Last updated: June 2016, SDM

About NSF GRFP

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is fellowship program for graduate students. Students may apply their final year of undergrad and either their 1st or 2nd year of graduate school, giving a total of two opportunities to apply. The NSF GRFP is good for 3 of any 5 years of graduate school; the three years the fellowship is used are referred to as "tenure" years, and the two years the fellowship is not used are referred to as "reserve" years.

The fellowship application opens toward the middle/end of August and is typically due at the end of October or beginning of November. The exact due date changes from year to year and is determined by the exact field of graduate study. For example, EE students submit their application at a different date from the Evolutationary Biology students.

The NSF GRFP is a highly coveted fellowship because it is a fully funded fellowship (i.e. you do not rely on your advisor for funding). It also offers several opportunities that are only available to (and often only funded for) GRFP fellows, such as international research/internship opportunities and international conferences. This is an incredibly competitive fellowship because this effectively makes you free graduate student to an advisor. Not having funding constraints allows you to have more flexibility with you research project, rather than being limited by the constraints of your advisor's funding sources.

Who is Eligible?

• U.S. citizens

• Students in their final year of undergraduate study, or students in their 1st or 2nd years of graduate studies. This means you only get 2 opportunities to apply.

• Students studying STEM fields

Program Solicitation

The NSF GRFP follows a specific set of rules and regulations. The application itself is run through FastLane and all information concerning the fellowship is supplied by the GRFP website:

All information regarding eligibility, exact application dates for a given year, up-to-date essay formatting, etc. are described by the NSF solicitation above. If the rest of the information provided on this wiki page contradicts the information in the program solicitation, then trust the program solicitation over the information provided here -- information provided here is based on previous years and may be invalid for the current year!

About the Application

The application consists of 3 parts. Read the prompts for the applications and explicitly address all the components requested.

1. General application, which is form-based and is where you fill out your general information (name, major, graduate school, etc.). NOTE for undergrads: the graduate school you list is not the school you have to attend! Just make sure the school you list flows with the rest of your application.

2. Personal statement/essay. This is a 3-page statement describing your background in STEM. It should describe your background as a researcher thus far (undergrad research opportunities, REUs, internships). You also need to indicate, based on your background, where you want to go next (undergrad) or where you currently are (grad). Your description of your experience thus far academically and industrially in STEM is what's described in the intellectual merit component of the essay. The second, and arguably more crucial part, is the broader impacts component of the essay. The solicitation describes broader impacts in detail. See the specifics in the essay section below for more details/ideas.

3. Research statement/essay. This is a 2-page statement that flows like a research proposal. That is, it should read similarly to a research paper or article. The NSF strongly supports cool novel research projects. You must clearly and concisely propose a project. Again, you must address both the intellectual merit and broader impact of you project must be addressed.

Applying

SDM's Notes for Success

General keys to success

1. Demonstrate the applicant is balanced, i.e. egghead + STEM philanthropist.

2. All components of the application (essays and the rest of the application) must be complementary

3. Start the application early!

   1. Essays --> multiple drafts

   2. Letter of recommendation --> academics are busy and forgetful, so give them a large lead time

   3. Rest of application, i.e. non-essay --> takes 1-2+ long sit-down sessions to complete

Essays

As with any important piece of writing or presentation, you must consider you audience to have the desired effect. Picture this, you’re an NSF applicant reviewer. You have a week to review hundreds, maybe thousands of applications (essays, letters of recommendation, etc.). Each candidate may get 1-3 minutes of review time. If you have a great application but it is not optimized for quick consumption, you’ll be left behind. ORGANIZE. ORGANIZE. ORGANIZE!

Organize based on essay prompt keywords. Since the reviewers have almost no time to thoroughly review your application, you need to make their lives easier. Organize section headings based on appropriate keywords. Use phrases throughout the essay that make it easy for the review to find what they want. For example, you should put together a separate section that discusses STEM outreach or have that as a sub-heading under a broader impacts section.

It is also important to follow all instructions listed on-line. Here's a partial list of requirements. Look up the NSF application instructions for current formatting specs -- they are picky about formatting!

• Standard 8.5" x 11" page size

• 12-point, Times New Roman font or Computer Modern (LaTex) font

• 10-point may be used for references, footnotes, figure captions, and text within figures

• 1" margins on all sides

• Single-spaced or greater spacing

• Check the page counts

Non-research Essay

Be sure to convey the following:

1. The applicant has an appropriate academic background for the field/things you plan to study in grad school. If you're changing fields, you need to make a good argument for why you will be successful.

2. Demonstrate how your time in STEM has thus far been successful and productive

   1. Research experience and any publications or conference presentations. You can list/mention REU things, for example

   2. Your time studying whatever it is you've studied has helped you to focus on studying <insert idea here> for grad school

3. You have used/experienced/shared STEM to make the world a better place AND you will continue to do so as a grad student

   1. Outreach is key!

   2. Encouraging diversity within STEM is great

   3. TA positions are good

   4. Mentoring undergrads as a grad student is also good

Research Essay

Keep the following in mind:

1. You need a project that is novel and interesting (NSF loves new,cool STEM things). It is super-constructive to bounce ideas of your professors (if you're undergrad) or your advisor (grad student). It can be difficult to pull a research project idea of of the air. Do your homework on an appropriate area of study and try to think of unexplored research problems.

