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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
College of Natural Science
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Graduate Student Awards

Graduate Travel Grant applications are solicited twice each year. Fall semester applications (e.g. for AGU Fall meeting) will be due in early October, and Spring applications will be due approximately the middle of February. We also offer the EES Alumni International/Domestic Travel Award, but this award is limited to those few graduate senior students who did not already receive such an award in their recruitment package.

The department offers several merit-based supplementary scholarships and awards to outstanding graduate students. All awards are independent, and student may be nominated/apply for multiple awards. **Applications are due each year in approximately late March. These awards include:

  • Pringle Academic Achievement Award for Graduate Students
  • Neal Research Award for Graduate Students
  • Aureal T. Cross Endowed Graduate Fellowship
  • Graduate Student Excellence in MS Thesis
  • Graduate Student Excellence in PhD Dissertation
  • Graduate Teaching Award

The Pringle, MS, PhD, and teaching awards are effectively cash awards, whereas the Neal and Cross awards are research funding awards. 

See below for information regarding required nomination materials (Link to 2025 Graduate Award Solicitation Letter).  The deadline for submission for all awards in 2025 is Monday, March 3 5:00PM.  Materials should be sent directly to the Graduate Director, Allen McNamara at allenmc@msu.edu with Graduate Secretary, Rachell Pickell (pickellr@msu.edu)  CCed.  Allen will send you a confirmation email shortly after receiving your materials – please inquire with Allen if you do not get confirmation from Allen within a few days after submission.

Pringle Academic Achievement Scholarship for Graduate Students

The Graduate Affairs Committee is soliciting nominations for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pringle Academic Achievement Scholarship.  This award is typically around $1,500 each, for up to 4 recipients.  This award is independent of the other awards (a student can be nominated/apply for multiple awards). Typically, students self-nominate for this award, but faculty may also nominate students. While the nomination is due in the spring of 2025, the award is given in the Fall 2026 and therefore, so the student must be enrolled at that time.

The nomination packet needs to include (in this order):

  1. A brief statement of professional goals [target length: ~250 words] (written by the student).
  2. A brief statement of current status. Current status means: year in program and accomplishments (milestones) to date in terms of degree requirements (e.g., graduate committee approved, orals and written comprehensives taken, etc.) [target length: a short paragraph] (written by the student).
  3. A brief nomination letter that demonstrates the student’s academic achievements and development of professional goals [target length: less than a page] (written by the student if self-nominating or by the faculty member nominating the student).
  4. A current MSU course transcript (i.e., the downloaded unofficial copy from MSU) (provided by the student).
  5. Academic CV of the student (provided by the student).

The nomination package must be a single pdf file (with materials in the order prescribed above). The nomination packet must be titled:  Pringle-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf.

Neal Research Award for Graduate Students

The Graduate Affairs Committee is soliciting research proposals for the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Neal Research Award.  The amount of this award depends upon the research proposal budget, the number of nominations, and the competitiveness of your nomination package.  We anticipate giving out 3 awards at about $1,800 each. This award is independent of the other awards (a student can be nominated/apply for multiple awards awards). Typically, students self-nominate for this award, but faculty may also nominate students. While the nomination is due in the spring of 2025, the award is given in the Fall 2026 and therefore, so the student must be enrolled at that time.

The nomination packet needs to include (in this order):

  1. A brief proposal justifying the research needs for the funds [target length: 250-500 words] (written by the student).
    Budget for the research funds [target length: less than 1 page] (written by the student).
  2. A brief statement of professional goals [target length: ~250 words] (written by the student).
  3. A brief statement of current status. Current status means: year in program and accomplishments (milestones) to date in terms of degree requirements (e.g., graduate committee approved, orals and written comprehensives taken, etc.) [target length: a short paragraph] (written by the student).
  4. A nomination letter that demonstrates the student’s academic achievements and development of professional goals [target length: less than a page] (written by the student if self-nominating or by the faculty member nominating the student).
  5. A current MSU course transcript (i.e., the downloaded unofficial copy from MSU) (provided by the student).
  6. Academic CV of the student (provided by the student).

The nomination package must be a single pdf file (with materials in the order prescribed above). The nomination packet must be titled:  Neal-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf 

Aureal T. Cross Endowed Graduate Fellowship

The Graduate Affairs Committee is soliciting nominations for Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Aureal T Cross Endowed Graduate Fellowship. This endowment is to be used by the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, to offer funding as the Department Chair deems appropriate for enhancing the attractiveness of department stipends to benefit graduate recruiting and/or provide grants to support individualized geological science graduate summer research projects.  We anticipate giving out 4 awards at about $2000 each.  This award is independent of the other awards (a student can be nominated/apply for multiple awards awards). Preference will be given to students whose interests are in paleobiology, stratigraphy, or related disciplines. Typically, students self-nominate for this award, but faculty may also nominate students. While the nomination is due in the spring of 2025, the award is given in the Fall 2026 and therefore, so the student must be enrolled at that time.

