The goal of the WSGC Graduate & Professional Research Fellowship program is to support exceptional graduate students pursuing aerospace, space science, and or other interdisciplinary space-related graduate independent research or design. The objectives of this program are to recruit and fund the research of broadly diverse, high-caliber graduate and professional students in aerospace science. Students will work alone or with a faculty or research staff advisor. Special care is exercised to insure regional distribution, to encourage interdisciplinary studies, and recruit women, under-represented minorities, and developmentally challenged persons. In addition to NASA-funded awards, member institutions also offer WSGC fellowships, funded by their institutions and reported as match.
To maximize leverage, geographic distribution, and opportunities for special groups, less-than-full fellowships may be offered to supplement and/or leverage existing fellowships and assistantships at recipient universities or colleges. Participation in this program is encouraged by the dissemination of award opportunity announcements, coordinated through the Institutional Representatives of each Affiliate Member. Awards are competitive over all aerospace, space science, and space-related disciplines, and made available to the most qualified candidates, chosen through a review process defined by the Advisory Council and outlined in the WSGC Charter. The Associate Director for Fellowships and Scholarships receives and forwards proposals to a Technical Advisory Panel, a review panel comprised of leading scientists, engineers, and industrialists from around the state and balanced as much as possible by geographic location, gender, and racial and ethnic background. Awards are made by the Assistant Director based on recommendations from the Technical Advisory Panel and the Associate Director.
Award recipients are expected to make presentations at a subsequent WSGC Conference, to submit final reports and copies of all published papers, and to engage in the activities of the Consortium as may be deemed appropriate.