Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Graduate Scholarships
Opportunities and Tips for Success
Renate Scheidler, Graduate Program Director
Graduate Research Seminar, September 15, 2015
Why Graduate Scholarships?
Benefits to the Applicant
 $$$
 Career booster
 More $$$ - scholarships beget more scholarships
Benefits to Others
 Save your supporters money
 Boost reputation of the University/Department
 Boost reputation of supervisor
2
Good Places to Start
 Department of Mathematics & Statistics website
Graduate
Fees & Funding
 Faculty of Graduate Studies website
Awards
Let’s start with scholarship opportunities …
NSERC Doctoral
Source: Government of Canada
Eligibility: Canadian Citizens and permanent residents
Time in Program: Max 2 years by Dec. 31 of app year
Application: NSERC Online Services Portal
Amount: 21K or 35K per year, for up to 3 years
Deadlines:
Notice of Intent to FGS (optional):
Graduate Committee review/feedback:
Transcript arrangements:
Faculty of Graduate Studies:
Notification:
Review: U of C and external
grad.ucalgary.ca/awards/tricouncil)
September 14
late September
October 8
October 15
end of March
NSERC Master’s
Source: Government of Canada
Eligibility: Canadian Citizens and permanent residents
Time in Program: max 1 year by Dec. 31 of app year
apply to up to 5 institutions
Application: Through NSERC Research Portal
Amount: 17.5K per year, for up to one year
Deadlines:
Graduate Committee review/feedback:
Transcript arrangements:
NSERC:
Notification:
mid November
November 16
December 1
April 1
Review: U of C Scholarship Review Committee
grad.ucalgary.ca/awards/tricouncil
Alberta Graduate Scholarships
Source:
Alberta Government
Eligibility:
Citizens and PRs with an Alberta address
Program:
Second year MSc
Amount:
$3000
Number:
Currently 4 awards
Deadlines:
Varies (usually November/December)
Review:
Graduate Program Director
Graduate Award Competition, I
Source:
Eligibility:
Program:
Amount:
Deadlines:
Various
Unrestricted
Mostly PhD, some MSc, University wide
Ranging from $750 to $60,000
Graduate Committee review/feedback:
Graduate Program Administrator (Yanmei):
Notification:
late January
February 1
by August
Review: U of C Scholarship Review Committee
grad.ucalgary.ca/awards/opportunities/gac
Graduate Award Competition, II
Izaak Walton Killam Pre-Doctoral
≤ 1 Math/Stat award, PhD, 36K, one year renewable
Open Doctoral
≤ 5 Math/Stat awards, PhD, 10K, one year
Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures
MSc 26.5K up to 2 years, PhD 31.5K up to 4 years
Areas: ICT, Nano Tech, Omics
grad.ucalgary.ca/awards/alberta_innovates
Special Awards
Check FGS Graduate Awards Database
Bursaries – based on financial need and merit
Queen Elizabeth II, Grad Studies
Source:
Alberta Government
Eligibility: Tri-council applicants who placed high, but were
unsuccessful in, tri-council competition
Program: MSc and PhD
Amount: MSc up to 10.8K, PhD up to 15K
Number: depends on number and quality of NSERC
applicants
Deadline: none (consideration is automatic)
Review:
U of C Scholarship Review Committee
Queen Elizabeth II, Department
Source:
Alberta Government
Eligibility:
Citizens and PRs with Alberta address
Program:
MSc and PhD
Amount:
MSc up to 10.8K, PhD up to 15K
Number:
at least 1 PhD, at least 2 MSc
Deadlines:
Graduate Program Administrator (Yanmei): late March
Faculty of Graduate Studies:
Review:
March 31
Ranked by Math & Stats Graduate Committee
Eric Milner Scholarship & Prize
Commemorates and honours the late Eric Milner, former
professor in our Department
Source: Math & Stats Department (Endowment)
Eligibility: Any math & stats graduate student
Amount: Scholarship: usually between $4200 and $5600
Prize: usually $1000 (for winners at funding cap)
Deadline: April 30
Notification: usually in July
Review: Eric Milner Scholarship Committee
“The successful candidate should have demonstrated not only
expertise in mathematics but also a capacity to share this expertise
with others, interacting with faculty members and other graduate
students.”
Winner gives a colloquium talk, usually in September or October
Travel Funding
Faculty of Graduate Studies
$500-$1000, depending on destination, one per degree
Open to any student who presents their work at a conference
6 deadlines, see Graduate Awards Database
Graduate Students’ Association
gsa.ucalgary.ca/grants
Department of Mathematics & Statistics
math.ucalgary.ca/graduate/fees_funding#funding_travel
Professional Societies (CMS, SSC, SOA, AMS, MAA, SIAM, AWM etc.)
External Agencies (PIMS, NSERC, AITF, MITACS etc.)
Conference/Workshop Organizers
Supervisors (with grants)
Other Awards
Vanier – for early PhDs, very prestigious, evidence of leadership
grad.ucalgary.ca/awards/opportunities/vanier
Various medals & awards from U of C, Faculty of Science, FGS
Best research, best thesis, best TA, most community outreach, etc.
Mathematics & Statistics GAT Excellence Award
For best TA, usually 5-6 per semester, $500-700 each
NSERC Industrial Postgraduate Awards
Needs industrial partner, ≥ 90% success rate
Open to international students
www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/students-etudiants/pg-cs/ips-besii_eng.asp
MITACS Accelerate - www.mitacs.ca/accelerate
Needs industrial partner, ≥ 90% success rate
General Recommendations
 Proactively apply for every award you are eligible for
 Identify a research topic early on (students, bug your
supervisors)
 Maintain an up-to-date CV/resumé and research
description; post them on your web page
 Read and act on notifications from Yanmei, me, FGS
 Attend info sessions (FGS, Dept, funding agencies, …)
 Arrange for reference letters in plenty of time
 Submit your application for review by the Grad Committee
 Before applying, educate yourself
10 Tips for Preparing a Successful
Scholarship Application
1.
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3.
4.
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9.
10.
Apply – a necessary condition to get the award
Read and follow the instructions
Inform yourself
Be mindful of your reviewing audience – avoid jargon
Emphasize motivation and significance
Organize your proposal (headings, white space, …)
Pay attention to evaluation criteria
Proof-read (multiple times!)
Get help and feedback
Start early and keep deadlines
1. Apply
Applying is a necessary condition to get a scholarship
 “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” (Wayne Gretzky)
Identify a research topic early on (with help from your
supervisor). It doesn’t have to your final thesis research.
Don’t wait until the first time you think you have a legitimate
shot at a scholarship to try preparing an application:
 Next time around, you are more experienced
 Your application has already been reviewed once, with
feedback
 Incorporating this feedback makes your next application
stronger
2. Follow the Instructions
This means that you actually have to read them first,
even if they are lengthy and complicated.
Read the entire instructions!
Instructions are mandatory, not optional. This applies to
 Format (e.g. max one page, 12pt font, 1in margin, …)
 Submission procedure
Before submission, double-check that you’ve followed all
the instructions.
3. Inform Yourself
The Faculty of Graduate Studies offers many great workshops
and information sessions – attend them!
Some helpful resources:
 FGS Tips for Success: grad.ucalgary.ca/awards/tip_for_success
 My 10 helpful hints for preparing a successful scholarship
application
math.ucalgary.ca/math/files/math/scholarship-hints.pdf
 Scholarship instructions, criteria etc.
 A fellow student’s successful application if possible
 Internet (google “successful graduate scholarship application”)
4. Mind your Reviewers
Most of the time, reviewers are not experts: not statisticians
or mathematicians, let alone experts in your area.
Write your research proposal in such a way that they can
appreciate your work. You need to convince them that
 Your research is cool, exciting, worthwhile
 You know what you are doing
Minimize use of technical terms, avoid jargon!