The nomination packet needs to include (in this order):

  1. A brief proposal justifying the research needs for the funds [target length: 250-500 words] (written by the student).
  2. Budget for the research funds [target length: less than 1 page] (written by the student).
  3. A brief statement of professional goals [target length: ~250 words] (written by the student).
  4. A brief statement of current status. Current status means: year in program and accomplishments (milestones) to date in terms of degree requirements (e.g., graduate committee approved, orals and written comprehensives taken, etc.) [target length: a short paragraph] (written by the student).
  5. A nomination letter that demonstrates the student’s academic achievements and development of professional goals [target length: less than a page] (written by the student if self-nominating or by the faculty member nominating the student).
  6. A current MSU course transcript (i.e., the downloaded unofficial copy from MSU) (provided by the student).
  7. Academic CV of the student (provided by the student).

The nomination package must be a single pdf file (with materials in the order prescribed above). The nomination packet must be titled:  Cross-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf 

Graduate Student Excellence in MS Thesis, PhD Dissertation, and Teaching Awards

Please see the nomination forms for these awards, which have been sent directly to the faculty. Only faculty can make these nominations.Please nominate your students and TAs!

The MS Thesis and PhD Dissertation awards are for completed (defended) theses and dissertations.  Admittedly, the March deadline for these awards is not ideal because many people graduating this year will not defend until April or May (or perhaps even summer), but we need to decide on these awards in March, to properly prepare materials for the awards ceremony.

Students and former students eligible for this award will have defended their thesis or dissertation between January 1st, 2024 (last year) and March 3, 2025 (this year’s deadline

Students defending after March 3, 2025 should be nominated for next year’s awards.  The MS Thesis and PhD Dissertation awards are honorary with no cash prize allotted.

The TA award is typically around $750. The TA award does not apply to any single semester of teaching; it is attributed to the accumulation of teaching service put forth by the student throughout their graduate career.  The student may receive more than 1 nomination (i.e., from multiple faculty) for the TA award.

The nomination form should be titled either: 

MS-Thesis-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf 

PhD-Dissertation-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf 

TA-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf 

Earth and Environmental Sciences Alumni International/Domestic Travel Award

Starting several years ago, all EES PhD students started receiving this award as part of their recruitment package.  Therefore, this award is only available to the few, more senior students that did not receive this award as part of their recruitment package. 

This award is made possible through the generosity of Alumni and friends of the Department, to support Ph.D. students to present their research at international (or domestic) conferences or workshops, or to attend international training programs. An International event may be within the United States; however, applicants are encouraged to consider venues abroad. Proposed activities should provide unique or exceptional opportunities for career development and networking. This award is not to be used for research activities such as field work or collaboration. After completion of international activities, recipients may be asked to submit a press release (article with one or more photos) to the department website or alumni newsletter.

This award provides funds up to $5,000 and may be used for only one trip (domestic or foreign). Funds may be used for reimbursable travel expenses including conference fees, transportation, per diem, and lodging.  You must remain in satisfactory academic standing, and your travel must comply with Michigan State University travel and reimbursement policies. Airfare must be purchased through the department office. Several months before you undertake your travel, please make sure to inform/remind your advisor as well as the Department Chair and/or Graduate Director, and properly submit your travel pre-authorization forms for approval.  Travel must be completed within one calendar year from receipt of the award.  We anticipate providing one award per year.  The maximum number of EES Alumni International Travel Awards that a graduate student may have in their graduate career at MSU is limited to one.  Furthermore, students must first pass all of their exam milestones (i.e., proposal, written exam, oral exam) before using this award.

Students should nominate themselves for the award.

Your application packet must include:

  1. Proposal for your trip [target length: 1 page].  If this is an international conference or workshop, please make sure to provide a description of the research that you plan to present.  If this is a training program, please make sure to clearly outline how it will benefit your career development. If this is an international activity, but is occurring within the United States, please specify how this activity will broaden your international scholarship and career opportunities.
  2. Budget with justification.  Please approximate all expenses if these details are unknown at the time of submission.
  3. A brief statement of current status. Current status means: year in program and accomplishments (milestones) to date in terms of degree requirements (e.g., graduate committee approved, orals and written comprehensives taken, etc.).  Also, please confirm that you have not received this award as part of your recruitment package.  [target length: a short paragraph].
  4. A brief letter of support from your advisor, stating how the trip will benefit your career development.  This can be short (a paragraph or two).
  5. Academic CV

The nomination package must be a single pdf file (with materials in the order prescribed above). The nomination packet must be titled:  InternationalTravel-2025-StudentLastName-StudentFirstName.pdf