Fellowships & Assistantships
Fellowships
A fellowship is an honor proffered for work of the highest caliber. It also implies a responsiblity for continued and outstanding progress. Students with fellowships are required to carry a full course load. Fellowships are available from a number of different sources. In recents years, various graduate students in the Department of Astronomy have received fellowships from the following sources:
Departmental Assistantships
Currently, all of the graduate students admitted to the Graduate program in the Department of Astronomy are supported by either fellowships, teaching assistantships or research assistantships.
Teaching Assistantships
Typically eight to ten students are funded by the Department of Astronomy as Teaching Assistants. The precise number varies from year to year, and depends on the Departmental budget, as provided by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Teaching assignments vary with each position, but generally consist of assisting with large undergraduate courses of teaching undergraduate astronomy laboratory sections. Students may not hold a teaching assistantship for more than 5 years apart from exceptional circumstances.
Research Assistantships
These are normally provided to assist faculty in research projects and are often directly related to the student’s Master’s or Doctoral program. The usual source of funds is a grant held by one or more particular faculty members who make all decisions on appointments. Potential sources include the National Science Foundations, NASA, and FSGC.
Graduate Student Research Assistantships
These are awarded by the Division of Sponsored Research (DSR) to assist faculty in projects that are either novel or nearing completion, and where assistance may be expected to lead to external support. These awards are unlikely to last for more than 9 months.
Summer Employment
Some Teaching Assistantships are usually available from the Department of Astronomy, and some Research Assistantships are usually available from individual faculty grants. In addition, a number of government, national, and industrial laboratories occasionally hire graduate students for summer employment. Again, students are advised to consult the DSR publication. Announcements of summer positions at national labs are often posted on the bulletin board. (Also see AAS Summer Opportunities.)
External Fellowships
Graduate students may be eligible for these external fellowships and are encouraged to apply:
| Fellowship | Deadline | Eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| Sigma Xi | October & March | Any year; all |
| Hertz Foundation | October | Any year; US citizens/residents |
| LGEM Fellowship | October | US citizens/residents |
| NSF Graduate Research Fellowship | November | 1st & 2nd years only; US citizens |
| NPSC Graduate Fellowships | November | 1st years; one year prior to dissertation; US citizens |
| Amelia Earhart | November | All women |
| Churchill Scholarship | November | US citizens |
| Soros Fellowship | November | 1st & 2nd years; US citizens |
| National Defense Science & Engineering | January | 1st & 2nd years; US citizens |
| DOE Computational Science | January | 1st & 2nd years; US citizens/residents |
| NASA NESSF | February | Any year; all |
| Florida Space Grant Consortium | February | US citizens |
| NASA GSRP | February | Any year; US citizens |
| Harriet G Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship | February | 1st thru 3rd years; US citizens |
| Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship | 1st & 2nd years; US citizens | |
| Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship | One year prior to dissertation; US citizens |
Funding Issues?
If a graduate student has trouble securing funding for a semester (including the summer), the order of operations should be:
- Ask your advisor if they can provide funding for your for that semester (including the summer). If you have an issue speaking with your advisor about this, consider talking to the graduate coordinator. If the graduate coordinator is your advisor, speak with the assistant chair or chair of the department.
- Pursue TA funding for the semester (including the summer). Check with the TA coordinator to see if positions are available.
- Pursue scholarship money for summer semesters. Sometimes, scholarships are available to support graduate students over the summer. Speak with the assistant chair or chair of the department to see if such scholarships are available for the term you are pursuing funding for.
- Pursue additional funding from the college. If all other options have been exhausted, speak with the assistant chair or the chair of the department about applying for supplemental funding from the Dean’s Office.
- Pursue funding from other sources. In the past, UF Graduate Assistants United has advertised paid “released-time” positions that you may be able to take while waiting for other funding. To contact GAU and inquire about these positions, you can email organizing@ufgau.org.
Please note that priority for TA assignments and scholarships will go to people in good academic standing (please see the Graduate Student Handbook (https://astro.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/58/2019/06/Grad_Curriculum_2017.pdf) for what constitutes good standing).