Major support helped attract Lindsey Gulden, Ph.D. '09, to the JSG.
The climate researcher is currently working at ExxonMobil.
Prestigious Graduate Fellowships Help School Attract Best Students
Geoscience programs are largely measured by the quality of their graduate students, in part because they do a significant amount of the program's research. When they succeed in their research, they push their fellow students and professors to achieve more. And then after graduation, as they make their way through their careers, their successes enhance the reputation of the school.
"To be the best, we need graduate students operating at a professional level, publishing, going to scientific meetings, winning awards, and getting the highest level jobs at top institutions," said Steve Grand, chair of the Department of Geological Sciences and former graduate advisor.
For many students, the availability of secure financial support can be the critical difference between accepting or rejecting a university admission.
While most graduate students in the Jackson School do receive some financial support, many find it to be a patchwork affair that falls short of offerings at other top geoscience institutions. Currently, support for about 10 graduate fellowships comes primarily from corporate funders who offer their support on an annually revolving basis. In addition to this being an unstable source of support, many companies provide only enough funding to cover a portion of a graduate student's true expenses. Many of the other 200 or so graduate students receive research assistantships or teaching assistantships. Many have to find other work during the summer to make ends meet and often can't devote as much time to research as they would like.
"If we're going to be preeminent, we have to look at what our peers are doing," said Terry Quinn, director of the Institute for Geophysics. "We need to be sure we have superior fellowships. We've lost some outstanding students because they're getting better offers."
In an effort to remain competitive, the school is seeking donors to help establish a series of Prestigious Graduate Fellowships at the one million dollar level. These would fully cover a student's tuition, room and board, and living expenses - in effect a free ride for their entire academic career. Students will be selectively awarded, demonstrate an aptitude for stellar performance, and showcase extraordinary potential for becoming true leaders within the geosciences.
"If you're a student, you want to be wanted and you want to be wanted early," he added. "I want to be able to call up the best students and make them an offer, tick off the things they're going to get before they even hear back from anyone else."
This past fall, friends of the Jackson School established funds that will enable the creation of the first two Prestigious Graduate Fellowships: the Vada A. and Walter V. Boyle Graduate Fellowship in Petroleum Geology and a fellowship in Sedimentary Geology from an anonymous donor.
"I'm only as good as my best grad students," said Quinn. "The better and brighter your students, the better your research will be. If we recruit the highest level students, this place will explode."
The investment in graduate students can yield even bigger returns in the long run. They begin to publish and have an impact in their field. In effect, they become the public face of the Jackson School.
"They'll get positions of power at top institutions," said Grand. "They'll send their students here. They'll become members of the National Academy of Sciences. They'll decide where research dollars are spent."
There's also the prestige factor associated with a small number of highly competitive fellowships.
"Ten years from now, you'll see that someone has a Jackson School Prestigious Graduate fellowship on their CV and you'll know that they're the best of the best," said Quinn.
Nate Lapierre (above) and Brian Kiel (left) are two of many outstanding students receiving prestigious support at the Jackson School. Kiel received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation for his 3D seismic research. Lapierre received support from the Jackson Fund for Energy and Mineral Resources for his research in the Energy and Earth Resources Graduate Program.
