New Graduate Student Fellowships    

The College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies is offering fellowships to recruit exceptional new graduate students to matriculate for the 2026-2027 academic year. The fellowships are made to incoming graduate student in the form of a Graduate Assistant - Researcher (GAR). Successful candidates will receive 12 months of salary, medical, tuition, and mandatory fees covered (24 SCHs per year), spanning for 1 or 2 calendar years, depending on the award category below.

Categories It is anticipated that funding will be available to support both (i) 1-yr fellowships for thesis-option Master’s Students and (ii) 2-yr fellowships for new PhD students, pending final budgetary and applicant pool review. The MARB and MCMS PhD programs will each receive at least one 2-yr award. The graduate committee chair of nominated students must be adlocked to the College of Marine Science and Maritime Studies. Graduate committee chairs may only submit one nominee in each category for the 1-yr versus 2-yr awards.

Expected outcomes Those in receipt of a Graduate Student Fellowship are expected to pursue academic excellence and to distinguish themselves through publications, conference presentations, or other discipline-specific indicators of research success and future promise. In addition, fellows are anticipated to provide campus leadership among graduate students, model TAMU core values, and will be well-positioned for employment upon graduation.

 

Application Requirements
The potential graduate committee chair is required to:

  • Submit a nomination letter for each student that includes a post-award plan of financial support
  • If nominee is applying to a Galveston-based program, the complete application must be submitted (including the letter of support, if applicable)
  • Provide the TAMU Admissions Application for their candidate(s) for potential Galveston-based graduate students applying to matriculate into College Station programs (OCNG, EEB, OCEN)
  • No input is required from the potential graduate student

 

Application & Evaluation Process

All items above must be received by Research and Graduate Studies (RGS) by Thursday, January 1, 2026. Nomination form and TAMU based applications must be submitted to gradstudies@tamug.edu. RGS will compile faculty nomination letters and candidates’ admission application for subsequent evaluation.

Candidates in each pool (MS vs. PhD) will be wholistically ranked, and the ranking criteria applied by the Research Advisory Council (RAC) will consider: (i) prior academic achievement, (ii) preparatory activities for graduate school, (iii) external reference letters submitted during admissions process, (iv) the candidate's admissions application, and (v) the nomination letter from the potential faculty graduate chair.