Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program

The GSRM Program is designed to provide financial support to UCLA doctoral students in order to release recipients from employment or loan obligations that might delay progress in graduate study. Awardees should consider it as their principal/primary summer activity.

A specific objective of the program is to promote opportunities for students to work closely with a faculty mentor in developing a paper for presentation at an academic conference and/or for publication. General goals are to facilitate close working relationships between faculty and students during the early stages of graduate education, to promote timely degree progress, and to encourage creative scholarship and research productivity.

NOTE: The deadline to apply is: February 16, 2024. Any online applications submitted after this time will not be accepted. No faxes or emails accepted.

Eligibility

Eligibility

The program is open to UCLA doctoral students who:

  1. 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 GSRM coordinator for any clarification as to the eligible IoES fields).
  2. 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 GSRM award.
  3. Have not yet advanced to doctoral candidacy.
  4. Are US citizens, permanent residents, international or registered California AB540 students. For international students, funding is subject to fellowship eligibility in regards to visa type. For those under AB540, funding will be provided only if AB131 is still in effect for the duration of the fellowship.
  5. Have been continuously enrolled/registered the previous Spring and will be continuously enrolled/registered the following Fall. If these conditions are not met, the awardee will be required to repay the summer award.
  6. Have a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA at time of award (i.e., at time of payment disbursement).

Awardees of the George and Sakaye Aratani Fellowship, Center for European and Russian Studies Summer Award, Graduate Dean’s Scholar Award, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS), Lenart Travel Fellowship, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Grant and other summer fellowships are not eligible to receive GSRM funding at the same time as their other funding.

Students may apply for the GSRM in only one doctoral degree program and may receive the award only twice. In addition, prior year recipients who did not complete the program evaluation nor submit their paper will not be considered for future applications.

Award

Award Amount

Program participants will receive a maximum $6,000 stipend. The funds will be disbursed monthly.

Deadline

Deadline

The deadline for receipt of all online application materials (including the letter of recommendation) is:

  • February 16, 2024
Applications that are not submitted on time, fail to follow the submission procedures listed below 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.

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.

Students nominate themselves for this award. To apply:

  1. Students must go to the 2024-25 Merit-Based Awards Application for Continuing Graduate Students site at:
    https://grad.ucla.edu/funding/financial-aid/funding-for-continuing-students/fellowship-application/
  2. Select the award application option.
  3. Review the instructions entirely prior to starting the application.
  4. Complete each section in order because the application is dynamic.
  5. For all opportunities, review or complete these sections: Basic, Information, Citizenship & UID, Major & GPA.
  6. Review the GSRM section closely for specific instructions and required materials. Be sure to include all materials in their designated spaces on the application portal.
  7. Overview of Research Paper. Upload this document in the GRSM section. Describe the work you will do in the summer to prepare your research for presentation at a regional or national conference and potentially for publication. Include the mentoring activities in which you and your faculty mentor will engage. If you have already received a GSRM award, briefly describe the research progress, presentations and/or publications that resulted from that experience.
    1. The Overview of the Research Paper must be a maximum of four pages double spaced. Minimum font size is 11 pt., with at least 1” margins. Any images, captions, graphs, tables, notes and/or references may be single spaced, but must be 11pt. font and included within the four pages. Pages in excess of four pages will not be forwarded for review.
    2. Provide faculty mentor information in the GSRM section
  8. Upload an unofficial copy of your Graduate Transcript with Fall 2023 grades posted to the Transcript section. The transcript printed from MyUCLA is acceptable. Do not submit a Degree Progress Report (DPR). If Fall Quarter is your first graduate term at UCLA, you must include an unofficial transcript from the last college/university attended (even if the last college/university was UCLA).
    1. 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.
  9. A personal statement is not required for the GSRM.
  10. Provide an updated Resume or Curriculum Vitae in the Resume/CV section.
    1. ONE letter of recommendation from the faculty mentor, signed and on department letterhead. Enter the faculty mentor information in the Letter of Recommendation Section for ONE letter of recommendation. This will generate an automatic email from the application portal to the faculty recommender. The mentor does not have to be from the same department/program as the applicant.
    2. The mentor should describe the mentoring relationship and the paper that the student will complete during the summer. If a mentoring relationship has already been established between applicant and faculty member, the letter should distinguish between ongoing and additional mentoring activities that would occur during this period.
    3. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the letter has been submitted on time. Be sure to follow up with the recommender as needed. The online site will provide information about the status of the letter’s upload.  The Division of Graduate Education is not responsible whatsoever in contacting recommenders.
    4. The letter of recommendation is due on or before the application deadline. Applications missing the letter of recommendation or with letters not submitted on time will be disqualified and not reviewed. Applicants/departments will not be notified.
    5. Note: Applicants applying simultaneously for both the Graduate Research Mentorship and Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Programs may request TWO letters of recommendation if they have different mentors for each program. Recommenders will be asked which program they are mentoring the student for and will answer specific questions. Students are strongly encouraged to use the optional message section to provide the recommender with information about the program they are applying for.
  • If there is a document that should be in landscape position and it is in portrait position, please rotate it before you upload it.
NOTE: Applications that are not submitted on time, fail to follow the submission procedures listed below 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

GSRM awardees are expected to complete and submit a draft of a paper (either single-authored by the student or co-authored with the faculty mentor) by the end of the summer through the GSRM Program Evaluation. This paper should be submitted for presentation at a professional conference and/or for publication sometime during the following academic year (October-June). This is a program requirement.

If the program evaluation and paper are not submitted by the end of the program, recipients will not be considered if applying for this fellowship in subsequent years.

It is expected that the faculty mentor will be in frequent contact with the awardee during the summer and committed to working closely with the student. Awardees and mentors must complete a program evaluation at the end of summer.

GSRM awardees may not work more than 50% time so as to not detract from the GSRM experience and provided they do not exceed the maximum limit of merit-based support. Furthermore, awardees should be mindful that by accepting funding, they are declaring that the GSRM project will be their sole activity in summer.

Should a post-audit discover appointment(s) above 50%, the GSRM stipend will be prorated and reduced accordingly.

Program Dates

Program Dates

The 13-week program begins June 17, 2024, and ends September 13, 2024.

Hints to Prepare a Strong Proposal and Faculty Letter of Recommendation

A strong application will contain the following:

  • The mentoring relationship is a key component in this fellowship. The faculty mentor’s letter of recommendation must address the following:
    • Specific mentoring activities and plans that will prepare the applicant’s summer research for publication or conference presentation;
    • A clear plan for meetings, progress reports, research development, and expectations for final paper to be presented at a conference and/or for publication
  • The applicant’s research overview should be written so that the work will be understandable and its significance appreciated by faculty who may not be expert in the applicant’s field.
  • The description of the research paper should present the following, as appropriate to the subject:
    • The question(s), thesis or hypothesis being addressed;
    • The project scope and research approach, plan or methodology;
    • A synopsis of any preliminary findings, results and/or analysis;
    • The significance, creativity, originality and/or and impact of the work.
  • The relevance and significance of the mentoring activities to the achieving the project goals should be clearly articulated.
  • If you have already received a GSRM 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 GSRM 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 project and proposal;
    • Applicant’s readiness for this mentoring fellowship;
    • Applicant’s academic record, as reflected in his/her transcripts;
    • Mentor’s recommendation.

Publicizing Fellowship Awardees

The name and home department of fellowship awardees may be published on the Division of Graduate Education’s website, in its publications and/or posted on its bulletin boards and other Division of Graduate Education venues for educational purposes.  Awardees who do not want their information published must check the “Do Not Consent” box when returning the fellowship contract (Offer of Support).

Contact

askgrad@grad.ucla.edu
Fellowships and Financial Services, 1228 Murphy Hall