Information about VIGRE funding
Edited April 10, 2008 at 10:25 PM

- Decisions about academic-year fellowships are integrated with regular support decisions; you don't need to apply for them separately.

• You do need to apply for summer decisions, on the other hand. Even those students guaranteed summer funding in their admissions letters need to apply: writing a proposal is a good experience. For everyone else, the proposal is the most important part of the application.
  • Important factors in your proposal:
    • You should be clear and organized.
    • Your prior preparation should justify the project.
    • Your project should be realistic.
    • You should talk to the adviser with whom you plan to do this research! This adviser's endorsement is an important part of your application. Note that this doesn't necessarily have to be the adviser you'll end up working with after this summer.
  • It's definitely for realistic for first- and second-year students to receive summer VIGRE fellowships, assuming they started talking to an adviser about this several weeks ago or earlier.
  • If you're applying for summer funding and you've received it in the past, you should show you did good work last time; i.e., mention any prior results. You can certainly apply every year for VIGRE summer funding.
  • It's also okay to switch problems later.
• VIGRE travel money is tight this year: the travel budget was cut almost in half under the new grant to about $12000 this year. So your travel request should really count.
• Note that summer VIGRE money is independent from academic year VIGRE support. First-year students with guaranteed summer VIGRE funding must still write a research proposal.
• Note also that if you're supported during the academic year, you must attend an RFG (this is an NSF-imposed requirement). Even if you're supported only one quarter, you should still attend an RFG every quarter!
  • During the quarter(s) you're supported, you should try and give a talk in the RFG; the other quarters maybe you just attend. Think of it as a full-year commitment.
  • Participation in an RFG should be understood to be not just research/academic; you should also make some effort to participate in outreach/mentoring activities and contribute to the general well-being of the department. For example, you could help out with Explore Math, recruitment of grads and undergrads, and the Summer Mathfest (which in 2008 is on July 23rd).