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$250,000 in grants available for graduate students


ASU graduate students can now apply for some of the more than $250,000 in grant money made available by the Graduate and Professional Student Association.

The graduate-student government group is accepting applications through Sept. 30 for grants of up to $750 for individual researchers and up to $2,000 for group research.

“ASU is unique in the amount it is able to give out,” said GPSA President Brad Martin, a second-year law student. “It’s incredible we’re able to do this.”

The research grant is used to support master’s theses or doctoral dissertations, said Alice Veksler, director of communications and events for GPSA.

The annual Graduate Research Support Program is jointly sponsored by the Graduate College and funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs.

Jackie Bohman, a third-year bioengineering graduate student, received a research grant last academic year.

“The grant was extremely helpful, so I didn’t have to pay out of pocket,” she said.

Bohman used the grant to fund her research on reducing wound scarring. The funding helped to finance collagen gels that Bohman used to model smooth muscle contraction.

In order to be among the top competitors for any of these grants, Bohman recommends spending a lot of time preparing proposals and having professors or advisers review them.

“Someone outside of the field you’re proposing for may be reviewing your application, so it’s important to use simple and concise wording,” she said.

In an effort to aid students in gaining professional experience, GPSA also offers two types of travel grants to graduate students each month, Veksler said.

Last year, the Professional Development Travel Grant was introduced, allowing awardees from each graduate program up to $500 per year for traveling expenses.

This is similar to the well-known Conference Travel Grant, also offering $500 per year for traveling costs, but it can be used more broadly, Veksler said.

“Originally, we just had the conference grant, but we found that a lot of departments don’t go to conferences the same way,” said Jennifer Eden, GPSA’s vice president of professional programs and a third-year doctoral student in communication studies.

“Some individuals need to go for professional development days, attend workshops or they just need to meet with people.”

The deadline for travel-grant applications is the 15th of each month.

GPSA also offers funding to campus groups with its Graduate Student Organizations Grant.

“These funds can help [organizations] with different events, such as inviting guest speakers to their meetings,” Veksler said.

Application deadlines for that grant vary and can be found at asu.edu/gpsa.

Veksler added that competition among applicants has risen this year due to the streamlining of the application process.

“We’ve eliminated the paperwork. It’s really exciting because now it’s all online and it’s environmentally friendly,” she said.

Reach the reporter at jodi.cisman@asu.edu.


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