External Funding Opportunities

Use the resources below to find funding opportunities external to Penn State. We recommend that students also check with faculty advisers and department faculty and staff about additional sources of discipline-specific awards.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP)

The purpose of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. A goal of the program is to broaden participation of the full spectrum of diverse talents in STEM.

All Penn State students (undergraduate and graduate) who want to learn more and get support with the NSF GRFP application process can contact the Undergraduate Research and Fellowship Mentoring office. This office helps students at all levels understand what is required and how to submit materials.

National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)

The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA, dual-doctoral degree, predoctoral fellowship is to enhance the integrated research and clinical training of promising predoctoral students, who are matriculated in a combined M.D./Ph.D. or other dual-doctoral degree training program, and who intend careers as physician/clinician-scientists.

Fulbright Hays – Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA)

The Fulbright Hays DDRA provides opportunities to doctoral candidates to engage in dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies in the United States.

Schmidt Science Fellows

The Schmidt Science Fellows program is designed for Ph.D. students in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, and computing who are interested in broadening their horizons.

CGS/Proquest Distinguished Dissertation Award

The CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award is given to two Ph.D. candidates from two broad areas annually for original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.

Microsoft PhD Fellowship Program

The Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship is a global program that identifies and empowers the next generation of exceptional computing research talent.

Google PhD Fellowship

The Google PhD Fellowship Program was created to recognize outstanding graduate students doing exceptional and innovative research in areas relevant to computer science and related fields.

Big Ten Academic Alliance Smithsonian Institute Fellowships

The Big Ten Academic Alliance Smithsonian Institution Fellowship is a one-year award that supports research in residence at Smithsonian Institution facilities.

Presidential Management Fellowship

The Presidential Management Fellowship program seeks to recruit and develop a cadre of future government leaders drawn from all segments of society.

Kress Foundation History of Art Institutional Fellowships

The Kress History of Art Institutional Fellowships are intended to provide promising emerging art historians with the opportunity to have an extended engagement with a European art research center that provides exposure to the object of study, access to key information resources, professional network development, and sustained immersion in European cultures.

Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund Fellowship

Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund Fellowships are awarded to graduate students in any recognized field of study in the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences (including law, medicine, engineering, architecture or other formal professional training).

Ford Foundation Fellowship Program

The Ford Foundation Fellowships are designed to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Lindau Nobel Laureates Meetings

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings provide a globally recognized forum for exchange between Nobel Laureates and young scientists. They inspire scientific generations and build sustainable networks of young scientists around the world.

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships for Research in Japan

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowships are designed to promote international cooperation in and mutual understanding through scientific research in Japan, giving opportunities for U.S. citizen and permanent resident researchers to conduct cooperative research under Japanese host researchers in Japan.

Northeastern Association for Graduate Schools

Each year, the Northeastern Association for Graduate Schools recognizes one outstanding master's thesis and one outstanding doctoral thesis from one of its member institutions.

AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) Workshop

The CASE workshop is an exciting opportunity to learn from science policy and advocacy experts about the role of science in policymaking and the federal policy-making process. It empowers participants with ways to become a voice for research throughout their careers.