DIVISION OF FINANCE
INDIVIDUAL GRANTS
GAPSA – Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation
CLOSED
President Gutmann Leadership Award (PGLA)
CLOSED
Professional Student Travel Grant (DMD, EdD, JD, MD, MSE, MS)
CLOSED
Research Student Travel Grant (PhD, research AM/MS)
CLOSED
Application Cycles*
Applications must be submitted during the cycle in which the expense is incurred (for multi-day events, consider the final day of the event as the expense date). Travel dates must fall within the application funding cycle. Travel spanning two cycles should be submitted in the later cycle.
Fall Grants
Submission Deadline: October 10th
Period covered: August 15th - Dec 31st
Decision Date: November 20th
Spring Grants
Submission Deadline: March 10th
Period covered: January 1st - May 14th
Decision Date: April 20th
Summer Grants**
Submission Deadline: June 10th
Period covered: May 15th - August 14th
Decision Date: July 20th
* expenses for graduating students must be incurred and submitted at least 2 weeks (14 days) prior to the official end of term
** additional eligibility criteria and restrictions apply. Please review all instructions and program details carefully.
GAPSA - PROVOST FELLOWSHIP FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY INNOVATION
PURPOSE
The GAPSA-Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation is a program jointly funded by GAPSA and the Office of the Provost for the expressed purpose of fostering an interdisciplinary graduate and professional environment at the University of Pennsylvania. This highly competitive fellowship strives to promote original, student-derived initiatives that integrate knowledge across diverse academic disciplines. The fellowship is also meant to help the project-leader(s) develop, pursue and complete their proposed interdisciplinary initiatives.
FUNDING
$6,000.00 fellowship per project
The GAPSA-Provost fellowship is being reworked and information will be posted about this shortly. Stay tuned.
The guidelines for this fellowship are available here. Please contact gapsa.provost@gapsa.upenn.edu for all questions regarding this fellowship.
PRESIDENT GUTMANN LEADERSHIP AWARD
PURPOSE
The Office of the President has generously provided additional funding to GAPSA to augment GAPSA’s funding for graduate and professional student travel. The award will be given to students presenting their research at an international conference or event that would otherwise exceed their budget even with an individual travel grant through GAPSA.
FUNDING
The maximum award is 70% of the total budget or $2000, whichever is less.
Full award policies are available here. Please note that recommendations are required within one week of the application closing. In order for an application to be considered complete, you must indicate a faculty member to complete a brief recommendation form. It will be sent to your recommender automatically when your application is submitted. Please note that recommendation forms are sent out only after grant applications are submitted, so be sure to inform your recommender prior to submitting your application.
Please contact gapsa.evp@gapsa.upenn.edu for all questions regarding this fellowship.
PROFESSIONAL STUDENT INDIVIDUAL GRANT
If you are in a professional or non-research Master’s program (including DMD, EdD, JD, MD, MSE, and MS programs with other letters), you are considered a professional student. If you are in a PhD program or a research Master’s program (AM or MS), you are considered a research student. Students in dual degree (e.g., MD/PhD, VMD/PhD) programs are considered professional students during their professional degree years and research students during their PhD years. Please refer to this flowchart or email gapsa.funds@gapsa.upenn.edu if you are unsure about your status.
Please note that you are only eligible to receive one GAPSA-administered individual grant per semester.
PURPOSE
Professional Student Individual Grants aim to defray the cost of qualified travel expenses for professional students attending and/or presenting at academic conferences, meetings, case competitions, externships, and internships. Students pursuing professional development outside of the university and traveling for residency interviews may also apply.
FUNDING
Funding caps are the lesser of 75% of your request or*:
- $500 if you are attending, but not presenting at a conference
- $1250 if you are presenting at a conference or requesting interview/internship funding
All funding is granted retroactively; that is, you will have to incur the expenses first and then receive reimbursement upon submitting itemized receipts. Applications are not reviewed until after the grant window closes and exceptions cannot be made.
