Graduate Student Funding Opportunites

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• USC Graduate Assistantships

• 2016 Student Technology Prize for Primary Healthcare

  This 8th Annual Student Technology Prize in Primary Healthcare is a unique $400,000 competition for engineering students to encourage and support innovative clinically-relevant, primary-care technology concepts. It is administered under the auspices of the Massachusetts General Hospital's "Ambulatory Practice of the Future" (APF) and sponsored by the Gelfand Family Charitable Trust. The top prize is $150,000. Quick Facts Objective: This annual national competition is intended to encourage graduate and undergraduate engineering students to direct their creative skills toward the needs of primary care. We seek innovations which have a substantial potential to support improved delivery of this care. These may be technologies, instrumentation, devices, systems, or the like. Technologies of particular interest are ones that could improve access to medical care, leverage the skills of caregivers, automate routine tasks, increase workflow efficiency, support patients with chronic disease, increase compliance with care protocols, reduce medical error, or augment the physician-patient relationship. Applicants should pay close attention to these objectives, as technologies supporting specialty care are of much lesser interest to the judges. Innovations are sought for use in any setting, not just those of the traditional medical-practice office. The full range of venues of daily living, from home to work and beyond, present attractive opportunities for innovations which could enhance the quality and continuity of primary care. Applications directed at global-health needs are also welcome, though the entries must be from students in U.S. universities. Winners from 2015, listed in our September 15th Press Release, posted in APF’s Announcements, should serve as examples of the ideas and accomplishments that are sought. Process: Short pre-proposals from students are due by April 18, 2016. The online submission site will open on March 7, 2016 and remain open until the deadline of April 18, 2016 at midnight. Ten Finalists will then be chosen from these pre-proposals, and each of these will be awarded $10,000 to advance their work, and to help them prepare a full 10-page final proposal, which will then be due August 29, 2016. The First-Prize winner will receive $150,000 for support of their team’s work and career advancement, second prize is $100.000, and third prize is $50,000. Each of these three major awards will be in addition to their earlier award of $10,000. Essential details on the submission process and links to supporting documents, can all be found (after 12/15) by clicking on the Details tab.

• Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program Graduate Fellowship (DDETFP)

  The EISENHOWER GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP (provides funding for the pursuit of Masters or Doctorate Degrees in transportation related discipline. The program objectives are: 1) to attract the nation's brightest minds to the field of transportation, 2) to enhance the careers of transportation professionals by encouraging them to seek advanced degrees, and, 3) to retain top talent in the transportation industry of the United States. The Program is intended to bring innovation and enhance the breadth and scope of knowledge of the entire transportation community in the United States. The Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship Program encompasses all modes of transportation.

• The BIG Idea Challenge

  The BIG Idea Challenge is a university-level design competition sponsored by the Game Changing Development Program (GCD) within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA). The 2017 BIG Idea Challenge calls for teams of 3-5 students to submit robust proposals for in-space assembly of spacecraft – particularly tugs, propelled by solar electric propulsion (SEP), that transfer payloads from low earth orbit (LEO) to a lunar distant retrograde orbit (LDRO). The proposals should be 8-10 pages in length. The BIG Idea Challenge seeks new concepts for constructing 200kW class SEP tugs in space using robotic assembly of modules that make up the SEP tug. Proposals should design and analyze potential modular concepts and systems that provide the ability to construct large SE tugs in space. Concepts can employ new approaches for: • packaging modules in one or more launch vehicles that minimize launch loads, • modular (distributed) solar arrays and ion engines, and • robust robotic assembly (joining) of the modules that form the SEP tug. For your convenience, we have developed a printable flyer for the 2017 BIG Idea Challenge that contains full design guidelines and constraints, and is ideal for posting in classrooms and departmental bulletin boards. Interested teams are encouraged to review the flyer carefully. Full competition details, including design constraints and submission guidelines, can also be found on the BIG Idea Website (http://BIGIdea.nianet.org). Based on a review of the proposals, four (4) teams will be selected to submit full technical papers and present their concepts to a panel of NASA judges at the 2017 BIG Idea Forum at the NASA Langley Research Center, February 15 and 16, 2017, in Hampton, VA. The final four qualifying teams will receive a $6,000 stipend to facilitate participation in the BIG Idea Forum. The winning team will receive offers to participate in paid internships with the GCD team at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, where they can work toward further developing their concept under the mentorship of NASA experts. It is my pleasure to invite your interested student teams and their faculty advisors to submit an Online Notice of Intent by September 30, 2016 and submit proposals by November 30, 2016. Important Dates: September 30, 2016 – Notice of Intent (NOI) deadline November 30, 2016 – Proposal deadline December 15, 2016 – Selection notifications will be made February 7, 2017 – Technical paper deadline for 4 qualifying teams February 15-16, 2017 – 2017 BIG Idea Forum at NASA Langley Research Center On behalf of NASA’s GCD and NIA, I hope you will consider involving your students in this exciting competition that could potentially reduce the cost of deep space exploration by developing space systems that can be assembled in-space and re-used or upgraded for additional missions. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the BIG Idea team at BigIdea@nianet.org.

