Resources

Grants, Fellowships & Other Funding

Below is a list of grants, fellowships, and other funding sources that current and former CEB students have utilized to assist with research, fieldwork, and conference expenses. Please also note that UChicagoGRAD maintains a Fellowship Database; for assistance identifying and applying for relevant funding opportunities, we encourage you to schedule an appointment with a grad advisor.

American Museum of Natural History / Frank M. Chapman Award Chapman Grants provide modest short-term awards (averaging $1,000, yet sometimes as large as $3,000) to advanced graduate students for research in ornithology.
American Museum of Natural History / Graduate Student Fellowships Seed research grants are available for field-based research, as well as to use the AMNH collections. Additionally, the Kade Fellowship supports graduate student exchanges between AMNH and French or German institutions.
American Ornithological Society Awards AOS offers a variety of direct funding opportunities to graduate students, including support for society membership, travel awards, and research grants.
American Philosophical Society / Lewis & Clark Fund The Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research encourages exploratory field studies for the collection of specimens and data. They invite applications from a variety of disciplines including (but not limited to) biology, ecology, geology, paleontology, and population genetics.
American Society of Mammalogists ASM offers financial support to graduate students engaged in research on mammals. Awards provide funding for research projects, graduate training, and presentation of research results at the annual conference.
American Society of Naturalists / Student Research Awards Awards support student research that advances the conceptual unification of ecology, evolution, or behavior; laboratory, field, and theoretical projects are encouraged. Applicants must have advanced to PhD candidacy, and be at least one year from completion.
Animal Behavior Society / Student Research Grants Awards support graduate student research in the field of animal behavior, including conservation-related research, cetacean behavior, and conservation, and applied behavioral studies.
Conchologists of America Grants of up to $2,500 are given to qualified graduate students undertaking field or laboratory research on recent or fossil mollusks, and other molluscan-related projects.
Entomological Society of America / Student Awards Annual awards recognize students with notable contributions to entomology and provide funding for research, leadership, and travel.
Entomological Society of America / Systematics Evolution & Biodiversity Awards Awards focus on research in arthropod morphology, systematics, taxonomy, or evolution; support internships with entomological collections; and provide funding for fieldwork.
Environmental Protection Agency A variety of grants supporting research aimed at protecting human health and the environment.
Evolving Earth Foundation Provides 10 grants annually, for amounts up to $3,000, to support student research focused on increasing understanding of geologic and biologic processes that shape our earth.
The Explorers Club Grants support exploration and field research across a wide array of disciplines, e.g., climate change, geoscience, paleoclimate, marine science/biology, oceans/rivers/lakes, plants and molds, and conservation science.
Faculty for the Future Fellowship / Schlumberger Foundation This program awards fellowships to women from developing and emerging economies to pursue PhDs and post-docs in STEM disciplines at academic institutions worldwide.
500 Women Scientists / Fellowship for the Future A 2-year leadership award for women of color in STEM, leading research or outreach projects focused on increasing equity, inclusion, accessibility, or social justice in STEM.
Ford Foundation Fellowships Fellowships support leadership development, scholarships, exchanges, and academic training aimed at reducing poverty and injustice, strengthening democratic values, promoting international cooperation, and advancing human achievement.
Graduate Women In Science (GWIS) National Fellowship Program Fellowships help increase knowledge in the natural sciences, and encourage women to pursue academic and professional careers in the sciences.
Instrumentl / Wildlife Grants A variety of grants are available, providing funding for wildlife conservation and wildlife research.
Mellon Mays Predoctoral Research Grants / SSRC Grants provide funding for doctoral research, travel, subscriptions and books, and research equipment. (Please note: these grants only are available to PhD students who were selected as Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows.)
Museum of Comparative Zoology [Harvard] / Ernst Mayr Travel Grants Grants are awarded for research in animal systematics, to stimulate taxonomic work on neglected taxa. Funding covers travel, lodging, and meals for up to a few weeks, specifically for conducting research at museums.
The National Academies / Policy Graduate Fellowship Program The Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program enables early-career scholars to spend 12 weeks at the Academies in Washington, DC, learning about science and technology policy and the role that scientists and engineers play in advising the nation.
National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) NDSEG fellowships are awarded to applicants pursuing a doctoral degree in one of 15 disciplines, including biosciences, geosciences, computer and computational sciences, and behavioral sciences.
National Geographic Society Grants support novel and exploratory projects in conservation, education, research, storytelling, or technology, aligned with three focus areas: wildlife, and the local evolutionary and ecological processes that sustain them; our human journey, who we are, and what the future may hold; and how Earth's dynamic terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems manifest on our changing planet.
National Science Foundation / Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) The GRFP provides support for graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, who are pursuing research-based Master's and doctoral degrees at US institutions.
Pacific Northwest Shell Club An annual scholarship provides support to students studying Pacific Northwest mollusks. The research should be malacological in nature and advance our understanding of mollusks or their role in their environment.
The Rufford Foundation / Grants for Nature Conservation A UK-registered charity which funds nature conservation projects across the developing world.
Sigma Xi / Grants in Aid of Research Program The Society awards grants up to $1,000 to cover travel expenses to/from a research site, as well as purchase non-standard equipment needed to complete specific research projects. (3/1 and 10/1 deadlines annually)
Society for the Study of Evolution Graduate Research Excellence Grants are available to early PhD students, and advanced PhD students, to support data collection, analysis, and fieldwork.
The Society of Systematic Biologists Awards acknowledge outstanding student presentations and publications in the field of systematics, as well as providing funding to visit field collection sites and museums.
Systematics Research Fund Administered jointly by the Linnean Society and the Systematics Association, the fund supports fieldwork expenditures, purchase of scientifc equipment, specimen preparation, and contributions to publication costs.
UNCF/Merck Graduate Science Research Dissertation Dedicated to the training and development of African-American biomedical scientists, each award provides up to $35,000, which includes up to $25,000 towards tuition, room and board, and billable fees.
USAID Research and Innovation Fellowships Connects students with in-country host organizations to collaboratively apply science, technology, and innovation to complex development challenges.

Welles Research Fund / UC Museum of Paleontology

Funding supports and promotes research on UCMP's collections, particularly those of Mesozoic vertebrates from the Colorado Plateau.
Western Society of Malacologists The James H. McLean Student Grant in Collections-Based Research supports travel costs for collections-based projects focused on extant or fossil western North American mollusks.
Wilson Ornithological Society The Society offers five categories of research grants, in addition to travel and publication awards. Grant recipients report research results at the Society's annual meeting, and provide a summary write-up for their website.