Applications Open for Graduate Dean’s Award

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the third annual Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work competition. The Graduate Dean’s Award recognizes up to eight graduate students for their overall academic record and the outstanding quality of their research or creative activity at the University. Awardees will receive $500 and make a five-minute presentation on their work as part of an award symposium to be held March 25, 2022.

Applicants must submit a personal statement describing the nature, strength and impact of their achievements in research or creative work as a graduate student; a presentation abstract describing, for a general audience, the research project or creative work(s) to be presented at the March 25 symposium; and a CV to the online application portal. In addition, each applicant’s advisor must submit a letter of support separately to the same portal. The deadline for receipt of all materials is Feb. 4, 2022.

Master’s and doctoral students in all fields and programs are eligible. Last year’s recipients represented the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Falk College, the Maxwell School, the Newhouse School and the School of Architecture. Madeleine Hamlin, a Ph.D. candidate in geography and 2021 awardee, says, “Receiving the Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Work in 2021 was an enormous honor that not only allowed me to elevate the presence of my work on campus but also helped connect me to other graduate students doing cutting-edge research in their respective fields.”

The Universitywide Graduate Faculty Council will review applications on the basis of the candidates’ history of accomplishment in graduate school and the strength and inherent interest of the specific project. Please note that because each individual’s academic record is a crucial consideration in the process, joint applications will not be considered. Recipients will be announced in early March.

Outstanding graduate students from across campus are encouraged to apply. “I was incredibly honored to receive the Graduate Dean’s Award,” says philosophy Ph.D. candidate Rowan Bell who received the award in 2021. “As a first-generation college student, it meant a lot to know how far I’ve made it, and to see the impact that my work has had on others.”