Conference and Research Travel Grants
The Graduate School is able to provide limited funding opportunities to graduate students to present conference research, conduct research, and, at times, conference attendance.
Before you apply, be sure to have information about your travel plans handy. You will also be asked to provide a Plan of Work indicating how you plan to spend your time during your research travel. You will need to utilize your ISU.edu email to access the form.
The Graduate School meets to review applications once a month at the beginning of each month, and awards will be issued by the 10th of each month. If your application for support is not received before the 1st of the month, it will be evaluated at the beginning of the following month.
Students with a current minimum 3.0 GPA are eligible.
2025 Graduate Student Summer Funding Opportunities
Graduate students will only be chosen for one summer funding opportunity each year. However, they are welcome to apply for more than one of the opportunities listed below.
ISU Summer Thesis and Dissertation Writing Workshop
This workshop is intended to assist ISU graduate students currently at their program's thesis and dissertation writing stage, facilitating appreciable progress on manuscripts over the summer months. Preference is given to students working on a thesis or dissertation; however, students interested in preparing manuscripts for possible scholarly publication may also apply.
Groups will meet for three hours, once every two weeks, for ten weeks (5 total meetings), and full attendance is required to participate. Participation over Zoom is acceptable. Workshops will run from May 27 through August 8, and participants will be selected through a competitive application process. Final meeting dates/times will be sent to selected students. Students unable to attend all sessions must decline this opportunity.
ISU Summer Research/Creative Activity Grants
The Summer Research/Creative Activity Grants program aims to provide ISU students with the support necessary to conduct research or engage in creative activity related to their programs during the summer months and complete a pre-defined program of work.
ISU Summer Grant Writing Workshop
ISU Graduate School has partnered with the Office of Research to develop a grant writing workshop as an additional benefit for summer student development. This grant writing workshop is designed to enhance graduate student's knowledge in various aspects of grant
writing.
Students should expect to meet the following objectives:
- Understand the fundamentals of grant writing.
- Identify funding opportunities relevant to their research.
- Learn how to craft compelling grant proposals.
- Gain hands-on experience with key proposal components.
- Be able to assist faculty in writing proposals; know how to connect with program
directors.
The workshop will be conducted over two weeks and consist of six meetings, each lasting 2- 3 hours, and full attendance is required to participate. Attendees will be expected to perform activities between meetings to experience the workshop objectives fully. The workshops will run in July. Participants will be selected through a competitive application process. Final meeting dates, times, and mode of delivery will be sent to selected students.
Please note that the deadline to submit applications for the summer funding opportunities was April 30, 2025. Students will receive notice of status for each opportunity no later than the below dates:
- Thesis/Dissertation Writing Workshop: May 16
- Research/Creative Activity Grants: May 23
- Grant Writing Workshop: May 30
"I am very grateful to have received research support from ISU’s graduate school this summer. It enabled me to get a significant head start on my doctoral research project by allowing me to purchase many of the necessary supplies and begin method development. My research uses both plant microfossils (i.e., phytoliths) and microbial (i.e., Bacteria and Fungi) DNA extracted from sediments to detect and characterize human-induced ecological change in the archaeological record. I plan to use this combined approach to obtain a fine-scale measure of the ecological responses of microbes over time through metagenomic analysis while also providing environmental context in the form of diagnostic phytolith morphotypes from known plant taxa. This summer, I was able to purchase some of the supplies and begin processing sediment samples for DNA extraction, amplification, and NGS library construction at ISU’s Center for Archaeology, Materials, and Applied Spectroscopy (CAMAS). I was also able to begin the development of a method that uses flow cytometry (at ISU’s Molecular Research Core Facility) to quickly sort and isolate plant phytoliths from sediment, reducing total preparation time from hours to just minutes per sample. I look forward to continuing my research this fall at CAMAS and the MRCF with the goal of defending my dissertation and graduating by the end of 2025."
- Rebecca Hazard
"I sincerely appreciate the financial support from the ISU Graduate School, as it has not only facilitated my current research but also motivated me to strive for excellence. The encouragement I have received through this funding has strengthened my resolve to pursue innovative solutions in renewable energy and smart grid technologies. Thank you for your generosity and belief in my research."
- Monsoon Thapa
"I am thankful for being awarded the Creative Works grant by Idaho State University’s Graduate School. The Creative Works grant has been instrumental in funding chemical analysis for my project. The funding received is being used to partially fund chemical analysis of soil from the sides of interstate highways by BYU’s Environmental Analytical Laboratories. The chemical analysis will be used to view shifts in chemical properties in the soil that are caused by application of soil amendments such as fertilizers and commercial microbial sprays. These chemical shifts will help us to understand the circumstances and environments that are beneficial for native plant revegetation along the sides of highways and direct changes to microbial communities in the soil. Being awarded this grant has enabled me to take my project further by allowing an additional season of sampling and data collection for the chemical data."
- Eric Christen