Sending a recommender application is not necessary, but it will help your application. Please note that recommendation forms are sent out only after grant applications are submitted. Be sure to inform your recommender prior to submitting your application. We ask that recommendations be submitted within two weeks of the submission of the travel grant application. It is your responsibility to ensure that the form is submitted on your behalf. Check with your recommender to make sure they submit the form on time.
Please contact gapsa.funds@gapsa.upenn.edu and gapsa.professional@gapsa.upenn.edu for all questions regarding this fellowship.
RESEARCH STUDENT TRAVEL GRANT
If you are in a PhD program or a research Master’s program (AM or MS), you are considered a research student. If you are in a professional or non-research Master’s program (including DMD, EdD, JD, MD, MSE, and MS programs with other letters), you are considered a professional student. Students in dual degree (e.g., MD/PhD, VMD/PhD) programs are considered professional students during their professional degree years and research students during their PhD years. Please refer to this flowchart or email gapsa.funds@gapsa.upenn.edu if you are unsure about your status.
Please note that you are only eligible to receive one GAPSA-administered individual grant per semester.
PURPOSE
The Research Travel Grant aims to help defray the cost of qualified travel expenses for research students presenting their work at academic conferences, workshops, and meetings.
The Research Travel Grants serve as a terminal funding source to support research students traveling to their conferences.
Applicants are expected to have considered all other possible funding options before pursuing funding through a GAPSA travel grant.
ELIGIBILITY
Registered and Enrolled
Applicants must be enrolled in a degree-bearing graduate or professional degree program at the University of Pennsylvania.
Applicants must be actively enrolled and in good academic standing during the period covered by the grant.
Grants cannot be awarded for expenses occurring in periods following graduation or during academic terms in which applicants are not registered in course or research (thesis/dissertation) credits.
Applicants enrolled in post-baccalaureate programs are not eligible.
Applicants enrolled in accelerated/submatriculation degree programs who have not yet received their bachelor's degree are not eligible
COnference
Applicants must either attend or present their work at academic conferences, workshops, and meetings.
Research students
Applicants must be a Ph.D. student or a Research Master (M.A. or M.S. only, no additional letters following), primarily offered in SAS. Applicants in dual degree (e.g., M.D./Ph.D., VMD/Ph.D.) programs are only considered to be research students during their PhD years. The complete degree abbreviation can be found here. Please refer to this flowchart or contact gapsa.research@gapsa.upenn.edu if applicants are unsure about your status.
Dates
Travel dates must fall within the application funding cycle. Travel spanning two cycles should be submitted in the later cycle.
Fall: 8/15 - 12/31
Spring: 1/1 - 5/14
Summer: 5/15 - 8/14
1, 2, 3
One GAPSA individual grant award per cycle
Two GAPSA individual grant awards per academic year
Three thousand dollars total per year in combined grants, payments, and fungible items (tickets, merchandise) funded through the General Fee
FUNDING
For students only attending a conference, the grant is capped at 50% of the total cost or $1000, whichever is less. For students presenting at conferences, the cap is $2000.
The statistics for past applicants and awardees can be found here. Please note that the funding budgets, evaluation criteria and the application form have been updated over the years.
All funding is granted retroactively; that is, you will have to incur the expenses first and then receive reimbursement upon submitting itemized receipts. Applications are not reviewed until after the grant window closes and exceptions cannot be made. Research Council has also released a memorandum (last updated: July 2022) on how the grant is awarded.
We highly encourage applicants to read both documents before applying.
In order for an application to be considered complete, you must indicate a faculty member to complete a brief recommendation form. It will be sent to your recommender automatically when your application is submitted. Please note that recommendation forms are sent out only after grant applications are submitted. Be sure to inform your recommender prior to submitting your application. We ask that recommendations be submitted within five days of the submission of the travel grant application. It is your responsibility to ensure that the form is submitted on your behalf. Check with your recommender to make sure they submit the form on time.
Please contact gapsa.research@gapsa.upenn.edu for all questions regarding this fellowship.
INDIVIDUAL GRANTS BEYOND GAPSA
The University and other bodies offer several individual grants to graduate and professional students. This ever-growing list is maintained by the Grad Center on their website. In particular, refer to the Emergency Grant for graduate and professional students.