Fellowship Opportunities
Explore current fellowship opportunities available to Robotics students. These fellowships are submitted by faculty members and departments, offering funding and research-based experience to enhance your academic journey.
Last updated September 24, 2026. Deadlines change from year to year, so always confirm on the sponsor's website. Dates marked "typically" follow past cycles and have not yet been announced for this year.
| Award↕ | Administered By↕ | Typical Deadline↕ | Eligibility↕ | Nomination By↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two Sigma PhD Fellowship | Two Sigma | 9/25/2026 | PhD; at least 3rd year with at least 2 years remaining when the fellowship begins | Self-nomination |
| Rackham International Student & Chia-Lun Lo Fellowships | Rackham | See Nomination By column | PhD precandidate / MS; non US citizen/resident | Department*Robotics nominations close end of August |
| Rackham Non-Traditional Fellowships | Rackham | See Nomination By column | MS; year 1 or 2 student; returning from a gap of at least 3 years | Department*Robotics nominations close end of August |
| Sandia Laboratory Director Jill Hruby Postdoctoral Fellowship | Sandia National Laboratories | 10/1/2026 | Postdoctoral; three-year appointment for early career researchers in engineering and science | Self-nomination |
| Sandia President Harry S. Truman Postdoctoral Fellowship | Sandia National Laboratories | 10/1/2026 | Postdoctoral; three-year appointment | Self-nomination |
| Rackham Doctoral Intern Fellowship Program | Rackham | typically October (for the following winter term) | PhD precandidates and candidates | Self-nomination |
| Harold and Vivian Shapiro/John Malik/Jean Forrest Awards | Rackham | 10/13/2026 | Full-time students in any Rackham degree program | Self-nomination |
| Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (QIF) | Qualcomm | 10/19/2026 | Teams of 2 PhD students | Self-nomination |
| NSF GRFP | NSF | 10/22/2026 (Engineering); 10/20/2026 (CISE) | US citizen or permanent resident; first-year graduate student in first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed | Self-nomination |
| DoW National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship | Department of War | 10/30/2026 | Doctoral students; US citizens, US nationals, or US dual citizens | Self-nomination |
| ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award | ACM | 10/31/2026 | PhD | Ph.D. Advisor |
| ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award | Rackham | See Nomination By column | PhD graduates | Department*Robotics nominations close end of August |
| Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund Fellowship | Rackham | typically November | MS & PhD students | Self-nomination |
| Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship | Microsoft | typically early December | PhD | Self-nomination |
| SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program | Department of War | first Friday in December (opens August 1) | Bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students in STEM; includes civilian employment with the Department of War after graduation | Self-nomination |
| CoE Leaders and Honors Awards | CoE | typically early January | MS & PhD students | Faculty, Staff, Students, or self-nomination (and then department) |
| Draper Scholars Program | Draper | typically January to February | PhD; US citizen | Self-nomination |
| Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship | Rackham | See Nomination By column | PhD candidates | Department*Robotics nominations close early January |
| Barbour Scholarship | Rackham | See Nomination By column | Part of the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship nomination | Department*Robotics nominations close early January |
| Susan Lipschutz, Margaret Ayers Host, and Anna Olcott Smith Awards | Rackham | See Nomination By column | PhD; part of the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship nomination | Department*Robotics nominations close early January |
| Rackham Outstanding GSI | Rackham | See Nomination By column | Graduate student; 2 terms as GSI | Department*Robotics nominations close early January |
| Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding Ph.D. Research | CoE | See Nomination By column | PhD students | Department*Robotics nominations close early January |
| Rackham International Research Awards | Rackham | typically mid-February | MS or PhD | Self-nomination |
| King-Chavez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship Program | Rackham | typically early March | PhD or MS students pursuing faculty teaching careers in postsecondary education | Self-nomination |
| CEW+ Fellowship | CEW+ | typically March | Each fellowship is different | Self-nomination |
| The PACE Fellowship | Rackham | typically April | Graduate student and faculty mentor pairs | Program-nominated |
| SIGHPC Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award | SIGHPC | typically late April | PhD graduate (graduated in the previous calendar year) | Ph.D. Advisor or dissertation committee member; 1 per department |
| ACM SIGHPC Computational & Data Science Fellowship | SIGHPC | typically late April | PhD candidate | Ph.D. Advisor or dissertation committee member; 1 per department |
| Towner GSI | CoE CRLT | typically May | PhD / MS | Faculty, Students, or Self-nomination |
| CEW+ Scholarship | CEW+ | typically May | Various; see link for details | Self-nomination |
| J. Robert Beyster Computational Innovation Graduate Fellows Program | CoE | See Nomination By column | PhD candidate; US citizen or permanent resident | Department*Robotics nominations close end of April |
| Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant (Master’s/Precandidate and Candidate) | Rackham | ongoing | MS or PhD | Self-nomination |
| Rackham Conference Travel Grant | Rackham | ongoing | MS or PhD | Self-nomination |
| Rackham Professional Development Grant | Rackham | ongoing | MS or PhD | Self-nomination |
| Rackham Graduate Student Professional Travel with Children Grant | Rackham | ongoing | MS or PhD | Self-nomination |
| Rackham Emergency Funds | Rackham | ongoing | MS or PhD | Self-nomination |
| DOE Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program | DOE | check website | PhD students conducting thesis research at a DOE National Laboratory | Self-nomination |
| IBM PhD Fellowship Award | IBM | check website | PhD | Faculty |
Department nominations
For fellowships marked "Department" in the "Nomination By" column, Robotics collects nominations three times per year through InfoReady, not on the deadlines listed above. The fall call closes at the end of August, the winter call closes at the beginning of January, and the summer call closes at the end of April. Watch your email for the Robotics nomination call. Send questions to robotics-sso@umich.edu.
Other funding resources
This list is not all-inclusive, and there are likely many more opportunities available. Watch your email for new opportunities and search broadly for others. These resources are a good place to start:
- Rackham Funding Resources
- College of Engineering Scholarships and Fellowships
- U-M Library Graduate Student Funding @ U-M
- U-M Library Funding and Grants
- Scholarship and Aid for International Students
For more funding information, see Funding for Graduate Students.