The Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships (SIGF) Program is a new university-wide program to award three-year fellowships to outstanding doctoral students engaged in interdisciplinary research. It is a competitive university-wide program overseen and administered by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE).

Eligibility

Current graduate students pursuing a doctoral degree, from any of Stanford's seven schools, currently in years one to three of a doctoral program, except in programs that admit doctoral students to the master's first, where students in years one to three of graduate studies are eligible to apply. Students with a NSF, SGF or equivalent fellowship, are eligible to apply provided all that fellowship's support will be exhausted prior to Autumn Quarter 2009-2010. Ideally applicants will be in the second or third year of graduate studies at Stanford. Students should have demonstrated academic excellence and evidence of the potential for innovative research in an interdisciplinary area. Ability to link intellectual innovation with solving societal problems, an interest in communicating research to a broader audience, and a capacity for future leadership will be considered positive factors.

Application Process

Students need to select one of the following six areas to submit their application for faculty review:

• International Studies
• Human Health
• Environment
• Creativity and the Arts
• K-12 Education
• Inquiry within or between the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences and other emerging areas of interdisciplinary study.

Applications in each of the six areas will be reviewed by the appropriate faculty committee. The Faculty Committee for the International Initiative will review applications in the "international studies" category. The most competitive applications will be forwarded to Graduate Fellowships Faculty Advisory Committee for final selection. Awards will be made in early June.

The International Initiative strongly encourages graduate students engaged in interdisciplinary work of an international or global nature, apply in the International Studies area. In addition to scholarly content, these proposals will be judged on the following criteria:

• Multidisciplinarity. Does the candidate's research & teaching demonstrate genuine commitment to multidisciplinary approaches; does the work span disciplines?
• Reflection of International Initiative themes. Does the candidate perform work that is related to one or more of the initiative themes of peace & security, governance, and human well-being?

Fellowship Terms

• Stipend support:

1. Annual stipend paid over 4 quarters for three years (annual stipend amount is $31,200 in 2008)
2. In Year 3, a one-time fund of $3000 ($750/quarter) will facilitate intellectual and professional development in interdisciplinary research.

• Tuition:

1. In Years 1 and 2, the SIGF Fellowship pays 8 - 10 unit tuition for Autumn, Winter and Spring Quarters, plus Summer tuition for 3 units.
2. In Year 3, the SIGF Fellowship pays TGR tuition for four quarters.

• SIGF Fellowships must be used in the first six years of graduate study at Stanford.

How To Apply

Application deadline for 2009 awards is: March 20, 2009.

For complete details and application information, please visit the SIGF page at: http://vpge.stanford.ed/SIGF/SIGF_apply.html