At the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI), a Graduate Student Research Grant Program exists to help Texas university graduate students in water resources and related fields gain experience applying for competitive research grants. The article, Getting their feet wet, from the 2010 issue of txH2O, has more information about the program.
Partially funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the W.G. Mills Endowment, the Graduate Student Research Grant Program helps student researchers acquire vital skills, including thinking through project development, proposal writing and developing a budget. If selected, the students can use this start-up funding toward their project efforts while learning how to follow the project scope, deliverables and budget they proposed to accomplish the goals of the project.
According to the article, many USGS-funded students continue their water-related work in academia or in research fields.
The USGS funds a graduate research program with resources directed to the institute through the National Institutes for Water Research. This program is supported by funding received from the USGS through the Water Resources Research Act of 1984. From 2001 to current, TWRI has awarded more than $688,000 in USGS grants to support 126 students in water resources-related fields.
The Mills Scholarships was endowed by Mills Cox, former chair of the Texas Water Development Board. This scholarship program is open to graduate students at Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University at Galveston and Texas A&M University at Qatar who are pursuing research in water-related studies. To date, TWRI has awarded more than $393,770 in Mills scholarships to support 196 students involved in water-related studies.
Read the full article or see the full txH2O issue. Visit the Graduate Student Research Grant Program to apply for the current 2021-2022 TWRI Mills Scholarship Program or the USGS Graduate Research Program. Pre-proposals are due November 23, 2020 by 11:59 p.m.