Applications for these awards should be sent to schmidt.fellows@gmail.com in electronic format as a PDF file. Please read the Award PDFs for details on eligibility, and how to apply for each award.
Please contact schmidt.fellows@gmail.com with questions.
The Schmidt Family Foundation is once again generously funding research and mentorship awards for research in any field with clear links to environmental sciences for UCSB students. For these awards strong emphasis is placed on advancing science that has direct application for environmental problem solving. Additionally, strong emphasis is placed on supporting candidates that contribute to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in environmental sciences. These awards are open to graduate students and undergraduates from all departments within UCSB.
Environmental Solutions Research Accelerator Awards
These awards facilitate graduate students to conduct summer research by providing salary, tuition or field costs ($8,000 per student).
To know details on eligibility and application process please view/download the Environmental Solutions Research Accelerator Awards pdf.
Environmental Solutions Research Grant Awards
These awards are intended to provide partial support to advanced doctoral students to improve the overall quality of their research program ($15,000 per student, graduate students are typically at a more advanced stage of their research than for the Accelerator awards).
To know details on eligibility and application process please view/download the Environmental Solutions Research Grant Award pdf.
Environmental Solutions Summer Research Mentorship Awards
These awards support the development of graduate and undergraduate research pairings in these fields through a mentoring program that pairs an undergraduate with a graduate student mentor ($9,000 per pair).
To know details on eligibility and application process please view/download the Environmental Solutions Summer Research Mentorship Awards pdf.
Please note that while a student may apply for multiple Schmidt Awards, no student may receive multiple awards. Previous award recipients are eligible if they are applying for an entirely new project.
Funding is flexible and can be used, for example, to support field costs, or directly support both graduate and undergraduate students (e.g. through GSR, work-study, or hourly wages) to enable them to focus their time on research. Please note that this year for the mentorship awards undergraduates and graduate students may submit applications separately (and will then be matched by the fellows program) or jointly (if a partnership has already been identified).