FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Assistantships:
Qualified students are eligible for research or teaching assistantships and/or fellowships, which provide full tuition in addition to the stipend. It is our policy to admit only those students who are eligible for full support and to appoint only as many positions as can be supported by external research funds. Support is normally continued through the duration of an individual's program but is contingent on satisfactory performance and academic progress.

Fellowships:
Graduate students may also be supported by special fellowships sponsored by NIH, as described in the previous section on Bioprocessing, IGERT, and Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories. In addition, the department has an endowed scholarship fund to supplement excellence in graduate studies--the Melvin M. Smith Scholarship. In all cases these are offered to students who have demonstrated outstanding academic records and shown potential for excellent research. The NIH fellowships are given to trainees on biotechnology and the Battelle fellowship is awarded on a college-wide competitive basis.

NSF IGERT Fellowships:
WSU is a 1999 recipient of an NSF IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training) grant focused on environmental science and engineering. This grant provides funding for US PhD students from a variety of disciplines, including Chemical Engineering, working in the Center for Multiphase Environmental Research (CMER). Our program is designed to provide a unique educational experience, including both international and domestic internships at national laboratories, industrial sites, Indian Nation environmental departments, or regulatory agencies; laboratory rotations; specialized course work; instructional mentoring, and research mentoring. Participants work side-by-side with students from other disciplines in co-located laboratories in the CMER. Additional information can be found at http://www.cmer.wsu.edu

NIH Fellowships:
In 1989, WSU was one of the first nine universities to be awarded an NIH Predoctoral training fellowship grant, largely due to the combined efforts of the Biochemistry and Chemical Engineering Departments. Our program is designed to train doctoral students in chemical engineering and the life sciences for careers in biotechnology. For chemical engineers, this program offers a core biotechnology course taught by various members of the participating faculty in addition to the departmental courses in bioprocessing, interdisciplinary hands-on training via laboratory rotations at WSU, and an internship of 3-6 months duration in the biotechnology industry. Participating entities include Genentech, ZymoGenetics, Amgen, Somatogen, Bristol Myers-Squibb and the Naval Research Laboratory. This program is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Qualified candidates are eligible to enter this program as NIH Fellows. Additional information can be found at http://molecular.biosciences.wsu.edu/biotech.html.