The National GEM Consortium’s GRAD Lab is coming to UMBC on Saturday, September 19, 2015. This page will serve as the host website for the event. Please stay tuned and visit regularly for updates, as the program content develops.

FREE WORKSHOP FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL PREPARATION

The GEM Getting Ready for Advanced Degrees (GRAD) Lab is a program for people who are considering graduate study in STEM fields. While most of the participants in the national GEM GRAD Lab programs are undergraduates in their junior and senior years who are seeking graduate admission at either the M.S. or doctoral level, UMBC also invites freshmen and sophomores who want a head start, M.S. students who are seeking tips for Ph.D. admission, and career professionals who are considering a return to school to earn any graduate STEM degree. Special invitations are further extended to undergraduate students who attend institutions within the University System of Maryland, and students who participate in programs such as NSF’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), the National Society of Black Engineers  (NSBE), the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the American Indian Science and Engineering Society  (AISES), the Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists (SACNAS), and McNair scholars.

The 2015 GEM GRAD Lab at UMBC will be principally sponsored by PROMISE: Maryland’s Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), which is funded by the National Science Foundation. The GEM GRAD Lab at UMBC follows the 2015 PROMISE AGEP Summer Success Institute (continuing PROMISE theme for 2015-2016: #ThinkBigDiversity), and is part of the AGEP’s programming to encourage diverse STEM students to prepare for and apply to graduate school.

Co-sponsors include Penn State University, Binghamton University – State University of New York (SUNY), the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland College Park, University of Virginia, and Howard University. The Intel Foundation is a national sponsor for the GEM GRAD Lab.

Here are basic facts for the GEM GRAD Lab at UMBC:

Time and Location

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2015

Time: 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM

Location: The Engineering Building Lecture Hall & Atrium (ENGR 027 – Lecture Hall 5)

Directions and Parking: UMBC Guide/Directions, Google Map Street View Image, Google Map Coordinates: 39.254657, -76.713960

• Parking Lot 8: Participants driving personal cars (right in front of the Performing Arts building on Hilltop road)
• Parking Lot 22: For buses.

Follow the signs! We will have several for parking and to get to the building.

Please follow the link to see the parking map of the UMBC campus.

Parking map: http://about.umbc.edu/files/2012/08/2015-2016-Parking-Map.pdf

Lodging

If you are arriving on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, and checking out on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, please consider our preferred hotel, The Hotel at Arundel Preserve, http://hotelarundel.com/, which has a special UMBC rate of $139/night + tax for this event. The UMBC room rate (for two queen beds or a king bed with a sleeper sofa) is available until Friday, September 4, 2015.

AGENDA

Registration

Registration is now open. Please register here, via the GEM program’s official process: https://egem.gemfellowship.org/events/ViewEvent.aspx?contextID=10167

Please note that all student participants must register via the website above. The PROMISE AGEP is not able to take a list of students nor email notifications in lieu of the registration process that is outlined within the link above. Thank you for following this procedure. 

Registration is free. To share this page and its contents, feel free to use the shortened version of the URL: http://tinyurl.com/UMBC-GEMGRADLab

Transportation

• Frostburg students: To reserve a bus seat you must email Wendy Wilson in the Office of Graduate Services at wwilson@frostburg.edu
• College Park students: Contact Taifa Simpson, Director, LSAMP in the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering for bus information, tsimpson@umd.edu.
• Penn State students: Contact Wayne Gersie, Director, Multicultural Engineering Program, Office of Engineering Diversity, wgersie@engr.psu.edu
• Binghamton students: Contact Shanise Kent, Director of Diversity Programs & Initiatives, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering & Applied Science, Binghamton University
• UMES students: Contact Tracy Bell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, tdbell@umes.edu
• Howard students: Contact Kamla Deonauth Ph.D., Director, Graduate School, Howard University

The Graduate Fair

The lunch activity will include a graduate school fair that will feature colleges and universities who are interested in talking with students about applying to their graduate programs.  Schools that are interested in sharing their graduate programs with guests are invited to reserve a table at the “Lunch & Graduate Fair” by emailing promisestaff@gmail.com, with the subject “GEM GRAD Lab Lunch Fair.” This free table space is limited. Priority will be extended to co-sponsoring schools, and institutions within the University System of Maryland.

The PROMISE AGEP is led by UMBC, the University of Maryland Baltimore, and the University of Maryland College Park. All of the universities within the University System of Maryland are part of the PROMISE AGEP. Read more about PROMISE AGEP: Maryland Transformation (AGEP-T) here: https://promiseagep.wordpress.com/about/about-promise-the-agep-for-maryland/

Official Flier: 2015 GEM GRAD Lab at UMBC

The PROMISE Program receives a number of funding and fellowship opportunities to share with students.  The information provided here is a partial list based on a funding workshop that was presented on UMBC’s campus through the Success Seminar series.  Our PROMISE  Career Partners website provides weekly updates for fellowships, internships, and positions.  A search engine is available for that site. (Suggestion:  Add the category, e.g. fellowship, plus the year, e.g., 2012 for the most recent entries.  An entry of fellowship 2012 in the search box will yield all fellowship opportunities with 2012 deadlines or start dates.)

FELLOWSHIP TIPS

Many fellowships have strict deadlines, and most of them are listed between October and November.  The external fellowships often allow students to apply from all over the country, therefore they need time to review and process applications so that fellowships can be awarded in time for the fall semester. Here are some tips:

• Pay strict attention to deadlines and submit early.
• Maintain strong relationships with faculty members since you will probably need strong letters of recommendation from your faculty.
• Become familiar with the online interface for the fellowship’s website.  Many fellowships now require online submission which include registration procedures and multiple pages of set-up for essays or statements, letters, transcripts, etc.
• If the deadline has passed for a fellowship that you are interested in, email or call the contact person to inquire about other opportunities with that particular organization, tips for applying next year, or any remaining opportunities for the current year.  Sometimes deadlines are extended but not posted. It’s worth an ask.

FELLOWSHIP LINKS

• LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. The LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is a 2 year fellowship that is awarded to alumni of the undergraduate LSAMP programs throughout the U.S.  Bridge to the Doctorate Fellows must be former undergraduate participants of LSAMP programs and must have their participation validated by their undergraduate LSAMP Directors.
  • UMBC Application, Deadlines vary based on availability of funds. Contact marylandbridgetothedoctorate@gmail.com for inquiries.
  • LSAMP at College Park
  • Schools across the U.S. have Bridge to the Doctorate Programs.  Check with the university’s LSAMP office for detail.
• NASA Fellowships – Through Pathways to Science:
  • Fellowships and internships for graduate students 
  • Sign-up sheet to receive individualized information: http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/form.asp
• GEM: http://www.gemfellowship.org/
• Homeland Security http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/
• National Physical  Sciences Consortium – http://www.npsc.org/
• Ford Foundation http://national-academies.org/fellowships
• McNair Scholars Program waives/discounts application fees, GRE fees http://www.ed.gov.offices/OPE/HEP/trio/mcnair
• Application Fee waivers for CIC graduate schools:  http://www.cic.net/Home/Students/FreeApp/Introduction.aspx
• Project 1000 waives up to seven application fees:   http://mati.eas.asu.edu:8421/p1000
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  
  • Program Information: http://www.nsf.gov/grfp
  • Application and deadlines: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov
  • Email: info@nsfgradfellows.org
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
  
  • Program Information, application and deadlines:
    http://www.asee.org/resources/fellowships
  • Email: ndseg@asee.org
• General Listing of fellowships for women and diverse groups: http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Channels/grad_school/fellowships.asp
• Database of fellowships and scholarships for all disciplines:
  http://scholarships.fatomei.com/
• Institutional Fellowships (The university applies to the National Science Foundation for this funding and students have a chance to apply and participate through their universities.)  http://www.igert.org/
• http://www.gk12.org/

LINKS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

• Fulbright – Fulbright grants are available for international students in graduate school.
• The Soros Foundations Network – This foundation offers international student scholarships for undergraduate and
  graduate students. Many are restricted to students from specific countries.
• AAUW – This organization provides fellowships for international graduate students who are women.
• American Councils for International Education – The councils provide international student grants and fellowships to international students from the former Soviet republics.
• AMIDEAST – This organization provides grants for international students from the Middle East and North Africa.
• Cornell University Graduate School Fellowship Notebook – This database contains a list of funding and international student scholarships available to graduate international students.

(This information is re-posted from: http://www.usastudyguide.com/Financial_aid.htm)

The following information was contributed by former PROMISE Peer Mentor  Dr. Frances Carter (M.S. Physics, Ph.D. Public Policy, UMBC) from the September 2010 UMBC Success Seminar on funding, reprinted from the PROMISE intranet page on MyUMBC.

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterdays session on “Graduate Students and Money!” The information was extremely helpful in making sure that we as graduate students are creating bright  financial futures for ourselves as we work on our academic future.  As promised, I am including the fellowship links for your use:

• http://www.nsfgrfp.org
• http://www.gemfellowship.org/
• http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_fellows/ (provides an overview of fellowships by deadline date with links)
• http://www7.nationalacademies.org/fellowships/
• http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Student/GRFN/
• http://www.umbc.edu/gradschool/funding/external.html
• http://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/
• http://www.finaid.com/ and their search engine: http://www.fastweb.com/
• http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp
• http://www.sreb.org

_______________________________________________________________________

Photo MP900399463 used with permission of Microsoft.

