Deadlines
- Northeastern: 11/03/2023
- Fellowship: 11/03/2023
Contact
If you meet the eligibility criteria and are interested in applying for this fellowship, please fill out a preliminary questionnaire. You may contact the office with any questions.
Award Details
The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship is a highly competitive, portable fellowship that is awarded to U.S. citizens and nationals who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in one of fifteen supported disciplines. NDSEG confers high honors upon its recipients, and allows them to attend whichever U.S. institution they choose. NDSEG Fellowships last for three years and pay for full tuition and all mandatory fees, a monthly stipend, and medical insurance.
The Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to increasing the number and quality of our nation's scientists and engineers, and towards this end, has awarded nearly 3,400 NDSEG fellowships since the program's inception in 1989.
The broad research area disciplines include, but are not limited to:
Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Astrodynamics
Biomedical Engineering
Biosciences (includes toxicology)
Biotechnology (separate from Biosciences)
Chemical Engineering
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Cognitive, Neural, And Behavioral Sciences
Computer and Computational Sciences
Cyber Sciences (to include “hard” networks, cybersecurity, disinformation)
Electrical Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering (Includes Undersea Systems)
Oceanography (Includes Ocean Acoustics, Remote Sensing, And Marine Meteorology)
Physics (Including Optics)
Political, Economic, and Sociocultural Sciences
Quantum Science
Space Physics
The Government may revise the aforementioned disciplines annually to ensure relevancy to the Defense mission is maintained.
Term Length: 3 Years
US Citizenship Required
To be eligible for the NDSEG Fellowship, you must meet 5 basic criteria:
- Be a U.S. Citizen, U.S. Dual Citizen, or U.S. National (as defined below)
- Have completed your undergraduate studies prior to the commencement of the fellowship in September 2024
- Be applying to, accepted to, or currently enrolled at an accredited graduate-level institution within the United States
- Have at *least* THREE remaining years in your graduate degree program as of September 2024
- Be pursuing research in alignment with one or more specific topics identified in the Department of Defense’s Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs)
For the purposes of the NDSEG Fellowship, the term “U.S. National” designates a citizen of the United States or a native of a possession of the United States such as American Samoa. It does not refer to a citizen of another country who has applied for but not yet received citizenship. Persons who hold permanent resident status are not eligible to apply.
Candidates pursuing only a Medical Degree are not eligible for the NDSEG Fellowship.
If you complete an application, and are not selected, you can apply again as long as you continue to meet all of the eligibility criteria above.
Applications are also encouraged from women, persons with disabilities and minorities, including members of ethnic minority groups such as Native American, African American, Hispanic American, Native Alaskan (Inuit and Aleut) or Pacific Islander (Polynesian or Micronesian).
An evaluation panel in each discipline reviews all complete and eligible applications. Each application is evaluated by a panel whose expertise is in the science or engineering discipline of the applicant’s proposed doctoral degree program.
The evaluation of applicants is based on review of their entire online application, including academic records, personal statements, recommendations, and GRE scores. The top applications that are ranked by the evaluation panel are then forwarded on to the Department of Defense.
The DoD then selects applicants to receive NDSEG Fellowships based on an assessment of the applicants’ academic ability in fields of interest to the DoD. Selection of awardees is made by the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Each agency directly monitors the awards conferred to fellows in discipline areas closely related to its mission.
Official award notification is sent via email by the start of April. Award winners are expected to accept or reject the offer within two weeks of official notification. On average, 10% of reviewed applicants are selected to receive awards each year.
The NDSEG Fellowship Program will pay the fellow’s full tuition and required fees (excluding room and board).
Tuition and fee payments are paid based on the fellows’ matriculating institutions’ billing practices and electronically transferred directly to the educational institution’s financial institution at the beginning of each semester/quarter of enrollment.
If the fellow is not enrolled in an institutionally approved academic study and/or research during the summer months, financial support will not be provided.
NDSEG Fellowship will pay for the minimum health insurance coverage offered through the institution, up to a total value of $1,200. Any excess insurance costs will be the responsibility of the Fellow and can be paid using the stipend.
A complete application consists of the following:
Application Form.
How did these goals develop?
How have you already begun to lay the foundation for these goals?
How does this fellowship fit into these goals?
- Official undergraduate transcripts
- 3 References
- Graduate Record Exam Score (GRE) general test only.
Interested? Have Questions?
If you meet the eligibility criteria and are interested in a fellowship or opportunity, please fill out a preliminary questionnaire. Contact the office with any questions: