Graduate Research

LATEST NEWS

  • DBS Graduate Students Receive Top Awards from the University Sarah Harrison (MS, 2021) and Tyler Carrier (Ph.D., 2020) were awarded top awards from the university. Sarah was awarded the 2022 Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award. Tyler was awarded the 2021 Graduate Dean’s Distinguished Dissertation Award. These awards are presented by the Graduate School to recognize outstanding research and scholarship by a Masters and doctoral student at UNC Charlotte. Way to go! DBS Ph.D.
  • Student Wins 2nd Place at Annual 3MT Competition Farida Yasmin (Ph.D. student) won 2nd place at the Annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. Congratulations!
  • New graduates for fall 2021!. Four Ph.D. students (Katherine Holtzman, Remi Ketchum, Nicole Stott, and Danielle Torp) and three MS students (Nour Abufoul, Molly Holbrook, Jessica McMillian) graduated this past semester. Excellent work and best of luck in your future ventures!

UNC charlotte Annual Graduate Research Symposium March 25, 2022

GRS abstract deadline is quickly approaching on February 24th

It is a great opportunity to share your research with students from every discipline across the university, not to mention there are cash prizes for several categories of presentations (both poster and oral). More information about GRS can be found at the following website: https://gpsg.charlotte.edu/graduate-research-symposium/graduate-research-symposium

Annual biological sciences symposium april 2022

More information coming soon! In the meantime, please contact ABSGS President Sarah Lotz with any questions.

UNC CHarlotte research fellowship opportunities

The Graduate School Summer Fellowship Program (GSSF):

Purpose: To provide students with financial support during a time when they may be most productive yet have the fewest funding options: the summer. Students will utilize the three summer months to dedicate significant effort to their research project, thereby making timely progress to the degree. The GSSF is designed to replace a TA or other summer job that takes the student away from their research. The award will provide $6,000 ($2,000 per month) paid at the end of May, provided eligibility has been met.

Eligibility:

  • Doctoral student
  • Enrolled full-time in the 2021-2022 academic year with GASP support
  • Pass qualifying exam and proposal defense by May 15th, 2022
  • Hold an eligible graduate assistantship in the 2021 fall semester (if a student defends “early” and thus does not need a Fall assistantship, the Graduate School will not ask for money reimbursement)
  • GPA 3.0 or greater
  • Will not hold a summer job or assistantship
  • You are eligible to apply for the GSSF even if you have had it before.

Application Components and Procedure

  • Project Proposal: Prepare a proposal for your summer project – written for someone in your field. Limit your proposal to 800 words, not including references or figure legends.

    It must include:

  1. · An introduction to the current state of the field,
  2. · The significance and novelty of the project,
  3. · Gaps in knowledge and questions/hypotheses to be addressed,
  4. · Tools used to address them,
  5. · Potential significance of the outcome to your field of study.
  • Timeline: Submit a timeline illustrating your plans for completing the project. The timeline may include dates beyond the summer, leading to your graduation.
  • Time to Degree: Indicate your year and semester of anticipated graduation.
  • Letter of Support: Ask your PhD advisor to send an email in support of your application, and confirming his/her availability to provide support (direction, advising, supervision, mentoring) over the summer.

A committee will review applications and provide decisions no later than April 15th, 2020.

Criteria for Awarding the GSSF.

  • Quality of proposal:

a. Explanation of novelty and significance of the proposal: Introduction to the field, why it is important; Gap in knowledge identified

b. Hypotheses or questions the project aims to answer: How will the above be tested/answered? Novel approaches or techniques identified

c. Overall significance of the project articulated (not judging the significance, but the student’s ability to articulate a significance)

  • Letter of support

a. Advisor’s level of commitment to the student’s summer research

b. Advisor’s ability to mentor/guide/work with the student

  • Progress since last year’s GSSF, if student participated in 2018 and/or 2019

Lucille P. and Edward C. Giles Dissertation-Year Graduate Fellowship

The Giles Dissertation-Year Fellowship is awarded to promising students in the final stages of their doctoral work who demonstrate strong potential to make a significant contribution to society by completing the terminal degree in their chosen discipline. The purpose of the fellowship is to allow students to focus full-time on the dissertation, thus improving quality and shortening the time required to complete the doctoral degree. Lucille Giles valued graduate education and established this fellowship in 1990 to support graduate students in the STEM programs. Mrs. Giles earned a master’s degree in chemistry and had a special interest in the sciences. Students create an application profile through the University Scholarship Office’s NinerScholars Portal at https://ninerscholars.charlotte.edu/. Students will be matched to the Giles Fellowship based on initial eligibility criteria. If the students feel that they meet the additional requirements for the Fellowship, they can then apply for the award. (Note–this year 2020 applications MAY be directed directly to the Graduate School; as this information is clear the Graduate Programs Director will post information.)

Award Amount: $20,000 fellowship plus $1,000 for travel. Includes health insurance, and full tuition, and fees (does not include tuition increments)

Eligibility:

  • Continuing, full-time doctoral students with at least 42 hours of graduate coursework completed
  • Demonstrated academic excellence
  • US citizen or permanent resident
  • Evidence that funding is sufficient for completing a degree

Application Requirements:

1. Half-page autobiographical sketch
2. Two-page (maximum) dissertation synopsis written for a “lay audience;” synopsis must address the significance of the student’s research to a field of study listed in Appendix
of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Fields of Study
3. Academic timeline with a projected date of completion
4. Letter of support from student’s advisor addressing how the student meets program objectives and eligibility requirements (three-page limit)
5. Letter of endorsement from Graduate Program Director

Departmental Graduate Student Research Recognitions

Each May at the Annual Biological Sciences Symposium, we recognize the achievements of our graduate students in research, publications, oral presentations at regional and national meetings,, and poster presentations at regional and national meetings. All students self nominate for these recognitions in the Spring when called to provide evidence of these activities for the abstract program book for the Symposium. The Graduate Programs Committee meets to discuss all entries holistically.