UCI Engineering-LANL Graduate Fellowships FY23 Call

Samueli School of Engineering and Los Alamos National Laboratory

Samueli School of Engineering and Los Alamos National Laboratory
AY 2022-23 Graduate Fellowship Program
 

The Samueli School of Engineering has established a collaborative partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and has initiated a Call for UCI Engineering-LANL Graduate Fellowships. (See news announcement: https://engineering.uci.edu/news/2022/1/samueli-school-establishes-collaborative-partnership-los-alamos-national-laboratory

The UCI Engineering-LANL Graduate Fellowship sponsored by the Samueli School of Engineering is accepting nominations for fellowship consideration for AY 2022-23 for UCI Ph.D. engineering students who are interested in and have the academic ability to conduct a joint research project that fosters new collaborations between UCI engineers and LANL scientists. The one-year UCI Engineering-LANL Graduate Fellowship will annually support three (3) UCI engineering graduate students working in areas of joint interest with LANL. This fellowship provides unique training opportunities for graduate students and an important foundation for enhanced competitiveness for extramural support.

AY 2022-23 fellowships must focus on collaborative research and training activities in one of the following three targeted areas identified at the December 3, 2021 UCI-National Labs Connections Research Forum:

  1. Climate Change and Environmental Systems Science and Engineering
  2. Renewable Energy Research, Development, and Deployment
  3. Materials and Chemical Research

Fellowships will be awarded in one or more of the three targeted areas.

Fellows are funded for three academic quarters (Fall 2022 - Spring 2023) with standard nine-month stipend and tuition/fees support. Fellows are required to be co-mentored by a LANL scientist with active engagement; this engagement is project dependent and may include time spent at LANL. Identification of a LANL mentor and a collaboration plan is required at time of application. If no suitable mentor is identified at the time of the nomination, the LANL Partnerships and Pipeline Office will assist in finding a match but requires information via this google form received by Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Eligibility Requirements 

  • Students must be nominated by their dissertation advisor. Both student and advisor must have a primary appointment in the Samueli School of Engineering.
  • Nominees must be Ph.D. students who are in their 2nd, 3rd or 4th year as of Fall 2022. 
  • Nominees of all nationalities are welcome; however, since LANL is a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory, there are extra paperwork and screening requirements for non-U.S. citizens that could limit some non-U.S. citizen participation in this fellowship.
  • An identified LANL co-mentor is required at time of nomination who will also provide a support letter.

Nominations should be submitted via google form by April 15, 2022 and must include:

  • Nomination letter from the nominee’s dissertation advisor providing concurrence and approval of the proposed research, and indicating when the student advanced or will advance to candidacy (max of 2 pages).
  • A fellowship proposal (limited to 5 pages: 1” margins, 12 pt font, single spaced) that must include the following three sections: 1) Research Plan (3 pages), 2) Research and Academic Experience of the Student (1 page) and 3) Collaboration and Training Plan with LANL (1 page).  
  • Statement of support from the LANL mentor endorsing the nominee and committing to providing the necessary resources, mentorship and training as described in the proposal (max of 1 page).
  • The nominee’s CV or resume (max 2 pages) and UCI unofficial graduate transcript.

Applications will be reviewed by a joint Samueli School of Engineering-LANL committee. Each nominee will be evaluated for:

  1. Qualifications of the nominee and quality of academic preparation: The nominee’s academic record should demonstrate their potential to conduct successful research and make significant progress to degree with minimal start-up time, and include evidence of strong, appropriate preparation for the research through both coursework and prior research or training.
  2. Technical merit of the research plan: The results of the proposed research should make a significant advance in scholarship and should be appropriate for the level of the student’s stage in the Ph.D. program, and be feasible in the proposed one-year timeframe. Relevance of the research to LANL resources and mission must be clearly demonstrated, and endorsed by the LANL mentor.
  3. Strength of collaboration and training and potential for long-term collaboration with LANL: The quality and engagement of the LANL mentor and UCI dissertation advisor’s support and endorsement of the proposed research and training plan, and level of supervision should be evident. The strength of the collaboration and training plan should ensure the student receives adequate time and supervision and has access to all necessary resources. A proposal should demonstrate collaborative and integrated oversight by both the UCI faculty advisor and LANL mentor and a research plan that requires a collaborative approach with potential for future partnership.
  4. Additional considerations: Alignment of nominee with the diverse workforce needs of LANL. For the AY 2022-23 fellowship, the research plan will be also be evaluated for its alignment with one of the three targeted research areas as described above.

AY2022-23 UCI Engineering-LANL Graduate Fellows are expected to be announced July 1, 2022.

Questions related to this fellowship should be submitted to Dr. Lori Greene, Assistant Dean for Engineering Research Management, legreene@uci.edu