Ph.D. Fellowships + Support
If you have been accepted as a Ph.D. student in Bioengineering, you are what is known as “fully funded,” which means that funding will be provided for you that includes tuition, health insurance, and a stipend. Your funding may come from several sources: the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the department of Bioengineering, research grants of the faculty, institutional training grants, industrial sources, as well as funding from direct federal and foundation fellowships to you.
We encourage all students to apply for graduate training fellowships during their graduate studies. Those of you who apply for and win fellowships prior to matriculating to Penn gain tremendous flexibility in choosing a lab for your research.
Any Ph.D. student awarded an extramural individual fellowship may qualify for a one-time $3,000 bonus in addition to the standard stipend.
Below you’ll find some of the most common sources for fellowships and Ph.D. training support. To help you in your fellowship search, the school offers proposal writing workshops annually.
Special University of Pennsylvania Fellowships
- NIBIB-HHMI Interfaces fellowship program available for students interested in Biomedical Imaging and Informational Science
- At https://www.curf.upenn.edu/fellowships are fellowships mainly geared towards undergraduates, but some may be of interest to grad students
- University of Pennsylvania Center for Graduate/Professional Student Finance
Government and Foundation Sponsored Fellowships
- National Institute of Health (NIH)
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- The Hertz Foundation fellowship support for PhD students in the physical, biological and engineering sciences
- Department of Defense SMART scholarship
- National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program
- National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering & Science Fellowships
- National Physical Science Consortium Graduate Fellowships
- Health Canada Fellowship Programs
Diversity Fellowships
- Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships
- University of Pennsylvania Fontaine Doctoral Fellowships for Underrepresented Minorities
- Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study Excellence and Diversity in the Life Sciences
- Google Lime Scholarship for Students with Disabilities
- Microsoft Graduate Fellowship for Women
- Google Anita Borg Scholarship
- Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
- Horizons Foundation Scholarship was established to encourage women to pursue careers related to the national security interests of the United States
- National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering & Science Fellowships
- The PEO Foundation supports graduate education for women with scholarships
- American Anthropological Association fellowships
- L’Oreal USA Fellowships for Women In Science (postdoctoral)
- United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation (UNCFSP)
Other Resources
- Scientific Chateaubriand Fellowship travel abroad
Microsoft Graduate Fellowship - Gates Millennium Scholarship Program
- FastWeb – largest and most complete source of scholarships available-www.fastweb.com/
- Penn Career Services: Funding Information For Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows
Doctoral Program:
Your BE Contact:
Kathleen Venit
Associate Director, Graduate Programs
240 Skirkanich Hall
Graduate Student Groups:
Graduate Association of Bioengineers
Graduate Student Engineering Group