Dissertation Grants
Award Description
The Awards and Scholarships Committee offers dissertation grants to support the research needs of WSU Ph.D. students. These grants will be awarded on a rolling basis to help cover expenses generated as students work to complete their dissertation projects.
These expenses include but are not limited to; purchasing or renting equipment, licenses for data analysis software, data collection, printing questionnaire, compensation for participants who completed questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, or other experiments.
A maximum of $500.00 will be awarded for the entire academic year. Award amounts are also subject to application volume and fund requests.
Awards may only be used towards the costs associated with the student’s dissertation research. Awards cannot be used for tuition, living expenses, journal publication fee, printing dissertation, books that are available through WSU library or interlibrary loan, and travel not directly related to the completion of the dissertation preparation.
These grants are to recognize the hard work of Ph.D. students and their valuable dissertation research.
Eligibility
Funds are available to WSU Ph.D. students for the 2022-2023 academic year who meet the following criteria:
1. Pay the Pullman S&A fee
2. In good standing with WSU and the Graduate School
3. Have completed at least one semester in the doctoral program (at the time of application)
4. Have passed the preliminary examination.
6. In order to give the opportunity to all graduate students to use this fund, we give priority to the applicants who have not received the Dissertation Grants in the last academic year (2021-2022). However, we keep those applications on hold until the end of each fall and spring semester and if we have remaining funding, we will support them.
Reason for rejections at the primary stage
1. The submitted proposal does not have the required content (Look at Step II- Submit PDF of Dissertation Grants Proposal for more information)
2. The requested fund is for the purpose that A&S Committee can not approve it (Listed above)
3. Applications without reference and citation are not accepted to be reviewed and the applicant will be banned from applying for a dissertation grant for this academic year.
4. As graduate students we should be careful about plagiarism in our writing. If we notice any plagiarism in your application, we will reject the application and there is no chance of re-submission.
5. The dissertation grant can not be used for taking online classes/courses.
6. If you apply for a book for your class, or any book that is available from the WSU library, your application will be rejected.
(You are not allowed to use the dissertation grant for buying subscriptions for Grammarly, Overleaf, Zotero.)
7. If you are not Pullman S&A fee-paying student, you will not be eligible for the grant.
8. To create a fair reviewing environment, all the evaluation processes are double blinded, and the general information of the applicants is separated from the context of the application form. So, if we find any sign in the context of the application that makes the identity of the applicant visible to the reviewer, the application gets rejected and the applicant will be banned from applying for a dissertation grant for this academic year.
Reason for Rejection application after being reviewed by committee members:
Here are the common comments of reviewers on the application based on Criteria Rubric
- There is NO explanation of how essential receiving this award is to the completion of the Ph.D thesis.
- The applicant has not mentioned how important or relevant this study is to the discipline as a whole
- No other funding sources are explained in the proposal.
- It would be recommended if the applicant could provide the source (website links) for the expenses.
- The novelty of the research is not mentioned.
- Budget Narrative does not explain clearly how the money will be spent towards the particular study.
- Plagiarism in any form won't be acceptable.
Application Submission
Completed applications are to be submitted through CougPresence. It is recommended that interested students discuss award criteria with their advisors before applying. Applicants are also encouraged to work collaboratively with their advisors to ensure that the application accurately describes how the award will be used towards the completion of their dissertation.
WSU GPSA Dissertation Grant Application Steps
The applicants should use the following link to apply for the Dissertation Grant, 2022-23. The form asks for some general information as well as has fields for uploading the recommendation letter and the proposal. Please go through the requirements (stated below) for recommendation letter and the proposal BEFORE you apply for the dissertation grant.
The applicants needs to provide one letter of recommendation your main advisor of your research project. This recommendation letter should be uploaded on the application form as a non-encrypted PDF format, and it should follow the suggested guideline:
-The length of the recommendation letter should be NO more than 350 words.
- The letter should have the WSU heading and name of the department or college
- The letter should have the name of the advisor with his/her signature
- The name of the student should be mentioned in the letter. (Applicant should NOT highlight or hide his/her name on the uploaded recommendation letter. This process will be done by the Chair of the Awards and Scholarships Committee on the primary review before sending it to the committee members for the application review).
- It should mention that the students have passed the Preliminary Exam.
- It should mention the current standing of the student in the graduate school.
- It should mention the importance of the requested money to GPSA for completing the PhD program.
- Reason for asking this funding from GPSA and why another source of funding for student's research cannot pay for it.
- The letter should mention if the timeline described by the student in the proposal is viable or not
- The letter should also briefly talk about overall soundness of the method of research described in the proposal."
This dissertation grant proposal should be uploaded on the application form as a non-encrypted PDF format, and it should follow the suggested guideline:
- It should be a single, non-encrypted PDF file and it is broadly used to let the GPSA committee know about the applicant's research and how the applicant plans to use the fund if awarded
- The proposal sections are the title, statement of purpose, a summary of objectives, methodology and research plan, timeline, budget narrative, and reference.
- It must be double spaced and should be less than 1000 words (The sections of timeline, budget narrative, and reference will not be counted for the 1000 words limitations)
Your proposal should be anonymous to the reviewers, so if the chair of the A&S Committee finds any sign in the proposal that shows your identity, your application will not be considered for review by our committee. Also, the rejected applicant will not be able to resubmit the proposal for the same academic year.
Dissertaion Grants Application Timeline:
Applications for the 2022-2023 academic year will be accepted from September 30, 2022, at 11:00 PM (PDT) through on April 1, 2023, at 11:00 PM, or until funds run out.
