Financial Support

Academic-year graduate teaching assistantships and graduate research assistantships with stipends of at least $23,000 for 10 months of the year are available to all qualified School of Biological Sciences graduate students. In addition, all graduate students on assistantships or fellowships receive tuition waivers and health insurance. A variety of fellowship and stipend enhancement opportunities are also available from the University of Oklahoma, as detailed below. Some school funding is also typically available to help support graduate students presenting at scientific conferences.

Graduate summer fellowships are available through the M. Blanche Adams and M. Frances Adams, Homer F. Timmons, and Chester L. Bynum endowments. These summer fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis to support graduate students in the School of Biological Sciences during the summer. Funds are disbursed to students' bursar accounts and can be used to pay living expenses or support research activities. A call for proposals is issued at the beginning of the spring semester, with proposals due in mid-February. Detailed instructions on proposal format and content are contained in the call for proposals. Proposals are judged on the basis of intellectual merit, scientific rigor, and results of previous support (if the student has had previous summer funding). Proposals are reviewed and ranked by the School of Biological Sciences Graduate Scholarship Committee, and funding recommendations are made to the Director of the School of Biological Sciences. Summer course enrollment is not required.

The University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS) offers graduate fellowships of $3,000 for summer research conducted at our Biological Station at Lake Texoma. Housing accommodations at UOBS are provided. Graduate Summer Research Fellowship recipients may request one or more undergraduate research assistants to participate in research conducted at the Biological Station. Proposals should be submitted by March 15 for full consideration. Email questions to heather.r.ketchum-1@ou.edu.

The Hill fund supports small awards (typically $500) to support School of Biological Sciences graduate student research activities or professional development. Students submit a short proposal (one page or less) describing the need for the funds and a short, itemized budget. Proposals are due in mid-March and evaluated by the School of Biological Sciences Graduate Scholarship Committee, who forwards their recommendations to the Director of the School of Biological Sciences. Applications from current graduate students for an academic year or summer scholarships will include a written research plan and summary of progress toward the degree, current curriculum vitae, and signature approval of the research plan by the student's faculty advisor (see the application form for more details). Once the call for applications is announced (in the spring), application forms will be available below.

George Miksch Sutton Scholarships in Ornithology are awarded annually on a competitive basis to undergraduate and graduate students of ornithology in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences at OU. Each January a detailed request for proposals is circulated by the selection committee. Sutton scholarships are awarded to support student engagement in a wide variety of activities related to research and training in ornithology. Scholarship amounts depend on the quality and complexity of the proposed activities and range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Scholarships are typically awarded during the spring semester. 

There are many opportunities to secure funding at OU through the Graduate Student Senate. Graduate students can apply for travel and research grants each semester. Applications can be found at the Grants page of the GSS website.

Additional external funding opportunities are also available.