Fellowships and Funding Sources

All of our Bioengineering PhD Students are fully funded, including tuition, health insurance and stipend, as they progress towards their degree. Funding is provided by the School of Engineering, the Department of Bioengineering, research grants of the faculty, institutional training grants, industrial sources, as well as from federal and foundation fellowships granted directly to the student.

We encourage all students to apply for graduate training fellowships during their graduate studies. Some students apply for fellowships prior to matriculating to Penn and these fellowships provide students tremendous flexibility in choosing a lab for their research.

Any PhD student who is awarded an extramural individual fellowship may qualify for a one time $3,000 bonus in addition to their standard stipend. 

Some of the most common sources for fellowships and PhD training support are provided below. Proposal writing workshops are offered by the School annually.

Special University of Pennsylvania Fellowships

• Ashton Fellowship - The Ashton Fellowship covers tuition. The eligibility for an Ashton fellowship requires the applicant to be a third generation American born citizen under the age of 25 and be a resident of New Jersey or Pennsylvania.

• University of Pennsylvania Fontaine Doctoral Fellowships for Underrepresented Minorities
• Penn NIH Training Grants (T32) awarded to support current projects at the University of Pennsylvania, includes both full tuition and stipend. Contact PI for details and deadlines

• Funding Information For Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows

• HHMI - Fellowship available for students interested in Biomedical Imaging and Informational Science

• UPENN Graduate & Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) Research Student Travel Grant Program
  

• At www.upenn.edu/curf/fellowships/fellowships.htm are fellowships mainly geared towards undergraduates, but some may be of interest to grad students

• University of Pennsylvania Center for Graduate / Professional Student Finance
  

• University of Pennsylvania Office of Graduate Studies: www.upenn.edu/grad/$.html and www.upenn.edu/research/funding.htm

Government and Foundation Sponsored Fellowships:

• Penn NIH Training Grants (T32) awarded to support current projects at the University of Pennsylvania, includes both full tuition and stipend. Contact PI for details and deadlines
• National Institute of Health (NIH)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
• The Hertz Foundation - fellowship support for PhD students in the physical, biological and engineering sciences
• NIH Research Specific Training Grants at Penn includes both full tuition and stipend.

• Department of Defense SMART scholarship

• National Research Council Research Associateship Program
• American Heart Association Fellowship (AHA)

• National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program

• Homeland Security Fellowship

• National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering & Science Fellowships
  

• National Physical Science Consortium Graduate Fellowships

• NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program

• Department of Energy - Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF)
• Health Canada Fellowship Programs

Diversity Fellowships:

• NIH
  • Penn NIH Training Grants (T32) awarded to support current projects at the University of Pennsylvania, includes both full tuition and stipend. Contact PI for details and deadlines

• Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships

• University of Pennsylvania Fontaine Doctoral Fellowships for Underrepresented Minorities
• Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study - Excellence and Diversity in the Life Sciences

• Google Lime Scholarship for Students with Disabilities
• MicrosoftGraduate Fellowship for Women

• Google Anita Borg Scholarship
• Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans   

• The Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation Scholarship is available to women graduate students with physical disabilities
• Horizons Foundation Scholarship was established to encourage women to pursue careers related to the national security interests of the United States
• National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering & Science Fellowships
• The PEO Foundation supports graduate education for women with scholarships
• The Business and Professional Women's Foundation created the Career Advancement Scholarship Program to award financial assistance to disadvantaged women who want to further their education
• L'Oreal USA Fellowships for Women In Science (postdoctoral)
• Chinese Scholarship Council funding for candidates from the P.R. China
• United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation (UNCFSP)

Other Resources:

• Scientific Chateaubriand Fellowship - travel abroad

• MicrosoftGraduate Fellowship

• Gates Millennium Scholarship Program

• FastWeb - largest and most complete source of scholarships available-www.fastweb.com/
• Penn Career Services:
  • Funding Information For Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows

Department of Bioengineering
School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Pennsylvania
210 S. 33rd Street
Room 240 Skirkanich Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone No.: (215) 898-8501
Fax No.: (215) 573-2071
beoffice@seas.upenn.edu

Send Comments and Suggestions to:
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