• Call for NASA 2017 RASC-AL Proposals

  NASA is embracing new paradigms in exploration that involve expanding our knowledge and learning how to live in space as we extend our presence into the solar system. The 2017 RASC-AL Competition is seeking undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts that leverage innovations to improve our ability to work more effectively in microgravity. This year’s themes range from the design of more efficient subsystems to the development of architectures that support NASA’s goal of extending humanity’s reach into space. Collaboration with commercial partners will be required to enable this vision, and teams are encouraged to propose to augment NASA investments (or use in conjunction with) those from commercial and/or international partners. Each team’s response should address novel and robust applications to support expanding humanity’s ability to thrive beyond Earth. IMPORTANT DATES November 8, 2016: Notice of Intent deadline January 19, 2017: Abstract deadline February 3, 2017: 1st down-select is made March 16, 2017: Mid-Project Review April 3, 2017: Final down-select is made May 31-June 2, 2017: 2017 RASC-AL Forum

• Environmental Research Apprenticeship Program for College and University Students

  Deadline: 01/24/2017
  The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. The EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) conducts timely, mission-relevant, solution-oriented research based on the principles of integrity, sustainability, and responsiveness to the needs of the Nation. ORD’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory’s (NRMRL’s) research portfolio spans the five goals outlined in EPA’s Strategic Plan, and directly supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, manage chemical risks, and protect America's water.EPA-ORD seeks applications from eligible entities to enter into a cooperative agreement with EPA that will provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students on-site at ORD’s Ground Water and Ecosystems Research Division (GWERD) research facilities located in Ada, Oklahoma. It is envisioned that the training program will increase both the effectiveness and number of future environmental scientists. The training received under the mentorship of EPA scientists will complement the trainees’ academic coursework. The recipient will be responsible for ensuring that the training projects are supportive of the trainees’ academic training. Some appropriate fields of study for trainees include, but are not limited to, environmental science, water policy, chemistry, engineering, computer science, ecology, and physical and biological sciences.

• THE NVIDIA GRAD FELLOWSHIP

  THE NVIDIA GRAD FELLOWSHIP IS OPEN! WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2017-2018 ACADEMIC YEAR! We just launched our 16th Annual Graduate Fellowship Program, which advances the frontiers of science by awarding grants and providing technical support to graduate students who are doing outstanding GPU-based research. This year we're especially seeking doctoral students pushing the envelope in artificial intelligence, deep neural networks, autonomous vehicles, and related fields. Our Graduate Fellowship awards are now up to $50,000 per student. These grants will be awarded in the 2017-2018 academic year. Since its inception in 2002, the NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program has awarded over 130 Ph.D. graduate students with grants that have helped accelerate their research efforts. More importantly, this funding has helped some students achieve major breakthroughs in their research - breakthroughs that may not have been possible without additional funding. The NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program is open to applicants worldwide. The deadline for submitting applications is Jan. 16, 2017. Eligible graduate students will have already completed their first year of Ph.D. level studies in the areas of computer science, computer engineering, system architecture, electrical engineering or a related area. In addition, applicants must also be engaged in active research as part of their thesis work. Please share with your departments, students and friends. For more information on eligibility and how to apply, visit Nvidia Research or email fellowship@nvidia.com.