The Graduate Research Mentorship (GRM) Program is designed to assist doctoral students in acquiring and developing advanced research skills under faculty mentorship. Faculty mentors are expected to be in frequent contact with the student participants and to assist them with research leading to the development of a doctoral dissertation.
Awardees may not work more than 50% time.
Eligibility
Eligibility
The program is open to UCLA doctoral students who:
- Are in the arts, humanities, social sciences, public health, nursing, and institute of environment and sustainability (IoES) whose field of study areas are within the traditional eligibility areas listed. (Please contact the GRM coordinator for any clarification as to the eligible IoES fields).
- Are in year one, two or three of UCLA doctoral study at the time of application; priority will be given to students currently (at the time of application) in year one or two of doctoral study, and to students who have not already received a GRM award;
- Have not yet advanced to candidacy.
- Are U.S. citizens or permanent residents or are registered California AB540 undocumented students. Funding will be provided only if AB131 is still in effect for the duration of the fellowship.
- Must have cumulative 3.0 GPA at time of award (i.e., the time of each payment disbursement) and throughout term of award.
- Must be enrolled in 12 units throughout term of award.
Students may apply for the GRM in only one doctoral degree program and may receive the award only twice. Note that second awards are made only in exceptional cases.
Cota-Robles awardees may receive a GRM only once in addition to their Cota-Robles 2 (CR2).
A student who receives a UC–HBCU Fellowship is ineligible for the GRM.
Individuals from cultural, racial, linguistic, geographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds that are currently underrepresented in graduate education are especially encouraged to apply to this merit-based program. Departments are similarly encouraged to nominate students who will contribute to the diversity mission of the University through their participation in this merit-based program.
Award
Award Amount
Program participants will receive a $20,000 stipend plus standard tuition and fees (excluding nonresident supplemental tuition and professional degree supplemental tuition). Stipends will be paid out on a monthly basis.
Deadline
Deadline
The final application date is determined by your home department. Please contact your home department for final deadline.
Apply
How To Apply
By applying, students understand that they are giving their consent to disclose application information to University officials and to relevant funding committees.
Applicants must be nominated by their department, IDP or school. To apply for nomination, students must:
Complete and submit the Online Application Form. Upload the following documents (except the letter of recommendation) in the order listed as a single, combined PDF file and upload the single, combined PDF. If you upload multiple, separate documents, each upload will overwrite the previous file, and thus your application will be incomplete. If there is a document that should be in landscape position and it is in portrait position, please rotate the document before you combine it into the single, combined PDF.
- A proposal describing the research question(s) or goal(s) and the scope of the research, the research training and/or activities, and the mentoring and collaborative activities that you and your faculty member will undertake during the award period. The proposal’s minimum font size is 11 pt., with at least 1-inch margins. It can be a maximum of four pages double-spaced. Images, graphs, tables, notes and/or references may be single-spaced, but must be included within the four pages and 11 pt. font size. Pages in excess of four pages will not be forwarded for review.
- An unofficial copy of your Graduate Transcript with Fall 2022 grades posted. The transcript printed from MyUCLA is acceptable. A Degree Progress Report (DPR) is not. If Fall Quarter is your first graduate term at UCLA, include an unofficial transcript from the last university attended (even if the last college/university was UCLA). Students who have incomplete grades that remain unresolved (i.e., “I” grades) must provide a statement explaining the reason for the incomplete(s), the steps that will be taken to resolve the incomplete(s) and the timeline for doing so.
- Resume or Curriculum Vitae.
- A letter of recommendation from the faculty member who will serve as the mentor. The mentor does not have to be from the same department/program as the applicant.
- In Step 3 of the online fellowship application process, provide the name and email address of the recommender. The system will then send your recommender an email with instructions as to how to submit the letter online as a PDF document. The recommender will not need to email anything to the department Student Affairs Officer.
- The mentor should describe the mentor relationship and the project that the student will carry out during the academic year. If a mentoring relationship has already been established between the applicant and faculty member, the letter should distinguish between ongoing and additional mentoring activities that would occur during this period.
- The letter of recommendation is due on or before the GRM application deadline. Applications missing the letter of recommendation will not be reviewed.
- It will be the student’s responsibility to ensure that the letter has been submitted on time. The online site will provide information about the status of the letter’s upload.
NOTE:
- Applicants must be nominated by their home department before it is reviewed by the Division of Graduate Education.
- Applications that are not submitted on time, fail to follow the submission procedures listed above or forwarded as an incomplete application will be disqualified and not reviewed.
- Applicants/departments will not be notified.
- Revisions to applications after submission are not allowed; no exceptions.
Expectations
Program Expectations
Awardees will be asked to submit a year-end program evaluation to the Division of Graduate Education. Faculty mentors will also be asked to submit a year-end evaluation of their participation in the program. Evaluations will be sent out at the end of the GRM Program around July.
Awardees may not work more than 50% time.
Contact
Hints to Prepare a Strong Proposal and Faculty Letter of Recommendation
The mentoring relationship is a key component in this fellowship. The faculty mentor’s letter of recommendation must address the following:
- Specific mentoring activities that will advance the student’s research skills toward the preparation of a dissertation.
- A clear plan for meetings, progress reports and expectations for final products/deliverables.
The proposal should be written so that the work will be understandable and its significance appreciated by faculty who may not be experts in the applicant’s field.
- The proposal should outline, as appropriate to the subject:
- question(s), thesis or hypothesis being addressed;
- project scope, research approach, plan or methodology;
- a synopsis of the preliminary findings, results and/or analysis;
- significance, creativity, originality and/or and impact of the work.
- The mentoring activities and how they will contribute to achieving the project goals should also be clearly articulated.
- If you have already received a GRM award, briefly describe how the award enabled you to advance your research skills and progress, and note any presentations and/or publications you have authored or co-authored since receiving the award. Explain why a second GRM award is justified, as they are made only in exceptional cases.
Reviewers will evaluate all applications holistically, with particular attention to the
- Overall quality of the project and proposal
- Applicant’s readiness for this mentoring fellowship
- Applicant’s academic record as reflected in his/her transcripts
- Mentor’s recommendation