PRESIDENTIAL MERIT FELLOWSHIPS

PURPOSE
The purpose of the Presidential Merit Fellowship is to provide research-oriented departments or programs with the means to recruit outstanding full-time, doctoral students with strong scholarly potential. The truly extraordinary doctoral students selected will be paired with leading mentors in GW’s strongest research areas, who will foster rich educational experiences for the Fellows and be mentors in the truest sense. In order to fuller promote a rich educational experience, departments are encouraged to structure the Presidential Merit Fellowships as a mix of fellowship, teaching assistantship and research assistantship over the course of the Fellows’ studies.

AWARD
The Fellowships consist of a stipend ranging from $19,000-$25,000 and 18-24 credit hours of tuition. (The students are responsible for all fees and credit hours beyond the number of credit hours designated by their specific award. The students’ departments or schools may, if they so choose, cover charges beyond the original award.) The awards are renewable, assuming students are in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress toward their degrees.

ELIGIBILITY
The recommended candidates must be incoming doctoral students with minimum GPAs of 3.5 and should be at the 85^th or higher percentile on the GREs. Higher GRE scores could offset a lower GPA and vice versa. International applicants must have passed the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a minimum score of 600 on the paper-based exam or 250 on the computer-based exam. In addition, and very importantly, each candidate must be a good match to a particular mentor or group of mentors.

CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL MERIT FELLOWS

• Kristin Baxter – A Fellow in the Institute of Biomedical Sciences whose mentor is Dr. Linda Werling.
• Rui Boliqueime Martins Diogo – A Fellow in the Hominid Paleobiology program whose mentor is Dr. Bernard Wood.
• Maryam Farmand – A Fellow in the Chemistry department whose mentor is Dr. Akbar Monaster.
• Brian Karlsson – A Fellow in the Political Science department whose mentor is Dr. Martha Finnemore.
• Erin Kelley – A Fellow in the Clinical Psychology program whose mentor is Dr. George Howe.
• Rupesh Kotapati-Apparao – A Fellow in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department whose mentor is Dr. Rajat Mittal.
• Mara Larson – A Fellow in the Psychology department whose mentor is Dr. Myeong-Ho Sohn.
• Laurie Lahey – A Fellow in the American Studies department whose mentor is Dr. Melani McAlister.
• Aaron Lorsong – A Fellow in the Institue of Biomedical Sciences whose mentor is Dr. Linda Werling.
• Katherine Myers – A Fellow in the Physics deaprtment whose mentor is Dr. Allena Opper.
• Bijit Roy – A Fellow in the Statistics department whose mentor is Dr. Nozer Singpurwalla.
• Radmila Sazdanovic– A Fellow in the Mathematics department whose mentor is Dr. Jozef Przytycki.
• Lauren Shababb – A Fellow in the English department whose mentor is Dr. Judith Plotz.
• Bing Yuan – A Fellow in the Public Policy department whose mentor is Dr. Hal Wolman.
• Yu Zhou – A Fellow in the Computer Science department whose mentor is Dr. Hyeong-Ah Choi.

APPLICATION PROCESS
Incoming students should contact the respective mentor for more information.

RENEWAL PROCESS – For Current Presidential Merit Fellows
Current Presidential Merit Fellows, if eligible for renewal of their award, will be mailed a renewal application from The Office of Graduate Student Assistantships and Fellowships during the Spring semester.

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