Funding and Fellowship Opportunities

Academic Year Fellowships:

CHAT Graduate Dissertation Fellowships
The Center for Humanities at Tufts Dissertation Fellowships provide funding for doctoral students working in the departments of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies; English; and History. 

Professional Development Fellowships:

Community Fellows Program
The Community Fellows work to develop a robust and inclusive community for historically marginalized students across the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Graduate Institute for Teaching (GIFT)
The Graduate Institute for Teaching is a two-phase program designed to prepare Tufts doctoral students for an academic career in teaching at the university-level.

Graduate Leadership in Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (GLIDE)
The GLIDE program is designed to give graduate students the knowledge and tools to become effective change agents for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Graduate Research Excellence at Tufts (GREAT) 
The Graduate Research Excellence at Tufts (GREAT) program is a three-week summer program that aims to cultivate outstanding graduate researchers at Tufts. Students receive a taxable stipend for participation in the program.

Summer Fellowships: 

Tisch Library Graduate Fellowship in the Arts & Humanities
The Tisch Library Graduate Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities provides funding for MA, MFA, and PhD students conducting research over the summer.

Publication, Research, and Travel Funding:

Graduate Student Open Access Publishing Fund
The Tisch Library Open Access Publishing Fund provides financial support to authors in AS&E who want to publish their work open access.

Graduate Student Research Competition
Tufts Graduate Student Research Competition (GSRC) provides funding for expenses including equipment, materials, and supplies; research participant compensation; and expenses of travel to conduct research.

Graduate Student Conference Reimbursement Fund 
Funding is available for AS&E graduate students to travel to present or attend at a conference or professional meeting. 

Graduate Travel Support Program, Office of the Provost
The Office of the Provost offers travel support for graduate students to support their career development. The program provides airline flight vouchers earned by Tufts University through a rewards program linked to preferred vendors.

Unless otherwise noted, award recipients are selected by the Department. Please reach out to your department with any further questions.

Cognitive Science:

The Stibel Fellowship Fund
The Stibel Fellowship Fund was established in 2016 with a charitable contribution from Jeffrey Stibel, A95, to support fellowships in Tufts’ Cognitive Science PhD program.

Economics:

Varkey Family Endowed Fellowship
The Varkey Family Endowed Fellowship was established in 2014 by Thomas Varkey, AG92, to benefit graduate students in the Department of Economics. The fund supports students in the PhD in Economics and Public Policy program."

Students can apply for the following Department of Economics funding opportunities as part of their application to the MS Research Track.

Economics Department Fellowship Award
Awardees receive a funding award during the school year as they work alongside a faculty member at the frontier of their discipline and gain essential hands-on experience.

Henken Endowed Graduate Research Fund
The Henken Endowed Graduate Research Fund was established in 2008 to support graduate student research in the Department of Economics. Henken Scholars receive a funding award during the summer or school year as they work alongside a faculty member at the frontier of their discipline and gain essential hands-on experience.

Occupational Therapy:

Virginia Auty Nedved-Cook, BSOT 52, Endowed Student Research Fund
The Virginia Auty Nedved-Cook Endowed Student Research Fund was established in 2012 by alumna Virginia Auty Nedved-Cook (BSOT 1952). The grant is awarded to occupational therapy students whose research and scholarship grant applications demonstrate exemplary work that strengthens interdisciplinary collaborations.

Joy Ann Sambur Greisen Endowed Scholarship
The Joy Ann Sambur Greisen Endowed Scholarship Award was established in 1999 by her husband and son in loving memory of Joy and her devotion to community. This award supports occupational therapy students in the Tufts Department of Occupational Therapy with strong academics and service to others.

Helen D. Smith Endowed Scholarship
The Helen D. Smith Endowed Scholarship Award was established in 2016 in loving memory of Helen D. Smith and commemorates her many years of service to the Tufts community as a Professor of Occupational Therapy. Helen Smith was a dedicated and compassionate educator and leader in the field who had an impact on occupational therapy students, faculty and practitioners worldwide. The award is presented to occupational therapy students who demonstrate a dedication to the profession of occupational therapy, strong academic standing, and financial need.

Physics and Astronomy:

Burlingame Physics Fellowship
The Burlingame Physics Fellowship was established by Mr. John F. Burlingame, A43 in 2005. The fellowship is awarded to physics students completing research toward their doctoral degrees.

Kathryn A. McCarthy Graduate Fellowship in Physics
The Fellowship is named for former Tufts Provost and Professor emerita of Physics Kathryn A. McCarthy, who was a devoted mentor to many graduate students and a pioneer in the entry of women into physics. The Fellowship is awarded to a female physics student pursuing research towards a doctoral degree.

School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts: 

Montague Travel Grant
MFA students may apply for a Montague Grant to travel to international locations prior to the completion of their degree. Applications are reviewed twice a year by a committee of two graduate advisors, the Associate Director of Graduate Programs, and the MFA Program Director.

All Humanities Departments:

E.M. Fung Humanities Fellowship
The E.M. Fung Humanities Fellowship Fund was established in 2008 and benefits graduate students in the humanities within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Annual distributions from the fund shall provide one or more student fellowships in the name of E.M. Fung Fellows.

Office of the Vice Provost for Research’s Funding Opportunity Databases
Tufts’ Office of the Vice Provost for Research offers some helpful databases for finding research funding opportunities.

Office of Scholar Development Listings
Tufts’ Office of Scholar Development’s database includes fellowships, travel grants, and other funding sources.

Office of Corporate & Foundation Relations Funding Database
Tufts’ Office of Corporate & Foundation Relations has developed a curated, searchable database to identify private funding support. You can search by sponsor, program, topic or deadline. 

Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools Awards (NAGS)*
Each year NAGS recognizes an outstanding master’s thesis and an outstanding dissertation that has been produced by a student at one of its member institutions. Nominees for the dissertation award must have received their degree within five years of the competition, while nominees for the thesis award must have received their degrees within three years preceding the year of competition.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
The National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program supports outstanding full-time master’s and doctoral students in STEM fields.

UCLA’s GRAPES Database
This database provides a list of funding opportunities across many fields for graduate study, research, and more.

Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund
This fund awards graduate school fellowships in any recognized field of study in the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences (including law, medicine, engineering, architecture or other formal professional training). Fellowships are restricted to graduate students who are United States citizens attending an accredited and designated institution of higher education within the United States.

Ford Foundation
Through its program of fellowships, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. Predoctoral, dissertation, and postdoctoral fellowships are awarded in a national competition administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation.