ECE Development and Research Excellence Award

The ECE Development and Research Excellence Award provides financial support to PhD and MS research students for attending conferences and covering research-related expenses. These awards are designed to help students advance their research, share their work with the academic community, and participate in professional development opportunities. The process outlined here establishes transparent and fair criteria for the distribution of these awards.

Annual Budget and Distribution

The annual budget for the ECE Development and Research Excellence Awards is updated to $2,500 per semester. The awards will be distributed twice a year with the following structure:

• Awards will be provided to the best students who meet the specified criteria.

• Honorable mentions will be awarded to students whose work demonstrates exceptional merit and warrants recognition.

The awards will be distributed in January (Spring Award) and July (Summer / Fall Award), allowing ample time for recipients to use the funds.

Eligibility:

The awards are open to both funded and unfunded PhD students, as well as MS research students. Awards are intended to cover full expense items, specifically conference registration fees, travel expenses related to conferences or research, and paper submission fees.

Awards must be used within the fiscal year (ending June 30). The deadlines for expense submission are as follows:

• For Spring Awards, the application deadline is December 31.

• For Summer Awards, the application deadline is July 1.

These deadlines ensure compliance with Rutgers’ reimbursement policy which requires submission within 60 days of the expense or event. For conferences occurring in the mid-June to late-July timeframe, applications should be submitted as early as possible. The department will prioritize expediting decisions on a case-by-case basis to accommodate these conferences

Selection Process

The Graduate Student Mentoring Committee will handle the selection of award recipients. The committee will

• Review applications submitted through the link on ECE website and the ECE GSA web site.

• Select awardees twice per year, once in the fall and once in the summer, after each submission deadline. 

Committee members with conflicts of interest, such as when their own students apply, will recuse

themselves from the selection process. The awards will be announced a few weeks after the submission deadlines to ensure that recipients are informed by the beginning of the respective semester.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Relevance of the conference or event to the student’s research – 40%

• Academic performance and progress in the program – 20%

• Financial need, with priority given to students without other funding – 20%

• Contribution to the department (e.g., mentoring, teaching) – 10%

• Alignment with department diversity goals (e.g., supporting underrepresented students) – 10%

• Preference will be given to first-time recipients of the award.

Application Process

Students must submit their application through this Dropbox link https://www.dropbox.com/request/NrNAZGln7lcVsQqLSYTI. The application must include the following and be submitted by December 31st.

• Conference details and relevance to their research

• Justification for financial support

• Estimated budget and any other sources of funding

• A current CV

• Official or unofficial transcripts

• A letter of support from their advisor

More information can be found here. 

Reach out with any questions and we look forward to receiving your applications. 

Best,

Katie Yu

ECE Graduate Program Coordinator