2. The project you pick must be reasonable and doable for 4+ years of grad school. This means read some papers and figure out what has been done, then brainstorm something that will (within reason) push the science farther. Work with 1-2 professors in that particular field to make sure your idea is tractable

3. Your background from the non-research essay MUST suggests that you can do this project

   1. ex: non-research essay: “I want to study ____ at UT Austin” → research essay: “the equipment at UT Austin is perfectly suited for my project, because blah blah blah”

   2. ex: non-research essay: describes experience with related fields to what you want to research → research essay: describe a project that makes sense given your background

4. Make it sound clear the university you mention in your proposal has the resources to carry out your research. The reviewer should come away thinking, “wow, this student should clearly be at that university and that is clearly the best place for this project”. This means including specific institutions and research labs within your selected university. It is also good to mention specific collaborators from other universities that must be leveraged for your project to success -- NSF loves collaboration.

Previous Lase Group Winning Documents

It can be useful to see how previous successful students formatted their application and statements. The following link is a zip folder to the share drive with DJI's, AKR's, and SDM's NSF documents. It has good examples of how other people constructed their documents. DJI and SDM both won the award during their final year of undergrad, and AKR won it during her second year of grad school. Note: DJI had to write 3 essays his year, because the NSF used to make applicants write 3 essays. They have since reduced it to 2 essays.

Current Fellows

Questions about how the funding works

Q: I won the NSF, but I'm not sure which years I should use for tenure and which years I use for reserve. What do I do?
A: Talk to Seth, because he's who funds you the years you are on reserve status; he needs to know how to budget for students. The fellowship lasts for 3 of any 5 years of grad school. If you're a first year student with a GRA appointment, I would use the reserve option for my first year. How you handle years 2-5 are up to you. I found it best to have Seth fund me during year 2 (i.e. reserve NSF fellowship status for year 2), then I used the NSF Fellowship for years 3-5. -- SDM

Q: I am also receiving a complementary fellowship from the Cockrell School of Engineering, e.g. T.L.L Temple Fellowship (~$9k/year). Can I use both the NSF Fellowship and the supplemental fellowship together?
A: Yes, both the scholarship coordinator from Cockrell, Michelle Mansolo (scholarships@engr.utexas.edu), and the UT NSF GRFP coordinator, Elizabeth Korves (korvesem@austin.utexas.edu), say that it is okay to use a complementary fellowship so long as the complementary fellowship is strictly complementary. That is, the extra fellowship cannot also be a full fellowship, like the NSF or DoD.

Administrative Things

Have questions about anything?

For general questions, talk to older students in the lab who have received the fellowship. They have almost certainly encountered any situation and question you will encounter.

If you have a more specific question, you should reach out to Elizabeth Korves (korvesem@austin.utexas.edu). Dean Marv Hackert is technically in charge of the NSF kiddos at UT, but he is currently serving as interim dean of the Grad School while still maintaining all his duties directing fellowships. Hackert forwards any NSF emails to Elizabeth anyways, so just reach out to her directly.

If you have larger administrative questions about the fellowship that are non-UT specific, you may also review the NSF Admin Guide (16-104) (https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16104/nsf16104.pdf)

When does funding start?

It can start in either the summer or the fall. Talk to Seth about when the best time is to start funding. He may have a certain date in mind based on how his funding lines up. After you figure it out, make sure Christine knows so she can make sure you don't miss a month of pay.

Your monthly stipend will pay out around the beginning of the month. Elizabeth Korves schedule them for the 28th of the preceding month because some banks take a day or two before posting the deposit. For January and June, those checks will not issue until Jan 1 and June 1 in order to catch the appropriate semester on the registration audit.

In-state status?

The in-state tuition rates (for non-Texas residents) are processed via a tuition waiver that Elizabeth Korves will be providing to accounting about the middle of August. So when you register, if the waiver is not yet showing, don’t panic, it’ll be added well before the bill is due. If we get to one week prior to the due date of the fee bill and the waiver is still not applied, then do contact Elizabeth at that point

Class registration

While you are on tenure, you are required to be registered full time. This means you must be registered for 9 hours in the fall and spring semesters and then for 3 hours in the summer semester. PLEASE always pre-register so there’s not a delay in your stipend at the beginning of a semester.

GPA requirements

You must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA. If you drop below 3.0, then you are considered as not making academic progress and UT will terminate your NSF.

Can I hold a TA position?

No. You are not allowed to hold a TA position as a fellow. The NSF is paying you to perform research, not TA. Some exceptions are made if a TA position is required as part of your program, e.g. ChemE. If that is the case, plan to serve as a TA during your reserve years instead of tenure years.

Annual reporting and status declaration for upcoming year

Every year you must fill out a report describing your work during the previous year and declare your status for the upcoming year, i.e. "tenure" or "reserve."

• You must do the reporting even if you had a reserve year.

• This report is due by the beginning of May. If you do NOT complete the report and declare your status, you WILL lose the NSF fellowship

The report is on the fastlane website. It consists of a questionnaire about your involvement in outreach, publications, conferences, professional development, etc.. Copy your responses so you can fill out the report faster in the following years. You also have to prepare a ~2 page essay summarizing your work and progress. The entire report is super-easy and takes 1-2 hours to complete. Do it early so you don't forget and scramble at the last minute!

Insurance

Seth is willing to pay for your insurance while you're an NSF fellow, since technically you have to pay for your own insurance. Talk to Seth and Christine to make it happen.

Taxes

This is the official recommendation from the NSF for handling taxes as a fellow

Parking

You can only get a C permit or a garage permit. You cannot get an A permit because as a fellow you're technically not an employee of the university.