PhD Recruitment Excellence Fellowship (PREF)

Background 

Providing competitive stipends is an important component to recruiting top-quality PhD students. The Gallogly College of Engineering PhD Recruitment Excellence Fellowship (PREF) program is designed to assist academic programs in the College in recruiting outstanding PhD students. The purpose of this announcement, which includes an application form, is to solicit outstanding applications to receive these PREFs. 

PREF Level, Duration, and Disbursement 

The maximum amount of each PREF is limited to $5,000 and is not renewable. To be eligible for a PREF award, the recipient must be accepted as a full-time student in one of GCoE’s PhD programs and must also be awarded an annual stipend of at least $20,000 from the student’s home academic unit. The PREF award will be distributed in two installments of $2,500 each; one in the fall semester and one in the spring. These awards will be disbursed directly to the student’s bursar account. In order to receive the second disbursement, the recipient must be in good academic standing upon completing the first semester. 

Eligibility and Preference

Top quality students with highly competitive GPAs, GREs and evidence of scholarship and/or academic leadership who are seeking to pursue doctoral studies within the Gallogly College of Engineering are eligible to receive this award. Incoming students must have successfully completed and been accepted into a GCoE PhD program before graduate liaisons or academic directors can submit applications on the student’s behalf. In addition to information provided by the applicant, the PREF application process requires a strong statement of support from the graduate liaison or supporting faculty member responsible for recruiting the applicant. 

Materials Required: 

The Graduate Liaison or Director of the prospective student’s academic unit will submit the following materials to apply for PREF: 

(1) A completed Application for PREF form. 

(2) Copy of transcripts (B.S., M.S. if applicable). 

(3) Copy of completed Graduate School application and acceptance letter. 

(4) Complete resume of the student, including complete citation of any publications and presentations at national meetings, if applicable. 

(5) Statement from the Graduate Liaison (or Faculty Advisor/Sponsor, if assigned) highlighting the significance of the PREF toward recruiting the student. Also, the statement must highlight the importance of the student’s qualifications/potential for advancing the unit’s research program(s). The statement must also describe other forms of support being offered to the student (e.g., teaching assistantship, research assistantship, scholarship, fellowships) and confirm that the total stipends being awarded for the first year are at least $20,000 (not including the PREF award).

Submission Process 

The unit’s Graduate Liaison (or Faculty Advisor/Sponsor, if assigned) will collect items 1-4, outlined in the previous section, and add item 5 to complete the application package, which will then be submitted to: Bethany Burklund, Assistant to the Associate Dean, Gallogly College of Engineering, 202 W. Boyd Street, Rm. 107, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019. Applications will be accepted between February 1 and May 1. The application package may be submitted electronically to: bethanyhb@ou.edu. 

For questions, please contact: Zahed Siddique, Associate Dean for Research, Gallogly College of Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Phone: (405) 325-4397, E-Mail: zsiddique@ou.edu. 

Review and Selection: 

A review committee consisting of members from the GCoE faculty will be formed to evaluate and make recommendations for awards. Final decisions and awards will be made by the Senior Associate Dean. Based on the number and quality of applications received and availability of funds, awards will be announced up to four times during spring and early summer. Specifically, awards will be announced during the first week of February, March, April, and May.