Financial Support
About Graduate Student Funding in IBIO
Over the past 15 years, IBIO has successfully recruited and supported more National Science Foundation (NSF), University Distinguished Fellowships (UDF), and College of Natural Science fellowship winners than any other department at Michigan State University.
We offer a variety of funding opportunities, ranging from assistantships, to fellowships, to professional development funding.
We're also proud to offer a wide variety of scholarships and awards supported by endowments. Learn more about these funding opportunities here.
Your eligibility for certain forms of financial support depends upon your degree program:
- Doctoral: Admitted students are guaranteed 5 years of support
- Masters of Science Plan A: Admitted students are guaranteed 3 years of support
- Masters of Science Plan B: Students are not guaranteed any support by default, but may be eligible for assistantships if available.
Research & Training Funding
IBIO Research and Training Initiatives (RTI) Grant Program
IBIO is providing a new funding mechanism to support IBIO post-doctoral researchers
and
graduate students in their research and/or training initiatives.
You can review the RFP document here.
The department recognizes that there are limited sources of funding available at the college and university levels to support graduate-student and post-doctoral research and training, so we will be providing competitive funds twice per year to assist our trainees in these areas.
This program aims to provide funding to support a dissertation or post-doc project (e.g. consumable materials, field/travel expenses, small equipment, hiring of an assistant) for which funding is lacking; or to kickstart a collaborative research project between IBIO graduate students and/or postdocs (can be any combination), especially projects that can help launch early-career researchers in a new direction (i.e. new method, new study system).
To apply for IBIO RTI funding, please submit the following to jroe@msu.edu.
Single-spaced, two pages maximum.
Research proposals should briefly summarize relevant background/context information, study question(s) and hypotheticodeductive framework, study design/methods, expected outcomes, feasible timeline, and budget with justification. Collaborative proposals should also clearly indicate unique contributions of each applicant.
Materials should emphasize relevant research or training experience(s).
This letter should provide additional context for the needs and qualifications of
the applicant(s) and merits of the project/workshop; if applicants are from multiple
labs, a letter from any
applicant’s major advisor is acceptable.
Additional criteria:
• Maximum allowable funding request by an individual applicant is $1500. Submissions
with two or more collaborators can request up to $4000.
• Submission deadlines for this funding mechanism are 15 April and 15 October each year.
• We anticipate providing award notifications by 1 May and 1 November, respectively.
• Feedback will be provided on declined applications and can be used to improve future
submissions.
• A progress report on activities supported by the grant must be sent by awardees
to
jroe@msu.edu within one year of receiving the funding.
Professional Development Funds
The Department of Integrative Biology has set aside support for Ph.D. and Masters students' professional development, specifically travel to conferences, but funds can be used for other activities.
We offer $300 for domestic and $500 for international conference travel each year for each graduate student. Requests can be submitted any time throughout the year. Funds not used each year cannot be applied to future years. It is expected that students will be seeking additional funds from other sources, for example: your advisor, the College, the Graduate School, EEB, and the society sponsoring the conference.
To apply:
Complete the Form
After you submit your application, email Dr. Louise Mead (lsmead@msu.edu) to notify of submission.
Keep in mind that all university business-related travel (seminars, conferences, field research, etc.) must be authorized in advance of departure through the Concur travel system. Instructions for how to submit the request, and process your reimbursement following the event can be found here: How to Create and Submit a Request.
If you need assistance, contact Janet Hershberger at jroe@msu.edu.
Living Expenses & Tuition
All doctoral and Masters of Science Plan A students accepted into the graduate program in Integrative Biology are offered financial support in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and/or fellowships from the College of Natural Science or Michigan State University. Graduate student salaries for the academic year range from $2,630 to $2,836 per month (based on a half-time appointment), plus medical benefits, as well as a 9 credit tuition and fee waiver per semester.
Half-time teaching assistantships require 20 hours per week during the semester, helping with undergraduate courses. Half-time research assistantships require an average of 20 hours per week of research in your advisor's lab.
Recruiting fellowships, offered by the Graduate School or by the College of Natural Science, are available only for the very strongest candidates. These fellowships require nomination by the Graduate Affairs Committee and the Director of Graduate Studies. University Recruiting Fellowships offer 12-24 month support packages for those starting study in the academic year, which include a $24,000 stipend plus medical benefits, a 9 credit tuition and fee waiver for each of fall and spring semesters, and a 4 credit tuition and fee waiver for the summer semester.
Students with especially strong academic records may be competitive for fellowships from governmental agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or from non-profit organizations that support higher education and research training. The student is responsible for applying for such fellowships, although this is commonly done in consultation with a faculty advisor. Learn more about funding from extramural sources.
The Graduate School maintains a funding opportunities website that provides links to hundreds of funding sources for support of graduate students and their research. The MSU Libraries also maintains a electronic funding database page.
Extramural Funding Sources
These are 3-year stipends from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that come complete with additional funds to support grad student research. For other funding opportunities from NSF, check out their Funding for Graduate Students website.
These generous awards are similar in size to those offered for NSF graduate fellows, but these HHMI awards are generally made to grad students working in areas of biology with direct applications to human health.
Many professional societies offer (generally small) grants to support graduate student research in relevant fields. Information about these awards is usually available on the website maintained by the society.