Individual Fellowship Opportunities

Though supported through various means such as training grants, research fellowships, and teaching assistantships, Biology Graduate Students are encouraged to apply for support through individual fellowship opportunities. There are a number of reasons you may want to consider applying for an individual fellowship.  These include:

  • Experience:  the process of applying for a fellowship is valuable, and gives you a taste of what it will be like to apply for other fellowships and research grants later in your career.
  • Kudos:  competing against a national pool of candidates and receiving an individual fellowship from NIH or another funding agency looks great on your CV.
  • Money/opportunity:  For most students, receiving an individual fellowship will not change your stipend level, but these awards often come with additional funds for travel to conferences or other educational expenses (computers, books, etc).
  • Benefit to mentor:  If you receive an individual fellowship to help support your own training costs, this frees up funds for your mentor to use for other research/personnel costs.
     

Funding Opportunities:
 

A comprehensive database of fellowship opportunities is available in GrantsNet.

National Science Foundation 

NIH Individual Predoctoral Awards

Department of Defense 

American Heart Association

Penn's Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training Program (NSF) with a focus on Complex Scene Perception 

Dannon Company Yogurt and Priobiotics Fellowship Grant to Support Research and Education

Career Services 

Graduate Student Center 

Graduate Division of Arts and Sciences

Successful Grant Proposals shared by Biology Graduate Students (PennBox - must enter PennKey and password)