2025-2026 Graduate Fellowship
Deadline: October 17, 2025
Purpose
The Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) Graduate Fellowship Program is designed to support outstanding graduate students pursuing NASA-aligned research opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines. Program goals include alignment with the NASA Mission Directorates, encouragement of qualified individuals to continue in a space science or aerospace-related field, support of research infrastructure at our member institutions, and retainment of U.S. graduates.
Eligibility
- U.S. citizen
- Full-time enrollment at Iowa State or University of Iowa as of August 2025
- Enrolled in a minimum of 9 credits per semester or 1 or more credits on assistantship
- Graduation date no earlier than May 2026
- Must be accepted into an MS or PhD program (STEM field)
- Currently working on a faculty-mentored research project that has NASA STEM relevance
- Good academic standing (minimum 3.0/4.0 GPA)
Selection
Funding is competitively awarded based on complete application information including academic qualifications, research project, NASA alignment, and faculty letter of recommendation. A total of eight (8) awards of $6,000 will be processed before the end of the Fall 2025 semester. The awardee will receive funding as a stipend applied to their university account after receipt of an acceptance form. Awardees will need to provide an unofficial transcript upon graduation and agree to participate in a NASA longitudinal tracking process that surveys student progress and eventual employment outcome to help assess the effectiveness of our program and STEM retention efforts. The ISGC director, in consultation with a consortium review committee, will make award selections. Awards will be announced prior to the end of Fall semester 2025.