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP

and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The PROMISE Program receives a number of funding and fellowship opportunities to share with students.  The information provided here is a partial list based on a funding workshop that was presented on UMBC’s campus through the Success Seminar series.  Our PROMISE  Career Partners website provides weekly updates for fellowships, internships, and positions.  A search engine is available for that site. (Suggestion:  Add the category, e.g. fellowship, plus the year, e.g., 2012 for the most recent entries.  An entry of fellowship 2012 in the search box will yield all fellowship opportunities with 2012 deadlines or start dates.)

FELLOWSHIP TIPS

Many fellowships have strict deadlines, and most of them are listed between October and November.  The external fellowships often allow students to apply from all over the country, therefore they need time to review and process applications so that fellowships can be awarded in time for the fall semester. Here are some tips:

• Pay strict attention to deadlines and submit early.
• Maintain strong relationships with faculty members since you will probably need strong letters of recommendation from your faculty.
• Become familiar with the online interface for the fellowship’s website.  Many fellowships now require online submission which include registration procedures and multiple pages of set-up for essays or statements, letters, transcripts, etc.
• If the deadline has passed for a fellowship that you are interested in, email or call the contact person to inquire about other opportunities with that particular organization, tips for applying next year, or any remaining opportunities for the current year.  Sometimes deadlines are extended but not posted. It’s worth an ask.

FELLOWSHIP LINKS

• LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. The LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is a 2 year fellowship that is awarded to alumni of the undergraduate LSAMP programs throughout the U.S.  Bridge to the Doctorate Fellows must be former undergraduate participants of LSAMP programs and must have their participation validated by their undergraduate LSAMP Directors.
  • UMBC Application, Deadlines vary based on availability of funds. Contact marylandbridgetothedoctorate@gmail.com for inquiries.
  • LSAMP at College Park
  • Schools across the U.S. have Bridge to the Doctorate Programs.  Check with the university’s LSAMP office for detail.
• NASA Fellowships – Through Pathways to Science:
  • Fellowships and internships for graduate students 
  • Sign-up sheet to receive individualized information: http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/form.asp
• GEM: http://www.gemfellowship.org/
• Homeland Security http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/
• National Physical  Sciences Consortium – http://www.npsc.org/
• Ford Foundation http://national-academies.org/fellowships
• McNair Scholars Program waives/discounts application fees, GRE fees http://www.ed.gov.offices/OPE/HEP/trio/mcnair
• Application Fee waivers for CIC graduate schools:  http://www.cic.net/Home/Students/FreeApp/Introduction.aspx
• Project 1000 waives up to seven application fees:   http://mati.eas.asu.edu:8421/p1000
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  
  • Program Information: http://www.nsf.gov/grfp
  • Application and deadlines: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov
  • Email: info@nsfgradfellows.org
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
  
  • Program Information, application and deadlines:
    http://www.asee.org/resources/fellowships
  • Email: ndseg@asee.org
• General Listing of fellowships for women and diverse groups: http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Channels/grad_school/fellowships.asp
• Database of fellowships and scholarships for all disciplines:
  http://scholarships.fatomei.com/
• Institutional Fellowships (The university applies to the National Science Foundation for this funding and students have a chance to apply and participate through their universities.)  http://www.igert.org/
• http://www.gk12.org/

LINKS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

• Fulbright – Fulbright grants are available for international students in graduate school.
• The Soros Foundations Network – This foundation offers international student scholarships for undergraduate and
  graduate students. Many are restricted to students from specific countries.
• AAUW – This organization provides fellowships for international graduate students who are women.
• American Councils for International Education – The councils provide international student grants and fellowships to international students from the former Soviet republics.
• AMIDEAST – This organization provides grants for international students from the Middle East and North Africa.
• Cornell University Graduate School Fellowship Notebook – This database contains a list of funding and international student scholarships available to graduate international students.

(This information is re-posted from: http://www.usastudyguide.com/Financial_aid.htm)

The following information was contributed by former PROMISE Peer Mentor  Dr. Frances Carter (M.S. Physics, Ph.D. Public Policy, UMBC) from the September 2010 UMBC Success Seminar on funding, reprinted from the PROMISE intranet page on MyUMBC.

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterdays session on “Graduate Students and Money!” The information was extremely helpful in making sure that we as graduate students are creating bright  financial futures for ourselves as we work on our academic future.  As promised, I am including the fellowship links for your use:

• http://www.nsfgrfp.org
• http://www.gemfellowship.org/
• http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_fellows/ (provides an overview of fellowships by deadline date with links)
• http://www7.nationalacademies.org/fellowships/
• http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Student/GRFN/
• http://www.umbc.edu/gradschool/funding/external.html
• http://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/
• http://www.finaid.com/ and their search engine: http://www.fastweb.com/
• http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp
• http://www.sreb.org

_______________________________________________________________________

Photo MP900399463 used with permission of Microsoft.

The text content of this post was compiled and written by the staff of PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP

and may not be copied without referencing the PROMISE organization, as “PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP”.

PROMISE AGEP Online Information by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.