Review Process
Each proposal will be briefly reviewed by the chair of the committee to be sure that the proposal is made based on the requirements described on the website, and there is no information on the identity of the applicant in the application form. The well-formatted proposals will be reviewed by two committee members of the GPSA Awards and Scholarship Committee.
The reviewers use the criteria rubric for their evaluation; then, they report the score to the committee chair. The committee chair made the final decision based on the reviewer’s comments and scores.
Please allow up to 15 business days for the committee to review the applications and make a final decision. If accepted, awards will be dispersed in check or direct deposit at the end of each semester.
If you have any additional comments, question, or concerns please contact the Chair of GPSA Awards and Scholarship Committee, Tathagata Pal (gpsa.scholarships@wsu.edu)
**Limited funds are available and may not last until the closing date for applications, as funding will depend on volume of applications. We have a limited number of funds for GPSA Dissertation Grants. GPSA reserves the right to close applications early, if at any point during the academic year the GPSA Dissertation Grant funds are exhausted.
2021–2022 Recipients
| Name | Department | College |
| Paige Henning | School of Biological Sciences | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Nolan Scheible | School of Biological Sciences | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Shichao Ding | School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Rabayet Sadnan | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Arjak Bhattacharjee | School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Sadie Ridgeway | Sociology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Zoya Ghorbanishisdeh | Physics and Astronomy | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Kamal Ahmad | Marketing and International Business | College of Business |
| M. Jacob Schrader | Biological Systems Engineering | College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Worasit Sangjan | Biological Systems Engineering | College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Uddhav Bhattarai | Biological Systems Engineering | College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Yaojing Oju | Biological Systems Engineering | College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Kalidas Mainali | Biological Systems Engineering | College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Emma McMain | Kinesiology & Educational Psychology | College of Education |
| Alicia Booth | Communication | College of Communication |
| Kalidas Mainali | Biological Systems Engineering | College of Agricultural, Human, and natural Resources Sciences |
| Emma McMain | Kinesioogy & Educational Psychology | College of Education |
| Xiangdong Liu | Animal science | College of Agricultural, Human, and natural Resources Sciences |
| Chioma Ezeh | Teaching and Learning | College of Education |
| Deepika Naidu | Marketing & International Business | College of Business |
| Meaghan Petrix | School of Bioological Sciences | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Anna Jordan | Department of Anthropology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Benjamin Saunders | Mechanical and Materials Engineering | College of Engineering and Architecture |
2020–2021 Recipients
| Awardees | Department | College |
| Ashutosh Kumar | Economics Science | College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Debomitra Dey | Food Science | College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Reetwika Basu | Economic Science | College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resource Sciences |
| Xianghui Zhang | Chemical Engineering | Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Garry Smith | Chemical Engineering | Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Wrya Mohammadi | Chemical Engineering | Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Anastasia Vishnevskaya | Communication | College of Communication |
| Han Yan | Accounting | College of Business |
| Katrina McDougall | Psychology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Benjamin Richardson | Psychology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Arian Karimitar | Anthropology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Timothy Chatburn | Politics, Phlsphy & Pub Affs | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Weili Yuan | Educational Psychology | College of Education |
| Johannah L. Crandall | Teaching and Learning | College of Education |
| Rachel Min Wong | Kinesiology & Educational Psychology | College of Education |
2019–2020 Recipients
| Names | Department | College |
| Lederson Ganan Betancur | Plant Pathology | CAHNRS |
| Yuxiang Li | Plant Pathology | CAHNRS |
| Andrew Gillreath-Brown | Anthropology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Katie Richards | Anthropology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Molly Carney | Anthropology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Sreenidhi Krishnan | Anthropology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Mikala Meize | Criminal Justice & Criminology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Oliver Bowers | Criminal Justice & Criminology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Chris Kang | Mathematics | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Ralph Chikhany | Mathematics | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Marisa Cervantes | Sociology | College of Arts and Sciences |
| Kourosh Amirkhani | Accounting | College of Business |
| Eunjeong Shin | Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship | College of Business |
| Teng Iat Loi | Management, Information Systems, and Entrepreneurship | College of Business |
| Eujin Park | Marketing and International Business | College of Business |
| Sheng Bi | Marketing and International Business | College of Business |
| Chan Chen | Communication | College of Communication |
| Davi Kallman | Communication | College of Communication |
| Stephanie Gibbons | Communication | College of Communication |
| Xizhu Xiao | Communication | College of Communication |
| Jong Eun Lee | Educational Leadership and Sport Management | College of Education |
| Katie Reilly | Kinesiology & Educational Psychology | College of Education |
| Rachel Wong | Kinesiology & Educational Psychology | College of Education |
| Michael Schacter | Kinesiology and Educational Psychology | College of Education |
| Amira Albagshi | Teaching & Learning | College of Education |
| Emmanuel Jaiyeola | Teaching & Learning | College of Education |
| Jeremiah Sataraka | Teaching & Learning | College of Education |
| Kaleinani Boardman | Teaching & Learning | College of Education |
| Adnan F Saad Mohamed | Teaching and Learning | College of Education |
| Caroline Oluyomi Ojeme | Teaching and Learning | College of Education |
| Intissar AO Yahia | Teaching and Learning | College of Education |
| Xiangyu Gu | Chemical Engineering | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Mahshid Etesamifard | Civil and Environmental Engineering | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Othman AlShareedah | Civil and Environmental Engineering | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Ehdieh Khaledian | Electrical Engineering & Computer Science | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Jin Tao | Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Sasa Kovacevic | Mechanical | College of Engineering and Architecture |
| Vishnutej Ellur | Molecular Plant Sciences | Graduate School |