Summer Research Fellowships

College of Education Summer Research Fellowships are funded by the Graduate School at Michigan State University and are intended to support students in (a) developing research skills and experiences as they move through their program, and (b) developing strong proposals for external dissertation research funds.

• 2026-27 SRF Announcement
• Register for October 12, 2026 SRF Zoom Session
• SRF Year 2 Proposal Examples
• SRF Year 3+ Proposal Examples

Eligibility:

• Students who have finished two or more years of doctoral study at MSU by May 2027 are eligible (students who have only completed one year of doctoral study by May are eligible for the Summer Research Development Fellowship).
• Students who have progressed to the dissertation stage by Summer 2027 are not eligible for an SRF but are eligible for a DCF. Specifically, if a student expects to pass their dissertation proposal prior to Summer 2027, they should apply for a DCF for Summer 2027 rather than an SRF.
• A student who is uncertain whether they will defend their proposal prior to summer should discuss this with their advisor and, based on the resulting consensus, apply for the SRF if the student does not expect to defend their proposal prior to summer, and a DCF if they do.

Terms of award:

• $7000 fellowship, funded by the Graduate School and disbursed by the College of Education during Spring or Summer semester.
• Under federal law, a student must be enrolled in at least one credit during the semester they take the fellowship. [1]
• A student may receive multiple SRFs over subsequent summers, but only one in a given summer.
• The SRF is intended to support roughly two months of full-time effort (40 hours/week x 8 weeks) on a student’s SRF project during the three-month summer.
• Students may engage in outside work and take classes while receiving an SRF (prior to 2021, this was prohibited), but are expected to plan to meet the effort expectations.
• Students who are not able to commit to the equivalent of roughly two months of full-time effort (40 hours/week x 8 weeks) due to other commitments should contact the Office of Academic and Student Affairs when accepting the fellowship, or when they become aware of this, so that it can be pro-rated.
• Students are expected to submit a short report by the end of summer, Friday August 13, 2027, summarizing their accomplishments.
• In summer 2026, the College changed from supporting students’ research with individual faculty mentors to focused workshops in which recipients were expected to participate. Additionally, all recipients were expected to present posters of their summer work in the Fall 2026 semester. We expect similar engagement and attendance in Summer and Fall 2027, and we plan to modify the workshops in response to participant feedback.

Submission, selection, and key dates:

• Students submit an application to the College via this link by November 6, 2026, at noon ET.
• Members from each department will read and rate all applications for their department. Awards are made based on the average ratings and resulting rankings.
• The Office of the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs selects recipients based on departmental ranking and allocation of fellowships across the College.    
• Around mid-December, the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs notifies recipients and departments/programs of decisions.  
• After final selections are made and decisions are issued, departments will provide all applicants with feedback about their submissions that will address strengths and also areas for improvement/ questions to consider.
• Departments are encouraged to provide feedback in alignment with selection criteria used by raters.

Type of research to be supported:

• The SRF may be used to collect data, analyze and write up previously collected research data, complete an ongoing project, or move it to the publication stage.
• The SRF also may be used to prepare an external dissertation funding request; prior to 2021, this was done through the SRRF, which is now part of this competition.
• The SRF is intended to support students' original research or, possibly, a piece of a larger project which is assigned exclusively to the student. The SRF does not support graduate research assistantship assignments. 

Application requirements: 

1. Research proposal. Maximum 700 words (roughly 2-3 pages double-spaced). The word count excludes front-matter, appendices, and reference lists. The proposal should:
   1. Include in the beginning front-matter: (a) student name, (b) year in the program, and (c) proposal word count.
   2. Not use a separate title page;
   3. Summarize the proposed research;
   4. Indicate any deliverables: conference presentations, publication proposals, publication submissions, grant/ fellowship support proposals, etc.;
   5. Bear the file name: SRF27Prop[Applicant’sLastNameFirstInitial].pdf.
2. MSU transcript for all Ph.D. program coursework. Save the transcript as a PDF and attach it to the research proposal after the last page before uploading the proposal. 

Selection criteria:

• Departments are welcome to develop specific criteria for rating proposals and share those with students in their department.
• Previously, evaluators across the college have considered criteria such as:
  • Is the proposal well-written and well-organized?
  • Does the author demonstrate an understanding of the field and its direction?
  • How important are these skills/approaches in the field?
  • Is the development of these skills/approaches likely to advance the student’s research significantly?
  • Is the scope of the proposal appropriate (2 months of full-time effort)?
  • How strong is the student’s academic record?
  • Is written and organized
  • Demonstrates an understanding of the field and its direction
  • Fits within the literature
  • Describes a timely project
  • Explains an ambitious project
  • Presents an appropriate scope (2 months of full-time effort)
• Additionally, evaluators are asked to consider the strength of a student’s academic record.