The Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship

The Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship is a one-year scholarship program for outstanding women graduate students and is designed to help increase the number of women pursuing a PhD. This program supports women in the second year of their graduate studies. Women who are interested in this scholarship must apply during first year of graduate studies. Scholarships are granted by Microsoft Research at the discretion of Microsoft.

Eligibility criteria

• Nominees for the Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship Program must be nominated by their universities, and their nominations must be confirmed by the office of the chair of the department. Direct applications from students are not accepted.
• Student must be enrolled as a full-time graduate student in the Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Mathematics department (if your department is within the scope of these areas, but is titled differently, you are eligible).
• Students must be enrolled in their first year in a graduate program in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or Bioinformatics/Information Science for academic year 2014–2015. Students who have already completed a two-year MS/MA degree or equivalent are also eligible, provided they are enrolled in the first year of a PhD program.
• A maximum of three applicants per department, per university will be accepted. A total of nine applicants total per university will be allowed.
• Payment of the scholarship awards, as described above, is made directly to the university. The recipient must remain enrolled in a graduate program during the 2015–2016 academic year or forfeit the award.

Scholarship Worth:

• The scholarship recipient award includes US$15,000 for the 2015–2016 academic year.
• A conference and travel allowance of US$2,000 is provided for recipients to attend a conference in their field of study.
• Scholarships are awarded to recipients for one academic year only and are not available for extension or renewal.
• The recipient must remain as active, full-time student, enrolled in graduate programming during the academic year of the award or forfeit the award.

How to apply

• Applications must include: Applicant’s curriculum vitae, a copy of the student’s undergraduate transcript, and two (2) letters of reference from individuals who are familiar with the applicant’s work. Of these letters, one (1) letter of recommendation should come from the student’s graduate advisor and one (1) letter of recommendation should come from the student’s undergraduate advisor or another academic who is familiar with the student’s undergraduate work (should include any research work, if applicable).
• In addition to the application materials above, student must submit a 500-word essay that describes their research interest and how this scholarship would enable their success.
• Applications must be submitted online via the application tool in any of the following formats: Word document, text-only file, or PDF. All application materials must be submitted by the person designated as the application contact by the departmental chair’s office and must not be the applicant.
• Applications are accepted only when submitted via the online application tool by eligible university department chairs or their designee (students may not apply directly). Emailed or hard copy applications are not considered

Apply Now for the 2015/2016 Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship Program

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship Program