Financial Support
The primary types of financial support available in the Materials Science and Engineering Program are research assistantships and fellowships. You may apply to TA in any department; however, you only receive resident tuition if the department in which you TA is related to your degree program and the TA appointment is for at least 20 hours per week. Continued financial assistance is always dependent upon maintaining at least a 3.00 grade point average and continuing to make progress towards attainment of your degree.
In addition, the Graduate School places a 14 long-session semester (7 year) limit on financial assistance for graduate students (summers do not count). After 14 semesters, no student may continue to receive support by employment in a student position (TA, GRA, AI). Students may continue via scholarships (not tied to GRA or TA work) or self-funding.
Any semesters or years of full scholarship support or self-funding are not counted toward the 14 long semester limit. This means, for example, that if you received a full scholarship for your third year of study, by your 5th year, you would only have had 6 semesters of funding through student employment and not 8, because 2 semesters were covered by a scholarship. Partial scholarships that only help pay for part of your tuition and fees, but still have you rely on your GRA, TA, or AI position for most of your tuition and stipend, do not fall under this exception.
Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) Positions
GRA positions are the most common form of financial assistance available for MS&E students. Funding is provided through research grants obtained by faculty. The number of graduate research assistantships varies, depending on individual faculty research support. Therefore, all graduate research assistantships are dependent upon availability and duration of funding.
All GRA positions fall under the UT Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) 9-2030. Graduate Research Assistants are “students who, in the course of their academic training, are employed in part-time or temporary research positions, where the student's academic training is based in part on the research performed or where the research duties being performed will assist the student in fulfilling his or her degree requirements.” The main duties are “to contribute under supervision to a program of departmental or interdepartmental research. The appointment is made with the understanding that the required services will contribute to the professional training of the student.” This means that you should not be running personal errands - like picking up laundry or picking up curbside groceries – while you are a GRA. If you find yourself being asked (or forced) to complete personal, non-lab related work and you do not feel comfortable addressing your concerns with your supervisor, contact the Graduate Program Coordinator, Graduate Advisor, TMI Director, or the Office of the Student Ombuds for help.
GRAs are students first. You MUST be enrolled as a student to hold the position. This is why GRA appointments are limited to 20 hours a week during the first 2 long semester appointments, and no more than 30 hours after that. If you find that you are being asked or required to work more than that, especially if it is interfering with your coursework or program progress, speak to your advisor about your workload. If, like above, you do not feel comfortable addressing your supervisor about this, contact the Graduate Program Coordinator, Graduate Advisor, or the Office of the Student Ombuds for help.
Teaching Assistantship (TA) Position
Teaching Assistants are “graduate students who help faculty with the conduct and delivery of courses. Services provided by teaching assistants include, but are not limited to, grading, monitoring, leading lab and/or discussion sessions, offering office hour assistance to students, and performing clerical tasks associated with course instruction” (UT HOP 9-2020). You should speak to your supervisor about TA policies. Each department has different policies and procedures concerning allocation of TA positions. Remember, you only receive resident tuition if the department in which you TA is related to your degree program and the TA appointment is for at least 20 hours per week. You also need to be enrolled in 9 credit hours (3 credit hours during the summer) to hold a TA appointment.
Additionally, the Texas Legislature has mandated that all international students demonstrate oral fluency in English before being allowed to teach. Therefore, all international students who are interested in possibly applying for teaching assistantships need to take the ITA "Oral English Proficiency Assessment" exam. It is offered before each new semester. You may take it one time for which the MS&E program will pay. If you must retake it, there is a $100 fee. Following the assessment, there is one "ITA/AI Orientation to Teaching at UT Austin" session you must take online.
Fellowships
There are University Fellowships available for continuing MS&E students. Announcements about possible fellowships will be sent out by e-mail. You are encouraged to apply if you think you meet the requirements.
University & School Fellowships: Each year the Graduate School and the Cockrell School of Engineering accepts nominations of students from all programs and departments for consideration for University and School Fellowships. Students are nominated by faculty or self-nominate and are selected based on grade point average, papers published, leadership activities on and off campus, conferences attended, and other evidence of outstanding achievement. Emails will be sent out when nominations are open and due. Reply to the graduate coordinator if you think you should be eligible for a University or School Fellowship. The competition is university- and School-wide, so these fellowships are highly competitive.
Travel Awards: Professional Development (Travel) Awards are available to help defray expenses for a few advanced doctoral students attending major professional meetings. Priority is given to students who are in their last year of doctoral study and have had a paper accepted for presentation at a major professional meeting. Students will only be considered for this award if the published abstract for this talk lists their affiliation as Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Austin. If you are planning to attend and present a paper at a professional meeting, reply to the email notifications about the upcoming award deadlines sent out by the Graduate Program Coordinator. The GPC submits award nominations to the Graduate School. The exact amount of the award varies depending on the funds available.
Deadlines and dates for which award to apply to are below:
