CALS Research Division
Link to CALS Research Division Home
Print this pageTraining Grants & Fellowships
- NIH Training Grants
- IGERT Training Grants
- USDA National Needs Fellowship Grants
- Fellowships
NIH Training Grants
Training Grants Overview
A training grant is an award that provides funding intended to pay stipends to, and provide a coordinated training program for students, postdoctoral researchers, staff, teachers and/or faculty who are selected by the institution to be a part of the training program.
Training grants are different from fellowships and assistantships, primarily in that they are awarded to support a program that will include many trainees, rather than one individual in training. Training grants can come from federal and non-federal agencies.
Training Grants: Pre-Award
The following steps must be completed as part of the Training Grant proposal process in CALS:
- Prepare a Training Grant Budget: There is no tuition remission for students on training grants. Please use tuition and fees information from the Office of the Registrar to prepare your Training Grant budget, and assume an escalation of 7-10% for each academic year of funding you are requesting. If you are preparing an NIH training grant proposal, you will also need to reference the NIH stipend rates.
- Find out if you need to plan for a shortfall: Many training grants do not provide funding to cover the full cost of tuition and/or health insurance for a graduate student. Before your proposal can be approved for submission, it is critical to have a plan in place for covering an anticipated shortfall. View the Graduate School memo regarding Training Grant (T32) Tuition and Fees Shortfall.
- Work with Becky Bound: Becky Bound is the CALS Research Division primary contact for Training Grants. Any Training Grant applicant in CALS will work with Becky to complete the Training Grant proposal process and she will assist you with post-award issues. Please contact her at (608)265-8445 or rbound@cals.wisc.edu.
- Lead Time: Please contact Becky Bound as soon as possible so she can assist you with the Training Grant proposal process. Follow the Research Division Lead Time policy to ensure the timely submission of your training grant proposal.
Training Grants: Post-Award
Compliance:Training grant administrators must keep updated records regarding current trainees and the protocols under which their research will be conducted. This information should be kept in a spreadsheet and attached to the WISPER record for each renewal or continuation year of the award. Please reference the Graduate School’s website for detailed instructions.
When appointing students to training grants, please send the original form directly to the NIH. Do not send the original document to RSP. Instead, send copies of the original form to RSP and to Becky Bound (rbound@cals.wisc.edu).
When terminating students on training grants, please send the original form and an addressed enveloped to Barb Keenan at RSP for an official business signature. Check your award statement to ensure that you have the proper address. Send a copy of the original to Becky Bound (rbound@cals.wisc.edu).
Top 10 Training Grant Dos and Don'ts
- Do Not Send copies of all your appointment, termination, & payback forms with a competing or non-competing continuation proposal. Submit these forms at the time of appointment and/or termination.
- Do Send original appointment forms directly to NIH. Do not send the original forms to RSP. Send copies of the appointment forms to RSP and to Becky Bound (rbound@cals.wisc.edu).
- Do Not Send original termination forms directly to NIH. Send the original termination forms along with an addressed enveloped to Barb Keenan at RSP for an official business signature. Check your award statement for the proper address. Additionaly, send a copy of the termination form to Becky Bound (rbound@cals.wisc.edu).
- Do Not report any supplemental funding in the stipend amount box on appointment forms. The amount should only include stipend paid by the Training Grant.
- Do Not supplement trainees with federal funds. You may only supplement trainees with a non-federal source.
- Do Not appoint more trainees than the number of slots awarded. You may only appoint more people to the training grant than the number of slots awarded to you if you obtain prior approval from NIH. Slots are on a per person basis (1 person = 1 slot).
- Do Not pay trainees above the amount authorized by the NIH. You may only pay trainees' stipends from the training grant above the amount authorized by the NIH to you if you obtain prior approval from NIH.
- Do request full amount for Tuition, Fees, and Health Insurance. We want our budget to represent actual expenses. NIH will apply their own formula when they make the award.
- Do use the full tuition rate for Trainees. Like RAs, trainees are not UW employees. Unlike RAs, trainees do not receive tuition remission. Trainees' tuition must be paid according to the full rate.
- Do not allow trainees to take any UW property. All supplies, including computers, purchased with training grant funds are UW property. Trainees should not take any supply purchased with UW funds upon termination. Any supplies purchased with UW funds are UW property.
Other Training Grant Resources
- Graduate School's Information on Training Grants
- List of all NIH Training Grants at the UW
- Tuition and fees information from the Office of the Registrar
- NIH stipend rates
- Graduate School memo regarding Training Grant (T32) Tuition and Fees Shortfall
If you have any additional questions regarding Training Grants, please contact Becky Bound at (608)265-8443 or rbound@cals.wisc.edu.
NSF IGERT Training Grants
The Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program has been developed to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists, engineers, and educators with the interdisciplinary backgrounds, deep knowledge in chosen disciplines, and technical, professional, and personal skills to become leaders and creative agents for change.
The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education, for students, faculty, and institutions, by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. It is also intended to facilitate greater diversity in student participation and preparation, and to contribute to the development of a diverse, globally-engaged science and engineering workforce.
