[USA] NDSEG Graduate Fellowship
As a means of increasing the number of U.S. citizens and nationals trained in science and engineering disciplines of military importance, the Department of Defense (DoD) plans to award approximately 200 new three-year graduate fellowships in April 2008, subject to the availability of funds. The DoD will offer these fellowships to individuals who have demonstrated ability and special aptitude for advanced training in science and engineering. National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowships are awarded to applicants who will pursue a doctoral degree in, or closely related to, an area of DoD interest within one of the following disciplines:
- Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
- Biosciences
- Chemical Engineering
- Chemistry
- Civil Engineering
- Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences
- Computer and Computational Sciences
- Electrical Engineering
- Geosciences
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
- Oceanography
- Physics
The DoD is also interested in supporting the education of future scientists and engineers in a number of interdisciplinary areas. Applicants interested in pursuing study in interdisciplinary areas should apply under one of the disciplines listed above and indicate their specific areas of interest in the “Summary of Goals” statement in the application. Applicants who are interested in interdisciplinary fields should apply under the discipline that most closely matches the course of study they are proposing to pursue in graduate school. As an example, an applicant interested in studying acoustics could apply under a number of disciplines, such as oceanography, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or physics depending upon the graduate school programs or departments to which he or she is applying.
Applicants should consult their academic or research advisor if they are not sure which discipline is appropriate for their course of study. In addition, applicants can learn more about the research areas that are of interest to the DoD by consulting the Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs) for the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
**NDSEG Fellows do not incur any military or other service obligation.**
Eligibility
For the Frequently Asked Questions about Eligibility, click here.
NDSEG Fellowships are intended for students at or near the beginning of their doctoral studies in science or engineering. Fellowships are awarded only to those applicants who are pursing a Ph.D. Applicants must have received or be on track to receive their bachelor’s degrees by Fall 2008. Fellows selected in Spring 2008 must begin their fellowship tenure in Fall 2008. NDSEG Fellowships are not deferrable.
The NDSEG program is currently administered by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). ASEE and the DoD use guidelines to determine the eligibility of an applicant. These guidelines relate to the academic status of applicants and are designed to ensure that students at or near the beginning of their graduate studies receive fellowships. To be eligible, applicants must either:
- be enrolled in their final year of undergraduate studies, or
- be either a first- or second-year graduate student (starting your second year in the summer/fall of 2007), or
- have completed no more than the equivalent of one year of full-time graduate study as a part-time or full-time student. If you have completed the equivalent of a year and a half or two years of full-time graduate study in the same discipline in which you wish to pursue your Ph.D., you are not eligible.
- Applicants who are not currently attending school are eligible, though they cannot have been performing and publishing research for two years or more in the same discipline in which they are applying. For example, if you have been publishing for two years in the discipline of aeronautical engineering, and you wish to apply in the Aero/Astro discipline, you are not eligible.
Exceptional circumstances may qualify other applicants as being at an early stage of their graduate studies, therefore making the applicant eligible for consideration. For example, third-year graduate students who have changed disciplines (listed at the top of this page) and are essentially starting over in a new field of study may qualify for the fellowship. In these special cases, applicants will need to describe these exceptional circumstances in the Academic Status Explanation section that will appear in application. These explanations will be reviewed and eligibility determined on a case-by-case basis.
Additional guidelines:
- Applicants who have received a medical degree or a Ph.D. in science or engineering are not eligible for the NDSEG Fellowship
- Applicants who have received a Master’s degree in the same discipline in which they intend to pursue their Ph.D. are not eligible for the NDSEG Fellowship, unless they received the Master’s degree in June of 2005 or before
- Applicants pursuing an M.D. are not eligible
- Applicants pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. are not eligible
The NDSEG Fellowship Program is open only to applicants who are citizens or nationals of the United States. The term “nationals” refers to native residents of a possession of the United States such as American Samoa. It does not refer to a citizen of another country who has applied for U.S. citizenship. Persons who hold permanent resident status are not eligible. Proof of citizenship will be required upon formal offer.
Applications are encouraged from women, persons with disabilities, and members of ethnic and racial minority groups (including African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic or Latino persons) that historically have been underrepresented in science and engineering fields.
Location of Enrollment
Fellowships are tenable only at U.S. institutions of higher education offering doctoral degrees in the scientific and engineering disciplines specified above. Applicants may apply before being accepted into a graduate program. If an applicant has not been accepted into a graduate program, the information provided should reflect the applicant’s preferred graduate program and institution. The award will be contingent upon the applicant’s admission to a suitable program.
During part of the fellowship tenure, a fellow may study or engage in research or fieldwork away from his or her academic institution if, in the judgment of the fellow’s academic advisor, such arrangements further the fellow’s education and contribute directly to the attainment of an advanced degree. The fellow must be officially enrolled and earning academic credit while engaged in research or fieldwork away from the academic institution.
Tenure
The tenure of an NDSEG Fellowship is 36 consecutive months starting in Fall 2008. Alternate tenure may be granted under exceptional circumstances with the prior approval of the DoD. Exceptional circumstances include the following:
- the fellow is invited to do research at a DoD laboratory or test center for one or more summer periods
- the fellow’s graduate institution does not offer an appropriate program during the summer months
The availability of funds for the second and third years of each three-year award is contingent upon certification to ASEE by the fellow’s institution that the fellow has made satisfactory academic progress toward an advanced degree in one of the specified science or engineering disciplines.
Evaluation and Selection
NDSEG Fellowships will be awarded on the basis of academic and overall ability in the areas of interest to the DoD. The evaluation of applicants is based on review of their academic records, personal statements, recommendations, and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores.
Each application is evaluated by a panel having expertise in the science or engineering discipline of the applicant’s proposed advanced degree program. Selection of recipients, which also considers the DoD relevance of the proposed area of study, is made by the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Each agency directly monitors the awards conferred to fellows in discipline areas closely related to its mission.
Award notification is sent via email on or about March 31, 2008. Award winners are expected to accept or reject the offer within two weeks of receipt of award notification.
Conditions of Appointment
Fellows are required to enroll in full-time programs leading to doctoral degrees in the disciplines specified in this announcement. According to the policy of an academic institution, such programs may include a reasonable amount of teaching or similar activities that contribute to the fellow’s academic progress. The scholarly development of fellows, and not the service to academic institutions, will govern the assignment of these activities.
A fellow may not accept simultaneous remuneration from another major fellowship. Fellows must be eligible to accept both the tuition benefit and the full stipend amount.
Fellows are required to furnish complete information to the awarding agency regarding any invention first conceived or reduced to practice while a NDSEG fellow and for which a patent application is filed. Generally, fellows have the right to retain title to inventions that arise as a consequence of, or in direct relation to, the NDSEG Fellowship. For each invention to which a fellow retains title, the federal government will at minimum obtain a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice on behalf of the U.S. government.
Stipends and Allowances
The DoD will pay the fellow’s full tuition and required fees (not to include room and board). In addition, fellows receive a stipend for 12-month tenures. The stipend levels for each of the 12-month tenures are as follows:
Period First Year Second Year Third Year
Amount $30,500 $ 31,000 $ 31,500
The above amounts are prorated monthly based on a 12-month academic year. If the fellow is not enrolled in an institutionally approved academic study and/or research activity during the summer months, financial support will not be provided. However, these months still count as months of the NDSEG Fellowship tenure and cannot be deferred. There are no dependency allowances. Persons with disabilities may be considered for additional allowances to offset special educational expenses.
Since most graduate institutions require their students to carry a health insurance policy, the NDSEG Fellowship Program will pay for the minimum health insurance coverage offered through the institution, up to a total value of $1,000 per year. Any excess insurance costs will be the responsibility of the fellow.
Application and Award Dates
All materials must be submitted electronically by 1:00 p.m. EST on January 7, 2008, or received (in the case of hard copies) by January 7, 2008. Award notifications are are sent via email on or about March 31, 2008. Application materials are not returned to applicants.
Contact Information
NDSEG Fellowship Program
c/o American Society for Engineering Education
1818 N Street, N.W., Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Website: http://www.asee.org/ndseg
FAQ: http://www.asee.org/ndseg/faq.cfm
E-mail: ndseg@asee.org
Phone: (202) 331-3516
Award Selection
The awards are highly competitive. The number of offers in each discipline does vary from year to year and is not necessarily an indicator of the number of fellowships that will be offered in subsequent years. The table below shows the total number of applicants, the total number of offers, and the percentage of fellows overall in each discipline over the past six years.
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