validity of having such a fellowship. This may have also been because not many people in Education receive this grant overall, so it may Many of the faculty members I spoke to were bewildered to know that such a fellowship exists, even after being awarded since 1951!!! The NSF grants the proposal and its intellectual merit as well as broader impacts (defined later), but I also believe NSF grants the individual, as that person will go on and take this experience to obtain other NSF grants at the institutional level. I am not a supreme grant writer, but I know that if I wanted to apply for a STEM Education grant for a program which I hope to design using these research results, while proving to increase student retention or knowledge of science subject areas, then that will be a compelling argument to receive another award to impact a greater amount of students and so-on.
Again, all the information attached to the NSF-GRFP including preparing a proposal, personal statement, previous research experiences, and letter of eligibility are on the website, but I think that other than the obvious, one of the most important parts in applying is being able to match your research interests to yourself, how you think you will engage in the research statistically or otherwise, and ultimately how that research will benefit the U.S. in its endeavor to be more scientifically and research oriented. I know *many* *many* smart people that applied to this fellowship twice, and were denied. Although I do not know the details of their proposal or research to give an opinion, I noticed that those people to whom I did have a chance to see their applications were able to tell a story about their passion to conduct research and how their passion will directly translate into success. All three of my scoring cards had the words "strong passion for science education" written all over them. So essentially this is the theory I am building in applying to the NSF Fellowship (it may work, or not depending on your experiences, but this is what I think worked for *me* ****more to come