InCHIP Graduate Student Resources

Large UConn sign after a snow storm on Dec. 18, 2020. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

Overview

InCHIP has a twenty-year history of supporting research in the behavioral and social health sciences at UConn. We offer a variety of programs, services, and resources to UConn-based InCHIP Affiliates free of charge.

Career Development is a major tenet of InCHIP's work in developing research. Graduate students are an important component of that work. InCHIP provides support to graduate students in a number of ways. Firstly, InCHIP investigators funded 92 graduate student assistants for $1.5M in 2023, thus allowing these students to focus on honing their skills as researchers and writers. InCHIP also provides support to graduate students via its faculty seed grant programs, which often fund student research assistantships. Learn More about InCHIP Research.

UConn Graduate Students interested in research areas related to health or health outcomes can become affiliates of InCHIP. They will gain access to our listservs where they will be able to learn about upcoming events, resources/opportunities, and fellowships.

Join the Network

Join a Research Interest Group

InCHIP currently has eight research interest groups in the following areas: Aging, Cancer, mHealth, Pregnancy and Post-Partum Health, HIV, Interprofessional Healthcare, Mind-Body Health, and Obesity. These groups meet during each semester and provide an opportunity for students and faculty to connect around specific research interests, thus providing a good avenue for students to connect with faculty outside of their departments. To learn more about and to join RIGs, click here.

InCHIP Graduate Certificates

We are excited to announce that InCHIP has launched two new graduate certificates for students currently enrolled in any UConn graduate program. The graduate certificates are in the areas of global health and obesity. For more information, please see the links below.

Internal Funding Opportunities & Fellowships

The list below is in no way intended to act as a comprehensive list of funding and fellowships. We have tried to list some of the funding and fellowship mechanisms that would most match the needs of InCHIP's Graduate Student Affiliates.

We highly recommend utilizing the services provided through UConn's Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships. They are experts in fellowship funding and can help you find and apply for fellowships.

For more graduate student funding opportunities, please also see this helpful Google Sheet made by Eva Lefkowitz (UConn Professor & HDFS Department Head).

Jeffrey D. Fisher Health Behavior Change Research Fellowship

Jeffrey D. Fisher, PhD, the founding Director of the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) dedicated his career to the development of health behavior change interventions with a focus on HIV. During Dr. Fisher’s tenure as Director, InCHIP grew from a small group of HIV researchers in the Department of Psychological Sciences to a university-wide, interdisciplinary institute of faculty and graduate students focused on a broad array of health and health behavior research.

Celebrating Dr. Fisher’s legacy at the University of Connecticut, the Jeffrey D. Fisher Health Behavior Change Research Fellowship (Fisher Fellowship) will award $2,000 in funds to one outstanding UConn graduate student working on her/his dissertation in the area of health behavior.

Learn More

InCHIP Dissertation Assistantship Award

The Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy is excited to announce the creation of a new Dissertation Assistantship Award for UConn Graduate Students. This assistantship will provide an outstanding graduate student a paid assistantship to support dissertation research in the fields of public health or health-related behavioral and social science research. Students can elect to make use of this award full time in one semester or part time across two semesters.

This funding is intended to support students as they analyze dissertation data and write their dissertation. The funding provided will be used to pay for the student's time. It is not intended to pay for research-related costs such as participant incentives.

Learn More

Semi-Annual Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Program

Pending budgetary approval, The Graduate School awards a limited number of spring and fall Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) awards for students in doctoral programs requiring a dissertation.

Christine N. Witzel Award Fund

The Christine N. Witzel Award Fund is awarded to an academically promising undergraduate or graduate student enrolled full time in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and undertaking a research project related to women's health. Research topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, specific health issues for women and gender differences in the experience of health issues. Candidates must acquire a letter of recommendation from either a faculty member affiliated with the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) and/or a CLAS faculty member; the faculty member must have a research or teaching interest in women's health issues. Priority consideration will be given to students whose proposals show particular promise for future funding from a federal agency or private foundation. To be considered, please submit an application by February 28th.

External Funding Opportunities

NIH National Research Service Awards/Fellowships (NRSA)

The NIH Provides a number of fellowship opportunities that provide funding for both pre- and postdoctoral training and research development with the goal of research independence. Click here to help determine which mechanism best matches your needs and current status.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowships are intended to recruit and support the most promising students entering graduate programs at the University of Connecticut. Recipients of these fellowships will represent the very best applicants to graduate programs at the University. In addition, to be eligible for either the HF or CF fellowship, applicants must demonstrate a commitment to enhancing diversity in higher education and/or a commitment to enhancing diversity in their field of study.

Society for Public Health Education: Vivian Drenckhahn Student Scholarship

This scholarship is awarded annually to three deserving full-time undergraduate or graduate students who are national SOPHE members and who have excelled academically, demonstrated a commitment to addressing the public's health through a career in health education, and who have demonstrated financial need. Students applying for this award must currently be pursuing a health education degree (e.g., health education, community health education, public health education, school health education), and must have completed at least one-third of coursework required for their major. This award is designated for tuition support and is paid directly to the student's academic institution. Learn more.

NSF Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

The Science, Technology, and Society (STS) program supports research that uses historical, philosophical, and social scientific methods to investigate the intellectual, material, and social facets of the scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical (STEM) disciplines. It encompasses a broad spectrum of STS topics including interdisciplinary studies of ethics, equity, governance, and policy issues that are closely related to STEM disciplines, including medical science.

Research Participant Programs at the CDC

The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Research Participation Programs at the CDC are educational and training programs designed to provide college students, recent graduates, and university faculty opportunities to participate in project-specific CDC research, current public health research, and developmental activities.

Fulbright Fellowships

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistantships. A candidate will submit a Statement of Grant Purpose defining activities to take place during one academic year in a participating country outside the U.S. During their grants, Fulbrighters will meet, work, live with and learn from the people of the host country, sharing daily experiences. The program facilitates cultural exchange through direct interaction on an individual basis in the classroom, field, home, and in routine tasks, allowing the grantee to gain an appreciation of others’ viewpoints and beliefs, the way they do things, and the way they think. Through engagement in the community, the individual will interact with their hosts on a one-to-one basis in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding.

Please note that UConn's Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships provides extensive support to those applying for Fulbright fellowship.

Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs

The Ford Foundation provides fellowship opportunities for Pre-doctoral, Dissertation-stage, and Postdoctoral researchers working in a variety of disciplines and fields (check their list of eligible fields to ensure your eligibility). Through its Fellowship Programs, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Other Resources

UConn Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships

The UConn Office of National Scholarships and Felowships provide a number of resources to graduate students interested in securing fellowship funding for during their graduate career. Please take a look at the link above to view some of their resources and services for graduate students.

National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

NCFDD provides online-based mentoring, training, and other resources for UConn faculty and graduate students. Their programming is targeted to fit the needs of those pursuing careers in the academy. The link above provides instructions for accessing these services.