IGERT Programs at UW-Madison
- Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development IGERT
- Certificate on Humans and the Global Environment (CHANGE) IGERT
Additional IGERT Resources
USDA National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship Grants Program (NNF)
This program awards grants to train students for master's and/or doctoral degrees and provide additional postdoctoral training for Fellows who have completed their doctoral degrees at colleges and universities that have demonstrable teaching and research competencies in the food and agricultural sciences. Grants are specifically intended to support fellowship programs that encourage outstanding students to pursue and complete their degrees or obtain postdoctoral training in areas where there is a national need for the development of scientific and professional expertise.
Applications are being solicited in the following Targeted Expertise Shortage Areas:
- Agricultural Genomics and Bioinformatics
- Forest Resources
- Agricultural Systems Engineering
- Agricultural Management and Economics
- Food Science
- Human Nutrition
- Sciences for Agricultural Biosecurity
- Training in Sustainable Sciences
For more information, visit the USDA CSREES NNF webpage.
Additional NNF Resources
Fellowships
Funding support for graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison largely takes the form of fellowships and traineeships. They are typically administered through a student's respective Academic Program; therefore, inquiries about funding support should initially be addressed to the department.
Federal, Non-Federal, and UW Fellowships
URL: http://info.gradsch.wisc.edu/education/funding/gsfellowships.html
The Dickie Fellowship was created in 1995 from the estate of Ruth Stathearn Dickie. This fellowship is awarded to graduate students enrolled in sciences, mathematics, or engineering studies whose residence at the time of matriculation at UW-Madison is in Sauk County, WI. Preference is given to returning adult students.
URL: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/fordfellowships/
The Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships seek to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. To facilitate this goal the Fellowship grants awards at the Predoctoral, Dissertation and, Postdoctoral levels to students who demonstrate excellence, a commitment to diversity and a desire to enter the professoriate.
URL: http://www.npsc.org/index.html
The National Physical Science Consortium is a unique partnership between industry, government agencies and laboratories, and higher education. The NPSC's primary objective is to increase the number of qualified U.S.-citizen Ph.D.'s in the physical sciences and related engineering fields, emphasizing recruitment of a diverse applicant pool of women and historically underrepresented minorities. NPSC accomplishes this objective by assisting corporations and government agencies and laboratories in awarding doctoral fellowships to outstanding U.S. students.
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201
The National Science Foundation aims to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United States and to reinforce its diversity by offering approximately 900-1,600 graduate fellowships in this competition pending availability of funds. The Graduate Research Fellowship provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master’s or doctoral degrees and is intended for students who are in the early stages of their graduate study. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) invests in graduate education for a cadre of diverse individuals who demonstrate their potential to successfully complete graduate degree programs in disciplines relevant to the mission of the National Science Foundation.
URL: http://www.grad.wisc.edu/education/funding/aof.html
This fellowship is awarded to incoming targeted students. All students receiving an Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (AOF) will receive a stipend, paid tuition and fees during the fellowship tenure, and eligibility for health insurance. In addition, incoming AOF fellows will receive a $600 welcome check.
To be considered for AOF funding, prospective students must be:
- new to the Graduate School
- admissible to a graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- a United States citizen or Permanent Resident. Preference is given to those who claim Wisconsin as their legal residence.
- and, must satisfy one of the following criteria:
- Targeted minority students:
- African American/Black
- American Indian/Alaskan Native
- Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano/as, Puerto Rican, Cuban
- Cambodian, Vietnamese, Laotian, and Hmong
- Indigenous Peoples of Hawaii, Alaska or the U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Marianas Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands)
- McNair Students: students who participated in a McNair Program
- PEOPLE Program Graduates
- Wisconsin residents who are first generation to complete a Bachelors degree and who participated in one of the following TRIO Programs: Upward Bound, Talent Search, Educational Opportunities Centers, Student Support Services, or McNair.
URL: http://knapphouse.rso.wisc.edu/index.html
The Knapp House Fellowship provides free housing and offers an exceptional opportunity for selected graduate students to share research, culture and interests with other dissertators from diverse disciplines.
URL: http://www.cals.wisc.edu/Research/funding/cals.php
Graduate Fellowships are awarded to proven, outstanding students who have shown research excellence in either applied or basic sciences. Contact Irwin Goldman, at (608) 265-5274 or ilgoldma@wisc.edu, for further details.
URL: http://www.cals.wisc.edu/Research/funding/DisplayOpp.php?OppID=485
This Fellowship was endowed for the purpose of funding a graduate fellowship in potato research. The recipient of this award must be a full-time graduate student enrolled in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) and must be participating in potato research. The recipient is also expected to participate in meetings and events of the potato industry.
Fellowships: Best Practices
- Create a NIH eRA Commons account to apply.
- Prepare all applications in Cayuse.
- Work with referents to ensure that letters are submitted via the NIH eRA Commons.
- When submitting forms to Becky Bound at CALS Research Division, do not send originals of any forms unless it has a signature.
- Help reduce paper consumption and upload forms to WISPER.
- When submitting the DHHS Fellowship Assurance Form (Certification for NIH & AHRQ Fellowship Applicants), please be sure the form is signed by the fellow and his/her academic advisor. Then upload the form to the record in WISPER.
Additional Fellowships Resources
- DHHS Fellowship Assurance Form: Certification for NIH & AHRQ Fellowship Applicants
- NIH stipend rates
- Notice regarding electronic submission of NIH Fellowship applications
- International Fellowships Office
- Fellowships on the Graduate School website
- Fellowships on the GSPD website