NSF Programs for Graduate Students
National Science Foundation (NSF) offers several Special Programs for Graduate Students.
The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) and Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) opportunities are briefly summarized here.
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $37,000 and a cost of education allowance of $16,000 to the institution.
Open to: Graduate students who have completed no more than one academic year of full-time graduate study and senior undergraduate students who plan to be enrolled in an accredited United States graduate institution by fall following selection (see solicitation for eligibility details). Please note: to be eligible, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident.
Proposal Due Dates: October annually – deadlines vary by field of study
Support Documents and Information:
- Solicitation: NSF 24-591
- GRFP Operations Center (provides detailed instructions and FAQs)
- GRFP Informational Webinars are offered by the GRFP Operations Center and recordings are posted on their Resources page
- "Info for Applicants" presented August 2023
- Application Portal (assemble and submit your application here)
- Brief Summary of GRFP Application Guidelines
- Templates:
NSF Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement (DDRI) opportunities
NSF DDRI awards provide funding for doctoral students to improve the quality of dissertation research. These grants provide funds for items not normally available through the student's university and may include costs associated with travel, data collection activities, equipment, subject payments, and materials/supplies.
Open to: Doctoral students at the appropriate stage of their academic career to enable submission of a finalized dissertation proposal, most typically very near, or having advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.
Programs open to DDRI proposals include (ordered by submission deadline):
| January 21, 2025; third Tuesday in January annually | Research on the Science and Technology Enterprise |
| May 15 and December 15 annually | Arctic (Arctic DDRIG) Arctic Social Sciences, Arctic System Sciences, and Arctic Observing Network (DDRIG) |
| July 15 and January 15 annually | Linguistics (Ling-DDRI) |
| September 15 and February 15 annually | Linguistics: Dynamic Language Infrastructure (DLI-DDRI) |
| July 20 and January 20 annually | Biological Anthropology (BA-DDRIG) |
| August 3 annually | Science and Technology Studies |
| August 15 and January 15 annually | Cultural Anthropology (CA-DDRIG) |
| August 18 and January 18 annually | Decision, Risk and Management Sciences (DRMS-DDRIG) |
| August 18 and January 18 annually | Economics |
| November 4, 2024 | The American Sociological Association (ASA DDRIG) – The Sociology DDRIG program has transferred from NSF to ASA |
| Full Proposal Accepted Anytime | Archaeology (Arch-DDRI) |
| Full Proposal Accepted Anytime | Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS-DDRI) |