Fellowships and Awards

A comprehensive list of funding opportunities for graduate and postgraduate students can be found here, but a list of some of the more commonly petitioned agencies and department-specific awards are below:

Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowships

These fellowships are awarded to students of exceptional promise and ability either when they first enroll in the PhD program or when they have advanced to the dissertation stage. They carry a stipend plus remission of tuition. No service is required.

The application process begins in January of each year. Information is provided by the graduate secretary of the Department of Biological Sciences.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program

The National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions.  The NSF welcomes applications from all qualified students and strongly encourages under-represented populations, including women, under-represented racial and ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities, to apply for this fellowship.

Deadline: November

American Heart Association Great Rivers Affiliate Predoctoral Fellowships

The American Heart Association Great Rivers Affiliate (which covers Pennsylvania) offers a pre-doctoral fellowship to help students initiate careers in cardiovascular and stroke research by providing research assistance and training. Proposals are encouraged from all basic, epidemiological and/or clinical disciplines that bear on cardiovascular and stroke problems. It is particularly important for the new fellow to receive wise counsel and direction from a senior investigator interested in the conduct and progress of the research project during the research-training period. Each fellow must have a sponsor.

Deadline: January

Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Predoctoral Traineeship

The Predoctoral Traineeship Award supports the training of promising graduate students studying breast cancer under the guidance of a designated mentor to prepare them for successful careers in breast cancer research.

Deadline: see website for program announcements

National Institutes of Health Individual Predoctoral Kirschstein Fellowships

The purpose of this individual predoctoral research training fellowship is to provide support for promising doctoral candidates who will be performing dissertation research and training in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. 

Deadline: see website

McKinley Research Fund

The G. Murray McKinley Research Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation provides grants to support research in ecology conducted at the PLE.

Deadline: February

Arthur and Barbara Pape Endowment

The Arthur and Barbara Pape Endowment provides support for research conducted at PLE.

Deadline: February

Leasure K. Darbaker Prize in Botany

The Leasure K. Darbaker Prize in Botany is an annual award available for support of botany-related studies conducted at PLE at the graduate or post doctoral levels.

Deadline: February

Departmental Awards

Stanton C. Crawford Award 

Ivy McManus Award

Mary P. Edmonds Award

Margaret A. Oweida Fellowship