Graduate School Newsblog

Application closes December 1, 2011

Participants in the SMART Scholarship for Service Program receive;

• Full tuition and education related fees (does not include items such as meal plans, housing, or parking)
• Cash award paid at a rate of $25,000 – $41,000 depending on prior educational experience (may be prorated depending on award length)
• Paid summer internships
• Health Insurance reimbursement allowance up to $1,200 per calendar year
• Book allowance of $1,000 per academic year
• Mentoring
• Employment placement after graduation

All awardees must be;

• a U.S. citizen at time of application,
• 18 years of age or older as of August 1, 2012,
• able to participate in summer internships at DoD laboratories,
• willing to accept post-graduate employment with the DoD,
• a student in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (as calculated by the SMART application) and,
• pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in one of the disciplines listed on the About SMART page.

In addition;

*Undergraduate applicants must be currently enrolled in a regionally accredited U.S. college or university and have a high school diploma/GED. Current high school students are not eligible to apply.

**Graduate applicants can be either currently enrolled in a regionally accredited U.S. college or university or awaiting notification of admission to such. If awaiting admission, you must be accepted for entrance in the fall 2012 term.

*Freshman/First Year Associate’s Program applicants must report an ACT or SAT Reasoning Test Score. Subject tests are not required. In addition, individuals who apply during their Freshman/First Year must obtain a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale during the fall academic term of their Freshman/First Year. Freshman/First Year Associate’s Program applicants will be required to submit an official transcript reflecting their fall academic term grades to establish compliance with this requirement.

**Graduate applicants must have taken the GRE and test scores must be reportable by ETS. Subject tests are not required.

Fellowship applications must be submitted electronically using NSF FastLane Graduate Research Fellowship Program Application Module at: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/

Applicants must first register as a FastLane user at that web site. Registration for the GRFP is only available when the application module is open, from August to November.

To create an account:

1. Access the GRFP application by going to http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov.
2. Click on the Graduate Research Fellowship Program tab at the top of the page. This will take you to the GRFP application within FastLane. (You can also access the page directly at http://fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/)
3. Once on the GRFP site, click the Register Here link (on the right hand side of the page) to begin the Fellowship Application.
4. You are required to read and accept the rules of behavior before continuing through the Registration Process. Click the “I have read and accept the Rules of Behavior,” and click the Accept button.
5. The Applicant Information page will be displayed. This page will be used to create your user profile. All required information (indicated by an asterisk) must be completed in order to save the data and submit the registration form.

NOTE: Emails are the primary source of communication used by the GRFP administrators. It is important for you to use an active email address and to update the email address if it changes.
The complete set of GRFP eligibility guidelines is published in the program solicitation.

2012 GRFP Application Deadlines – submitted by 7:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time

• November 14, 2011- Engineering
• November 15, 2011 – Mathematical Sciences; Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering; Chemistry; Physics and Astronomy; Materials Research
• November 16, 2011 – Social Sciences; Psychology; Geosciences; STEM Education and Learning Research
• November 18, 2011 – Life Sciences

Interdisciplinary applications must be submitted by the deadline for the field of study with the highest effort. If the effort is split equally among different fields, it should be submitted on the deadline for the field listed first in the Proposed Graduate Program section of the application.