Twelve graduate students are now receiving extra financial awards from the University, thanks to a new program launched this semester. The Graduate School's new incentive program is designed to encourage students to apply for external funding by giving them additional awards, Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde said.
Under the new system, the Grad School will match external awards under $3,000 and give students who win more than that a percentage of their awards.
The program was announced last semester and went into effect Sept. 1. While all doctoral students receive guaranteed financial support from the University, Bonde said the Grad School encourages students to seek outside funding as well.
Students also are featured in an awards ceremony and have their names published to recognize their success, she added.
There are two purposes to the incentive program, which was created by "an internal decision," Bonde said. First, it relieves the Graduate School's budget if more students receive external funding. "There's money out there," Bonde said. "And money begets money."
Second, and more importantly, Bonde said, applying for external funding is a necessary skill for graduate students to learn.
"Practice makes perfect," she said, adding that wherever students are going, knowing how to write grant proposals is a useful skill and that winning external funding enhances a student's curriculum vitae.
"The grant incentive program is a necessary action to increase interest in applying for outside grants," James Doyle GS, a second-year graduate student in the Department of Anthropology and president of the Graduate Student Council, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "The Graduate School can ensure professional development for those grad students who take advantage of (the program)."
Eduardo Moncada GS, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science who receives funding through the new program, said he feels fortunate to receive additional support from the Grad School. The new program provides "a great incentive to develop and submit funding proposals," he wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
"I think the incentive program sends an important signal to current and future Brown graduate students that Brown University is investing in research designed and carried out by students," Moncada added.
Every doctoral student currently receives a $19,000 stipend per year and has a five-year guarantee of support. Because of this, Doyle wrote, "the actual need for outside funding might be perceived as less." He wrote that he thinks the program will be "extremely" helpful because "it is always beneficial to take the financial burden off the students."
Andrea Actis GS, a first-year Ph.D. student in the English department, has already begun to benefit from the program. "Already it's taken the edge off monthly bills," she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "It's just extra money in the bank - quite a happy thing!"
Following the announcement of the incentive program last spring, the Office of Sponsored Projects recorded "an upswing in applications" for external funding, Bonde said. Applications generally have a high success rate, so the increase in total applications may create an increase in grants won, she added.
Though the program is still very new, about a dozen students have already benefited from it, she said. The Graduate School Council will play a role in "publicizing this effort to all graduate students," Doyle wrote.
Moncada wrote that he thought there were "a few communication glitches" that may make it hard for students to understand the program and how it can affect them, but that those in charge of the program are "doing wonderful work" to improve the degree to which students understand the program.
The Grad School will monitor the success of the incentive program, though it may take some time before full results can be seen, Bonde said.
