International PhD students in Life Sciences - what fellowships are there? (US)

[PaperTowels]

I've tried to look but it seems like the only major one available to non-citizen non-residents in the US is the HHMI fellowship.

 

This is quite competitive (more so than GRFP) and you must be nominated by your institution (and your institution must be one that has an agreement with HHMI) first before you can even apply.

 

Does anyone have experience with applying/getting the HHMI? Any tips on how to prepare the application, what to focus on? How many applicants were there in the past? Apparently this year there will be 50 awards.

 

I've seen a few extremely specific (narrow non-academic criteria), small scholarships which don't require citizenship or residency. They tend to be a few thousand, meant to cover expenses such as textbooks - so not terribly helpful when the chief benefit of a scholarship is covering funding so you can avoid needing to TA. Moreover, this seems like it could be a problem for applying to exclusive fellowships like HHMI, which does not allow second funding sources.

 

Excepting the HHMI, I haven't heard of any fellowship that accepts foreigners and can fully fund a student.

Edited October 17, 2014 by PaperTowels

[Cookie]

Unfortunately, international students are mostly funded as RAs or TAs. One STEM fellowship for intl students I can think of is Schlumberger Foundation's Faculty for the Future but it is for female only.

[th3catalyst]

I put together a list some time ago for our PhD students at the institution I attend. Unfortunately, the opportunities for international students are somewhat more limited than those for citizens but I did find a few, which may or may not still be available to apply for:

 

I've set it up as follows:

 

Opportunity

Field of Research

Agency

Time to Apply

Award Amount

Renewable?

Deadline

 

           

American Heart Predoctoral Fellowship

Cardiovascular Research

American Heart Association

After Candidacy

$23,000 stipend + $2000 fees

Renewable up to 2 yr.

 Due July 17^th, January 17^th

Dennis Weatherstone Predoctoral Fellowship

Autism Research

Autism Speaks

After 1^st Year

$22,000 stipend + paid tuit./fees

Renewable up to 2 yr.

Due October 2^nd

HHMI International Student Research Fellowship

Biomedical Sciences

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

2^nd or 3^rd Year

$43,000/yr

Renewable up to 3 yr.

Due (By Invitation Only)

November 28^th

Josephine de Karman Fellowship

Any discipline

Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust

Any time

$22,000 toward stipend

Not renewable

Due January 31^st

Predoctoral  Research Training Fellowship

Epilepsy Research

Epilepsy Foundation

After Candidacy

$20,000 toward stipend

Not renewable

Due August 23^rd

Student Training and Research in Tumor Immunology

Cancer Immunology

Cancer Research Institute

After Candidacy

$30,000/year

Renewable up to 2 yr.

CURRENTLY NOT FUNDING

AAUW International Fellowship

Any Field of Study

American Assoc. of University Women

1^st or 2^nd Year

$20,000 toward stipend

Renewable up to 2 yr.

Due December 1^st

UNESCO-L'OREAL International Fellowships Programme for Young Women in Life Sciences

Any field of Study

Unesco-L’oreal

Any year (lots of stipulations)

$20,000/year

Renewable up to 2 yr.

Due June 10^th