FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Teaching and Research Assistantships
All graduate students are guaranteed support through the Department of Biology in the form of Teaching Assistantships. M.S. students are guaranteed 4 semesters of support, and Ph.D. students are guaranteed 10 semesters of support. Some students are supported on Research Assistantships if their graduate advisor has funds available. All assistantships include a full tuition waiver. A full breakdown of costs of attendance can be found on the Graduate School website.
Research Support
All graduate students are allotted modest funds to support research costs each year. These funds may be used for small equipment and consumable supplies.
The Vecellio Fund is an internal Biology Department fund that assists graduate students with research costs associated with traveling to field sites, or to take courses away from the Wake Forest campus. Applications are competitive, and should be addressed to the Vecellio Committee chair.
The Grady Britt Fund is an internal Biology Department fund that assist students in the area of parasitology/symbiosis. Funds may be used for a student’s research project, for travel associated with a student’s project, or for travel to scientific meetings
The Richter Scholarships are a College-wide vehicle to support extended travel away from Winston-Salem (international travel is particularly encouraged) in pursuit of research. Applications are competitive, and are due in February of each year.
Travel to Scientific Meetings
There are two sources of funds supporting graduate students traveling to national and international meetings to present research results:
The Graduate School offers support through the Alumni Travel Fund; awards are made on a first-come, first-served basis each fiscal year, and are limited to $300.
The Biology Department’s Elton Cocke Travel Fund awards students support up to $500. Funds are dispersed on a first-come, first-served basis. Students are guaranteed support for one meeting per year; requests for support to attend additional meetings may be granted if funds allow.
External Fellowships and Research Funding
Graduate students are encouraged to apply for support through external funding agencies; below is a list of sources our students have had success with:
Fellowships
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship program
Fulbright Foundation
NIH Predoctoral Fellowship program
Research Funding
Sigma Xi
National Geographic
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Experiment.com