Funding Your Graduate Education

The Department of Aerospace Engineering has the goal of providing funding for all full-time graduate students who are making good progress towards their degree. This funding takes the form of:

• Research Assistantships (RAs)
• Teaching Assistantships (TAs)
• Fellowships
• Scholarships

Teaching Assistantships

Teaching Assistantships are generally awarded for the first semester or two, with the expectation that all TA's will become RA's by the end of their first year in the program. It is the policy of the department not to award Teaching Assistantships to students from other departments - a student would have to transfer into our department (ENAE) in order to be considered for such a position.

Teaching Assistants usually assist professors and other experienced instructors in a classroom setting by preparing or conducting lectures and discussion sections, assisting students, or grading exams, lab reports, papers, or other assignments. These assistants are hired by the department, and are assigned a faculty mentor. In some cases, the Teaching Assistant will assume responsiblity, under faculty supervision, for teaching a course on his or her own.

Research Assistantships

Research Assistants work primarily with faculty or other investigators on some facet of a research project. These assistants are selected by the faculty with whom they will be working. At times, RAs are paid from grant funds.

Finding Graduate Assistantships

• Finding an assistantship is, in many ways, equivalent to finding a job. Assistants are hired, paid, and supervised by the program or office that offers the appointment.
• Start looking for your assistantship in the most familiar places. Most departments hire their own students as TAs, and RAs. Find out the criteria and application process in your department, and let them know that you want an assistantship. Ask your chair or graduate director, your advisor, or other professors who know you, and the support staff (including other graduate assistants) in your department. Many assistantships are never publicized and are filled only through word-of-mouth.
• Look for assistantships everywhere. Centers, Institutes, individual professors with research grant money, other departments, and non-academic offices all hire graduate assistants.
• Be prepared to seize an opportunity when it becomes available. Have your resume and references ready.

Graduate Fellowships

All applicants and current students in the department are automatically considered for these awards.  Fellowships are merit-based awards designed to enable the recipient to focus full-time on graduate study, do not have to be repaid, and in many cases include both the remission of tuition and a stipend for living expenses.

The Aerospace Department offers the following awards to full-time Graduate Students:

• Aerospace Research Fellowship
• ARCS Fellowship
• Minta Martin Fellowship

Fellowships are different from Graduate Assistantships. Graduate Assistantships require graduate students to teach classes, work on a research project, or perform administrative tasks to earn their stipend and tuition remission.

Most fellowship awards are part of a recruitment package; others are made to current students through a competetive awards process. Both applicants and current students should contact the graduate program for more information on available fellowships.