All students admitted to our PhD program receive a tuition waiver in the form of graduate employment for five years.
Learn More About Graduate Employment
To further support our doctoral students, we offer a range of funding opportunities that recognize and reward excellence in research and teaching.
The Best Awards
Thanks to the Robin and Roger Best Fund for Doctoral Research and Teaching, PhD students can apply for generous support to advance their academic work.
A $1 million endowment, the Robin and Roger Best Fund for Doctoral Research and Teaching, distributes approximately $35,000 to PhD students each year for research, publishing, and great teaching. PhD students can apply for up to $500 per year for costs associated with their research, such as travel, software, data, and conferences.
But the rewards don't stop there.
- Conference Presentations: $500 or $1,000 (depending on the conference)
- Journal Submissions: $1,000 for first-time submissions
- Accepted Publications: $1,000 or $1,500
- Coauthored Work: Incentives also apply to articles coauthored with faculty
The endowment also funds two annual $2,500 awards for doctoral students who demonstrate excellence in teaching. To celebrate all these teaching and research accomplishments, the Bests' gift supports an annual event in which award recipients are honored by faculty members and fellow graduate students.
Travel Support
Funds are also available to PhD students from the PhD program and individual departments to support travel to academic conferences and consortia. Funding can cover conference fees, professional memberships if required, accommodations, and direct travel (subject to approval by the PhD Program Director and department heads). Total annual travel funding per student ranges from $1,000 to $2,000.