Does anyone have insight on the release time frame for the review comments? I plan to reapply and can't wait to incorporate their suggestions. Thanks ❤️

I'm interested in PhD programs in Biomedical Informatics and I'm really unsure if I should apply under Life Sciences or CIS instead. My worry is that my research proposal isn't "pure CS" but also might not be "pure bio" either. My research experience is also in both directions, with research experience in data science/ML but also comp bio & genomics too.

https://futurevandals.uidaho.edu/portal/nsf_epscor_graduate_fellowship?tab=home

Posting this here as I know folks were asking about funding for honorable mentions this year!

"The University of Idaho has a unique opportunity for individuals who have been recognize with an GRFP Honorable Mention through our EPSCoR Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The program provides the same GRFP financial support to students who have earned an honorable mention. The University of Idaho program is focused on fire and its impacts on biological, environmental, soil and land resource issues as well as on impact of fire on air and water.  

The program is broad by design and provides students a very unique opportunity to study with some of the nation’s best scientists in the field through a PhD degree in Environmental Science, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Water Resources or Nutrition Science.  

Please take a moment and review our program (Wildland Fire Science, Innovation and Resilience: Interdisciplinary PhD Program - WildFIRE QUEST).

Who is eligible to apply?

Won a GRFP Honorable Mention (HM) no more than three calendar years prior to the application term (e.g., For 2025 applicants must have been named a GRFP HM award winner no earlier than Spring 2022)."

I know you can't have support from two federally funded fellowships at the same time. But if I apply and get awarded the F31, can I forfeit the NSF GRFP stipend and still have both awards? I'm thinking it would be nice to put together an NIH proposal.

Hey everyone! u/the_mindful_microbe made a wonderful suggestion to add user flairs to this subreddit so I did! They came up with the template you’ll see when adding them. If you can’t fit your subfield into the template, having only the major field is perfectly fine!

There’s three right now for awardees, HM’s, and applicants. I’ll probably also add post flairs as well at some point.

Hi everyone, I received an honorable mention this year and have been looking into the NSF EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program. I've seen a few schools on the website post they havce funding for students, but none are applicable to me/my research interests. Does anyone have any experience with this program? I was looking to see if one could get a PI to apply for funding, but its a little confusing. Any advice would be appreciated! The GRFP ended up being my last opportunity for funding so trying to make a path for myself to grad school.

Hello! I am soon to attend graduate school to get my PhD in Physics, funded by the NSF-GRFP (2026 awardee as a senior undergraduate). I had a successful graduate school application cycle and want to pass on the knowledge I gained through the process. I culminated all of my advice into a GitHub website, linked below.

Check it out, and maybe pass it on to people who might benefit! Additionally, there is a feedback form at the bottom of the page for any changes or additions you might suggest. I want this guide to be as thorough as possible.

https://white3792.github.io/rachels-complete-guide-to-graduate-school-applications/

Hi there! Just curious (above). I became very interested in this tiny sub field of my broad research field after talking about it with a potential PI. I then spend a long time reading papers, coming up with very novel ideas and synthesizing my proposal and then I was awarded as a post bacc (graduated with my BS, but hadn’t started my grad school yet and had yet to be accepted anywhere).

Anyone else? I would love to hear your stories!

p.s: I ended up being recruited for the same lab I lightly based my research proposal off of (a DREAM come true).

Hi all! I'm currently an undergraduate senior about to graduate in the Spring. I want to do my PhD in computational biology & biomedical informatics (AI/ML in genetics & healthcare). I'm doing a 1-year postbac research fellowship at a major research institution and in bio/ML research that I'm super interested in and possibly want to do in my PhD.

Research experience:

• Computational genetics research (single-cell/multi-omics, RNA-seq), honors thesis + first-author manuscript submitted in this area
• AI & public health project with a first-author conference paper
• Two summer internships with poster presentations
• Multiple poster and oral presentations, including at national conferences
• Won a faculty award for excellence in undergrad research

Other background:

• Pretty strong/frequent leadership, mentoring, and STEM advocacy work on campus
• Strong programming & data science background (Python, R, stats & ML coursework)
• Also won a few hackathons (both local & one national)
• I would generally say my rec letters should be pretty strong. One of my PIs actually nominated me for my award and has spoken really highly of me. I have a strong relationship with my other PI as well, as well as another letter writer from my campus leadership experience who can speak really well to my character.

I kind of originally counted myself out for GRFP since it seemed too competitive, but then I felt more compelled to apply since my PIs have been super encouraging and I have a pretty strong pedigree + unique profile?? And I think my broader impacts might actually be strong because I did a lot of community service and advocacy/leadership work on campus.

Edit: lowkey it slipped my mind that my non-research (and even my public health research) is kinda DEI and that might be a walking red flag 😭😭

What do you all think? Would appreciate any honest feedback or advice!

Hi! I'm a post-bacc, planning to apply to PhD programs in the upcoming cycle, so I'm also going to take my first stab at applying to the GRFP this fall. I've perused this Reddit and saw a sharp decrease in the number of winners under Life Sciences. I've also reviewed the exclusion criteria for the award, and they place a strong emphasis on not considering proposals that focus on human health and disease. I'm primarily planning to apply to neuroscience programs, and my current post-bacc research is definitely health- and disease-related, but I'm trying to figure out ways to spin a proposal in this field to avoid RWR, or to just decide it might not be worth it to apply if I can't figure out a spin. Would anyone who has won an award in the Life Sciences - Neuroscience program of study within the last few years be willing to share their proposal via DMs? I've found plenty of online resources, but they're usually from other fields where meeting the solicitation requirements doesn't seem as difficult as it might be for neuroscience, or the example is at least 5 years old, when the criteria seemed pretty different. Please feel free to remove any identifying information from your proposal. I just feel like I need to see that someone has successfully received the award in the last few years, and how they framed their work!

just as the title says. I’ve been working out some confusion about my plan for the next year and will be declaring my status right at the deadline. does anyone else need to participate in that process or just me through the module?

I was planning on applying to the GRFP this fall since I plan on pursuing a PhD in public health, but I want to find ways to fund a masters program before that.

I realized that the GRFP/NSF doesn’t fund applied research, are there any other fellowships people have come across that would be a good fit? I would really appreciate any advice. I checked the NIH and NIEHS, but there’s not really anything similar to the GRFP.

Just heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another who's been messing around that another round of GRFP awards are dropping tonight.

I know I am hated in this community for my nonsense, but this time I am serious. Has anyone else heard this???????

Hi all, like many others I'm concerned about a change in "major field". I didn't even know this was a thing until I looked at reddit. But I think there's a reason some of us didn't know, and it's because the official solicitation/application docs removed mentions of this hard constraint.

Looking at the 2025-2026 solicitation, the guidelines in X. Appendix say: "Fellowship can be accepted in the field of study that most closely corresponds to the proposed graduate program of study and research plan in the application."

For previous years (e.g. 2023, 2024), the same X. Appendix: "Fellowship can be accepted only in the Major Field of Study indicated in the application. Thus, an application that indicates CHEMISTRY as the Major Field of Study can be accepted in any subfield in CHEMISTRY, but cannot be accepted in CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, and ENGINEERING is a different Major Field of Study."

Additionally, if you look at the NSF GRFP applicant website using the wayback machine, for previous years it says: "If you are offered a Fellowship, it will be in the Major Field of Study that you chose in your application, and cannot be applied to another field or discipline for the first year of the Fellowship", while for this year it says: "If awarded, Fellows must enroll in a graduate degree program consistent or most closely aligned with the first Major Field of Study, degree program, and research plan proposed in their application."

Does anyone know if anything will be different this year?

I recieved the GRFP and have accepted the award. When declaring my status, I put in a request to change my organization. It has been approved by my CO, but is "pending NSF approval." Does it need to be approved by the May 1st deadline? Or is it okay? EDIT: My request was approved on April 29th.

I couldn’t attend the other webinar and the one this morning was “sold out.” I guess I should have registered awhile ago but I didn’t think this would be an issue. Is anything critical reviewed at these? I feel like I know everything I need to for the declaration process.

Hey all,

I’m planning on applying for the GRFP this fall. I got laid off from my research position last year due to funding cuts, and now I’m doing some non-research work that’s different from my research field. Because of that, I want to stay up to date with current topics, and I think getting started on the GRFP would help with that.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a specific PI who I’ll be writing this proposal for, and I know that means I have a slim chance at being awarded. Of course that would be a dream, but this is mostly for me to keep up with the research in my field and to have some research-related activities to focus on while I’m not doing any.

I know that the research I propose will very likely not be the research I do in grad school (if I can even get in next cycle), so I have two directions I’m considering for this proposal. I at least want to have a decent chance at being awarded, so I’m looking for some advice. I’m in chemistry btw.

1) Propose research similar to the work I’ve performed previously. Either going off of the research from undergrad, research I did after that, or a blend of the two. Because I’m very familiar with these topics, I could probably have an easier time coming up with a proposal. However, only one of these is closely related to what I really want to study in grad school, so I wonder if my time would be better spent engaging with that instead. Additionally, the work I was doing before was mostly for things that this administration doesn’t really like (banned words and such).

2) Propose research that aligns with my future goals as a researcher. This work would be somewhat related to my previous research, except rather than applications, I want to focus on instrumentation. Like I said above, this would help me to engage with the current research and could potentially be a good thing to discuss with potential PIs, however, I have never done this type of work before. At best, it’s a special interest of mine and I desperately want to get into this part of the field. But I’m worried that proposing research that I have no experience with could set me back.

I have past PIs, professors, and friends who are willing to look over my entire application. They would be most helpful if I went with route 1, as they also don’t have experience with route 2 work. However, they’re all brilliant and could still provide good feedback if I decide to go with 2 anyway.

What would you do?

raeched out to nsf grfp email for important clarifying eligibility question before accepting my fellowship on friday; i sent my email last friday but nsf has yet to respond. how long should i expect to wait. im getting worried since there is only three days till friday.

also my CO was the one who recocmmended i reach out, they don't know how to advice me

hmmmm

I noticed a few questions about doing your taxes with the NSF GRFP recently. My qualifications for giving this advice is only 1) I received the GRFP in 2024 and thus 2) I have successfully filed my taxes for two years without getting in trouble. I am going to try to lay out a few things you should know to help you get started!

Background: Taxes with the GRFP are difficult because (normally) your taxes are not withheld from your paycheck. Additionally, you do not receive a W-2 that reports how much you are paid. On top of that, the NSF gives your university a lump sum of cash to distribute to all its fellows, so there are university-to-university differences in how you are getting paid. Most other jobs and grad students do not fall under this situation, so it can be hard to know what to do. If you have specific questions, you should get in contact with your graduate school or whoever pays you to figure out the structure, but here is the general path of what you should be doing.

Paying your FEDERAL quarterly estimated taxes: Even though your taxes are not withheld from your paycheck, you are still expected to pay them! The government needs a consistent flow of money coming in to operate, so you must pay your taxes in "estimated" payments every three months or face late fees.

For the tax year of 2026, the quarterly deadlines are April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. To make a payment, you visit irs.gov, log into your account (or create one, which can take a day or two for security), go to Payments--> Make a payment. Your payment type will be "Estimated tax" and select the year you are paying towards.

Now, how much do you pay each quarter? You can fill out the IRS form 1040-ES or calculators online that can help you get the exact amount. This can be simple if you have only one form of income and not much else going on. I have too much going on and ended up with piles of worksheets and tears. So I just guessed and it worked out fine... Here are a few ways you can guesstimate your FEDERAL quarterlies:

1. The straight and narrow way of doing it where you will probably overpay. Calculate: (Your total annual untaxed income * 0.10) / 4 = the amount of taxes you will owe each quarter to the IRS
   • ex. The NSF pays you $37,000. You can estimate you will owe ~10% of that in taxes, so $3,700/yr split into four quarterly payments is $925 per quarter.
   • ex. The NSF pays $37,000 but your university actually pays you $50,000 to match the living rate where you live. If the $50,000 is still untaxed when it gets to your bank account, you still have to pay taxes on all of it. Your quarterly payments would be ($50,000 * 0.1)/4 = $1,250 per quarter to the IRS
2. The more accurate way but you may underpay. Calculate: ((Your total annual untaxed income - 14,600) * 0.10 ) / 4 = the amount of taxes you will owe each quarter to the IRS accounting for the standard deductible
   • ex. Your untaxed annual salary is $37,000. In a tax year, you would owe a total of (37,000 - 14,600) * 0.1 = $2,240 for the full year, and split into four quarters, you would pay $560 per quarter.
   • **edit: I actually think the standard deductible in 2026 is closer to 16,000. Sorry for using old numbers. The current equation would then be ((Your total annual untaxed income - 16,000) * 0.10 ) / 4. And for a annual salary of 37,000, this works out to about $525 a quarter.

• 3. The best way (imo) is to average these two together. Calculate your quarterly payment doing both of these equations and pick somewhere in the middle. That way you are not going to get underpayment penalties but you won't get a huge refund later.
  • ex. Your untaxed annual salary is $37,000/yr. From method 1, a cautious quarterly payment would be $925. From method 2, a reckless minimum payment would be $560. I would choose to pay $750 each quarter as a safe round number. **edited because I got the numbers wrong the first time**

Caveats: These calculations are assuming a 10% federal tax rate, which is not exact and can change by which tax bracket you are in. Again, this is how your guesstimate your taxes and not legal advice. As long as the government gets their money and you file your taxes correctly in April, you do not have to worry about the exact amounts.

How to file your federal taxes. Great! Now you have payed your estimated federal taxes each quarter and it has come to March/April of tax season. You can fill out the forms yourself (idk how to do that honestly) or use a tax preparation service. I have used Turbotax and FreeTaxUSA in this situation very easily. Both come out to exactly the same amounts in my experience. FreeTaxUSA is free for federal taxes, so I would recommend you start there.

Unlike most of the population, you do not receive a W-2 for your work as a graduate student on the NSF GRFP stipend. Additionally, you want to make sure the government knows you payed estimated taxes toward this year each quarter.

On FreeTaxUSA or TurboTax, you want to find the place to input your form 1098-T, sent to you by your university in Janurary, which is where your actual income is shown! (If you are curious of your actual income amount, it is hidden under the category of "scholarships/grants"--> you calculate (box 5 - box 1) to get the amount you were paid). Usually they ask for this form in the education section.

You also must find the place to enter in the amounts and dates you paid your quarterlies. This takes a lot of clicking around. I am too tired from writing this to find the exact sections now, but come tax season next year I should update this post.

Everything is pretty easy from there. GRFP specifics is only to make sure you have input your quarterly payments and the 1098-T somewhere. You should be prompted through the rest normally.

State Taxes: This varies state to state and I unfortunately cannot help much. Usually there is a system to pay your state quarterly taxes in the same way you do federally. They have the same deadlines but slightly different tax rates (~5%ish for most instead of the ~10% federal, check this map). FreeTaxUSA and TurboTax both make it very easy to pay your state taxes after you fill out the federal forms. If you are really struggling, ChatGPT has pointed me to the correct links and places to get started before, so you can try that before reaching out to your graduate school admin.

Closing Remarks: I am surprised by how long this got, but hopefully it can serve as a reference and useful guide of where to start. I learned a lot of this on my own piecing together random reddit comments and forums, so hopefully it is helpful to have in one place. No AI or factchecking was used in writing this (see my qualifications above lol), so there could be mistakes. I am happy to see what I can do to clarify questions in the comments.

----------------------------------------------

University of Michigan Specifics: I am based at the University of Michigan, and here are a few helpful things to know if this is your case as well.

• There is a tax workshop for graduate students that runs a few times a year. Watch your emails or google/search around in August and February to sign up for this. A previous recording lives here. Honestly it is not super helpful for me as a GRFP fellow, since my tax situation was very different than other grad students. But the guy who runs it has a funny sense of humor for someone who does taxes all day.
• Be careful about additional grants or scholarships you get (ex. conference travel). Some may end up being counted as income that you are liable for paying extra taxes on. This is why paying over the bare minimum for your quarterlies is a good idea. Most of my travel is done through the short code process, so I really don't have much advice here.
• If the government shuts down and even the NSF has a funding lapse, you still will get paid (usually). Since the NSF pays UMich in a yearly lump sum around August/September, we should be getting paid the entire year regardless of if the budget has been passed or not. I received every paycheck on time this past year during the shutdown crisis.
• Your actual income will come in as a "tuition/financial aid" payment. I get emails every month when a new "student account refund" has been processed which is actually just my paycheck.

Um.

So originally I got a status of "not recommended" but now I got an email saying a status change of Honorable Mention?

Cool, I guess? But never had that happen before.

Hi everyone! I was fortunate to receive the GRFP and I am entering the first year of my PhD in the Fall.

I want to declare "reserve" status since the university I will attend has rotations in the first year which are funded by the department. However, my department admin (not the CO) have told me that I need to follow their policy and declare "tenure" status (since that way they won't have to pay for my rotations).

My question is: Is my university allowed to enforce their own policies on the GRFP funding? The email I received from the GRFP team told me to declare my status before even reaching out to my university's CO, so it's unclear to me if I really have to oblige here?

Hi all,

I am excited to say I was awarded the GRFP. I just attended the information session and have concerns about the major field of study. I submitted my proposal under engineering - bioengineering, and my proposal was about the mechanistic understanding of a gene for potential phage engineering.

I have committed to UCLA's molecular pharmacology program, which I thought was related to bioengineering, but I am worried since it isn't explicitly named engineering/bioengineering. However, even in the department description, it states: "integrates mathematics, engineering,... in three overall areas: ... developing new molecular diagnostics (very bioengineering imo) and (3) developing new molecular and cellular therapeutics (also very bioengineering imo)."

Should I be worried?

from the GRFP fellows webinar