Two Research Proposal Openings
An algebraic curve over a field K is
defined to be the set of points in K2
whose coordinates are roots of a
multivariate polynomial with
coefficients in K. Algebraic curves
have important applications in
number theory, algebraic geometry
and topology.
Algebraic curves are mathematical
objects with a long and rich history.
They are the subject of intense research
in a wide variety of mathematical areas,
including number theory, algebraic
geometry and topology. Elliptic curves,
for example, are a crucial ingredient in
A. Wiles’ ground-breaking proof of
Fermat’s celebrated Last Theorem.
Elliptic curves are a special type of
algebraic curves. For most fields K, an
elliptic curve E can be described by an
equation of the form y2 = x3 + ax + b
with a, b  K. The points on E form an
abelian group under addition. When
K is a finite field, the discrete
logarithm problem in this group is
computationally very difficult. This
makes elliptic curves a highly suitable
mathematical tool for public key
cryptography.
In recent decades, algebraic curves
have additionally found their way into
important real world applications in
cryptography and coding theory. They
are employed for error detection and
correction in modern satellite
transmission, and ensure secure and
confidential communication across the
internet and in smart phones such as
the Blackberry.
5. Motivation/Significance and Objectives
Arguably the most important elements of your proposal!
Answer the following questions:
 Why care?
 Why do it?
 What is to be accomplished?
Need to state clear expected outcomes.
Fit your topic and contribution into the “big picture”.
6. Organization
Use self-contained sections or paragraphs, white space, etc.
Often, the instructions ask to address specific points. Use
these as section headers or devote a paragraph to each of
them, beginning with the point. For example:
 Motivation: why is this research worthwhile?
 Significance: why is it important?
 Objectives: what do you expect to accomplish?
 Proposed Research: what do you plan to do?
 Methodology: how will you do it?
You will not be held to the exact proposed research and its
outcomes. But you need to understand enough of the
research to answer the above questions convincingly.
7. Evaluation Criteria
You need to convince your scholarship reviewers that you perform
well in all the evaluation criteria:
 Academic excellence is almost always one of them
 There might be others: leadership, outreach, teaching, …
Choose your referees carefully:
 One of them should always be your supervisor
 The others should know you well, or at least well enough to
provide a meaningful assessment of you
Help your referees out:
 Give them plenty of lead time to write their letters
 Give them materials: copy of award description and evaluation
criteria, CV or resumé, transcript, proposal, reference form …
 Ask them to specifically address the evaluation criteria in their
letters
8. Proof-Read
Spelling errors, improper grammar, and poor writing style
weaken your application. They convey a message to
reviewers that you couldn’t be bothered, which is annoying
and disrespectful to them.
Proof-read your ENTIRE application – not just the research
proposal – MANY times.
For the proposal:
 Use a spell checker and grammar checker if possible
 If English is not your first language, ask a native English
speaker to proof-read and comment
 Even if English is your first language, ask a fellow student
or friend to proof-read and comment
 Return the favour to the fellow student
9. Get Help and Feedback
Work closely with your supervisor:
 It is their job to help you write your proposal
 It is NOT their job to write your proposal for you
After careful proof-reading, ask the following individuals to
review your proposal (in this order):
 Supervisor (possibly multiple times)
 Fellow student in your area
 Non-mathematician/statistician
 Graduate Committee
Be sure to take their advice. Carefully incorporate their feedback.
10. Deadlines and Time Management
Deadlines are firm!
 Unlike assignments in some courses, you don’t just get a 10%
penalty for late submission
 Funding agencies simply do not accept late applications
Frequently, the online submission website just closes down at
the cut-off time
 As a result, start working on your application early, well in
advance of the deadline. Suggested lead time: 2 months
 For external submissions, mind time zones (e.g. Ontario is
two hours ahead of Alberta, so midnight there is 10 pm here)
 Reviewing deadlines imposed by the Graduate Committee
should also be considered firm (you do not want to annoy us)
GOOD LUCK !!!
Questions?