Assistantships and Fellowships
Teaching and Research assistanships
Doctoral students are eligible for support in the form of departmental Teaching Assistantships (TAs) and Research Assistantships (RAs), contingent upon satisfactory progression through the program and the availability of funds. It is expected that the program will provide a TA to students in their first year and the first summer and that a student’s advisor will obtain research funds for an RA for subsequent years. Detailed UNC Charlotte policies regarding assistantships are on the Graduate School web page.
Each new student is offered an academic year (9-month) Teaching Assistantship (TA). Financial support, in the form of TA or Research Assistantship (RA) funding of at least $26,000 per academic year, is guaranteed for five years, provided that the student continues to make satisfactory progress towards the degree (students typically graduate from the Nanoscale Science Ph.D. program within five years). New students are also guaranteed a TA stipend of $4,000 for the first summer, should they choose to accept it. In addition, the students should normally expect to receive RA support, from their research group, in the amount of $5,000-$7,000 each summer.
Every eligible student enrolled full-time (at least 9 credit hours) with an assistantship (TA or RA) also receives a tuition waiver and health insurance through Graduate Assistant Support Plan (GASP award). GASP awards are available for up to 10 semesters. Detailed information are on the GASP Policy web page.
NINERSCHOLARS
NinerScholars is the student application portal for admitted graduate students. This portal is UNC Charlotte’s online scholarship application portal that matches students to scholarships.
Through this portal the student can click “Apply” and complete applications for scholarships that they would like to apply for. This portal will update when the student have completed applications, and they will also be able to see if they still need to submit any letters of recommendation. It will also update when the student have any decisions available to view or offers to accept. Applications student is matched with are visible initially in the “Scholarships You May Be Eligible For” section. Information about deadlines and account activation are found on the Student Application Portal.
Fellowships
Graduate School Summer Fellowship (GSSF) Program:
Purpose
To provide students with financial support during a time when they may be most productive yet have the fewest funding options: the summer.
Assumptions
Students will utilize the three summer months to dedicate significant effort to their research project, thereby making timely progress to the degree. The GSSF is designed to replace a TA or other summer job that takes the student away from their research.
Eligibility and Requirements (there are no exceptions)
- Doctoral (Ph.D./Ed.D) student
- Enrolled full-time in the academic year (GRAD 9800 or 9 hours)
- Must pass the qualifying exam and proposal defense by May 15th
- GPA 3.0 or greater
- Will not hold a summer job that is unrelated to your dissertation research (i.e. TA or RA not related to your dissertation)
- Will be mentored/supervised by the student’s dissertation advisor
- Have not held the GSSF more than once in the past
- Applications may be rejected for not following guidelines, below, and none will be accepted after the deadline.
Support
$8,000 paid at the end of May, provided eligibility has been met (successful qualifying exam, proposal defense and GPA).
Application Components
- Project Proposal: Prepare a proposal for the completion of your dissertation project – the remaining work for the summer and to graduation – written for someone in your general field. The proposal is limited to 800 words, not including references or figure legends, and must include:
- An introduction to the field and its importance,
- Gaps in knowledge and questions/hypotheses to be addressed,
- Tools used to address them,
- Potential significance of the outcome to your field of study
- Timeline (not included in the 800 words): Submit a timeline illustrating your plan to complete the project. The timeline may include dates beyond the summer, leading to your anticipated graduation.
- Anticipated Graduation (not included in the 800 words): Indicate your year and semester of anticipated graduation.
- Curriculum Vitae (CV, also not included in the 800 words).
Upload the four components into the GSSF online application by the specified deadline
A committee of faculty members will review applications and provide decisions no later than April 15th.
FAQ’s
- Can I hold a TA and the GSSF in the summer? NO
- Can I hold an RA and the GSSF in the summer? YES.
- When will I find out whether I have the GSSF? APRIL 15TH.
- I haven’t passed my proposal defense and/or qualifying exam, am I eligible? YES IF YOU WILL PASS BY MAY 15TH. NO IF YOU WILL NOT HAVE COMPLETED BOTH BY MAY 15TH.
- I’ve had the GSSF before, can I have it again? YES IF YOU HAVE HAD IT ONCE, NO IF YOU HAVE HAD IT TWICE OR MORE.
Review Criteria and Scoring System (50 points total)
- Explanation of novelty and significance of the project
- Introduction to the field, why it is important – 10
- Gap(s) in knowledge identified – 10
- Hypotheses or questions the project aims to answer
- How will the above be tested/answered? – 5
- Explanation of methods and analysis of data – 5
- Novel approaches or techniques identified – 5
- Overall significance of the project articulated (not judging the significance, but the student’s ability to articulate a significance) – 15
Deliverable That You Will Agree to If Funded
- You and your research advisor will meet and prepare a document to submit detailing:
- Frequency of meetings between student and advisor (i.e. # days per week, weeks in the summer)
- Deliverables between student and advisor, i.e. completion of {insert technical name/s of work to be done here}
- Future expected deliverables in the form of publications, presentations, dissertation chapter/s, other scholarly products
- DocuSigned by student and their advisor.
Graduate Fellowships
Each spring the Graduate School administers fellowships to outstanding UNC Charlotte graduate students. Awards begin in the upcoming academic year. The below fellowships are available to UNC Charlotte students only. The complete list of fellowships is available on the Graduate School Fellowships, Awards and Competitions web page.