Term Length: Length of Degree
US Citizenship Not Required
Minimum GPA:

All awardees must be:

• a citizen of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or United Kingdom at time of application,
• 18 years of age or older as of August 1, 2018
• able to participate in summer internships at a DoD facility,
• willing to accept post-graduate employment with the DoD,
• a student in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale at the time of award and,
• pursuing a technical graduate or graduate degree in one of the disciplines listed on the About SMART page.

In addition:

Graduate applicants can be either currently enrolled in a regionally accredited U.S. college or university or awaiting notification of admission to such. If awaiting admission, you must be accepted for entrance in the fall 2018 term.

Graduate applicants must have taken the GRE and test scores must be reportable by ETS. Subject tests are not required.

Applicants MUST be pursuing a technical degree in one of the 19 STEM disciplines listed below. SMART will not fund any management or non-technical degrees. Students pursuing technical degrees related to the following are encouraged to apply:

The program is particularly interested in supporting individuals that demonstrate an aptitude and interest in conducting theoretical and applied research. As such, the program primarily targets “hand-on-the-bench” researchers and engineers. Individuals applying to the program should have a strong interest in working for the DoD as a civilian research scientist or engineer.

Participants in the SMART Scholarship for Service Program receive:

• Full tuition and education related fees (does not include items such as meal plans, housing, or parking)
• Stipend paid at a rate of $25,000 – $38,000 depending on degree pursuing (may be prorated depending on award length)
• Summer research internships
• Health Insurance allowance up to $1,200 per calendar year
• Miscellaneous Supplies Allowance of $1,000 per academic year
• Mentoring
• Employment placement at a DoD facility after graduation.

Upon selection, awardees are assigned to the DoD laboratory where he/she will be expected to serve as a summer intern and complete a period of post-graduation employment service as a DoD civilian. The employment obligation to the DoD civilian Science and Technology (S&T) workforce upon graduation is a one-to-one commitment. For each academic year of a Participant’s award, he/she is required to commit to one year (12 months) of civilian employment with the DoD. Participants who fail to comply with the degree completion and conferral time lines on their application will be required to provide an increased ratio of post-graduation service to length of award. Students will be placed in DoD laboratories in civilian positions and must be geographically mobile for placement following graduation.

The application must be completed online. The following are the sections of the application.

These are the areas of the application:

• Privacy Act Statement
• Contact Information
• Citizenship and Demographics
• Academic Background
• Proposed Area of Study
• Placement Preferences
• Professional Experiences
• Summary of Goals
• Interests and Research Explanation
• Community and Volunteer Work
• Leadership Experiences
• Teamwork Experiences
• Publications & Presentations
• Awards & Honors
• GRE Scores
• SAT/ACT Scores
• References
• Transcripts
• How Did You Hear About SMART?
• DoD Educational Programs
• Submission of Application