International Graduate Research Fellowships
International Graduate Research Fellowships provide University of Maryland graduate students with a meaningful research experience in an international context, broadening the student’s knowledge and perspective. The fellowships take advantage of ongoing collaborations between UMD faculty and their international colleagues, and, through graduate student exchange, enhance those collaborations.
The fellowships facilitate and support research opportunities for doctoral students and, in exceptional cases, master’s students, for a period of one to three months in another country. This period can be at any time during the year. The fellowships take the form of financial support for travel and living expenses and do not provide compensation for research work. There are no provisions for a tuition award or health insurance. Continuous enrollment at University of Maryland will be required. If there are any tuition costs, they will have to be paid for by the student.
NOMINATION DEADLINE: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Please send nominations to IGRF@umd.edu. Applications must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the first day of travel.
The International Graduate Research Fellowships are a partnership between the Graduate School; the student’s home institution (college, program, or PI); and the host institution (host program or host PI). The total cost to support a student on this fellowship will vary but cannot exceed $7,500 per student. Fellowship funds are to be used for travel and living expenses. The Graduate School will provide one-third of the cost (up to $2,500), and the student’s college, program, or PI will provide one-third of the cost (up to $2,500), and the host institution will provide one-third of the cost (up to $2,500). Host institutions may request to provide their one-third share in-kind, in the form of housing, food, and internal travel.
A member of the Graduate Faculty can recommend a University of Maryland doctoral or master’s student to participate in an international research project, generally, though not necessarily, one in which the faculty member is directly or indirectly involved. The graduate student’s academic advisor, if different from the recommending faculty member, also must endorse the recommendation. The student’s participation in the international research project must benefit both the project and the student’s individual research.
Students must maintain full-time enrollment status while holding the International Graduate Research Fellowship.
Students may receive the International Graduate Research Fellowship one time while at UMD.
The collaborative research will vary across disciplines and can involve work in a research lab or work in the field. The student and the student’s advisor will need to prepare an application package that includes the following materials:
- Application Cover Sheet.
- A letter of recommendation from a member of the UMD faculty who generally, though not necessarily, is directly or indirectly involved with the project. The letter should include, in lay terms, a description of the international research project. The letter should also describe the nature of the student’s participation, how the project will benefit from the student’s participation, and how the student’s participation will enhance his or her own research and academic progress.
- An endorsement letter from the graduate student’s academic advisor, if different from the recommending faculty.
- A statement from the student outlining how participation in this project will benefit both the project and the student’s individual research.
- A statement from the UMD program indicating its commitment to fund the student according to the guidelines specified under “Partnership and Funding.”
- A statement from the host institution indicating its commitment to fund the student according to the guidelines specified under “Partnership and Funding.” The host institution’s support may be monetary or in-kind.
- The student’s curriculum vitae (no more than two pages).
Please prepare these materials as a single PDF file and email the application to IGRF@umd.edu.
The Graduate School will make a prompt decision regarding its support and notify the student and the faculty recommender of its decision. If the decision is positive, the student will be asked to complete a Commitment Agreement which will confirm funding amounts by each party.
Upon receipt of a signed commitment agreement, the Graduate School funds will be transferred to the UMD Department who is advising the student.
International Graduate Research Fellows will be asked to provide a one-page report that describes their participation in the international research project. Reports must be co-signed by the UMD faculty advisor.
Please direct any questions to Robyn Kotzker, Program Director for the Office of Funding Opportunities (rkotzker@umd.edu, 301.405.0281).
Award Recipients
AY 2025-26
Ibiyina Mary Amokeodo, Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Fellowship Location: Mbeya, Tanzania
Project: “Agricultural Irrigation Water Quality”
Eeshita Ghosh, Department of Biological Sciences
Fellowship Location: Dijon, France
Project: “Calcium Signaling of Root Hair”
Shriyam Gupta, Department of Sociology
Fellowship Location: Dijon, France
Project: “Indian Human Development Survey”
Valerie Hall, Department of Anthropology
Fellowship Location: Dijon, France
Project: “Zooarchaeology and GMM Projects”
Elizabeth Osei, Department of English
Fellowship Location: Dijon, France
Project: “Afrofuturist Mediascapes”
AY 2024-25
Ibiyina Mary Amokeodo, Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Fellowship Location: Mbeya, Tanzania
Project: “Agricultural Irrigation Water Quality”
Kathleen Evans, Department of Entomology
Fellowship Location: Dijon, France
Project: “Effects of on-farm floral diversification on biodiversity and community structure of insects”
AY 2023-24
Gillian Boyce, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Fellowship Location: Italy
Project: “ALD”
Amin Shiraz Gilani, Department of Computer Science
Fellowship Location: The Netherlands
Project: “Quantum Query Complexity”
Panagiotis Nikolaidis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fellowship Location: Sweden
Project: “Communication networks”
Kristen Regenauer, Department of Clinical Psychology
Fellowship Location: South Africa
Project: “Mental Health task-sharing”
Elnaz Safarha, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education
Fellowship Location: Lebanon
Project: “Refugee education and disability inclusive education in Lebanon”
AY 2022-23
Molly Ellenberg, Department of Psychology
Fellowship Location: Rome, Italy
Valerie Hall, Department of Anthropology
Fellowship Location: United Kingdom
Project: “Geometric morphometrics in zooarchaeology”
Erfuan Noorani, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fellowship Location: Sweden
Project: “Robust and Risk-sensitive Reinforcement Learning”
Alexandra Rose, Department of Psychology
Fellowship Location: South Africa
Project: “Mental Health task-sharing”
AY 2019-20
Daniela Bulansky, School of Language, Literatures, and Cultures
Fellowship Location: Argentina
Project: “The Construction of ‘Villa’ Spaces in Argentine Literature”
Aneesh Raghavan, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fellowship Location: Sweden
Project: “Prospect theory and risk sensitive expected utility maximization”
Maria Rodriguez, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Fellowship Location: Peru
Project: “Effects of mercury contamination in vegetation in Amazon forest”
AY 2018-19
Rebecca Butcher, Department of Geology
Fellowship Location: Academian Sinica, Taiwan
Project: “Post-Earthquake Deformation and Seismic Hazard”
Michelle Fabian, University of Tubingen, Germany
Fellowship Location: Queen Mary University, London
Project: “Defining Key Concepts in Cultural Property Crime”
Mohammad Khalil, Department of Physics
Fellowship Location: Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Germany
Project: “Gravitational Waves Theory”
Haeyun Noh, Agricultural and Resource Economics
Fellowship Location: South Korea
Project: “The Effects of Health Education on Teenagers’ Health Behaviors”
Cara Snyder, Department of Women’s Studies
Fellowship Location: Universidad de Campinas, Brazil
Project: “Os Meninos Bons De Bola, The Soccer Star Boys”
Anne Spear, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education
Fellowship Location: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Project: “The Impact of Service-Learning Pedagagy on Student Outcomes”
AY 2017-18
Jan Johannes Ahlrichs, University of Tubingen, Germany
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Environmental Science and Technology
Project: “Soil and Human Culture Dynamics”
Haribert Beckmann, University of Tubingen, Germany
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Environmental Science and Technology
Project: “Soil and Human Culture Dynamics”
Marina Chernikova, Department of Psychology
Fellowship Location: University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy
Project: “The Effects of Regulatory Mode on Work Performance”
Sabrina Gonzalez, Department of History
Fellowship Location: Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales - Universidad de San Martin
Project: “Scientific Education in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile(1870-1930)”
Jessica Henkner, University of Tubingen, Germany
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Environmental Science and Technology
Project: “Soil and Human Culture Dynamics”
Amr Keshta, Department of Environmental Science and Technology
Fellowship Location: University of Hamburg, Germany
Project: “Environmental science/Carbon sequestration/Greenhouse gas emission”
Sandra Teubner, University of Tubingen, Germany
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Environmental Science and Technology
Project: “Soil and Human Culture Dynamics”
AY 2016-17
Maria Luz Bort Caballero, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Fellowship Location: Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Project: "Words under an Open Sky: Time and Space in the Poetry of Spanish Women in Exile (1939-1977)"
Marina Chernikova, Department of Psychology
Fellowship Location: University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy
Project: “Regulatory Mode Complementarity in Psychology”
Melissa Gonzalez-Contreras, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Fellowship Location: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile
Project: “Chilean Theater during Pinochet's Dictatorship”
Christopher Seitz-Brown, Department of Psychology
Fellowship Location: University of Cape Town, South Africa
Project: “Implementing an Intervention for HIV Medication Adherence and Substance Use”
Ganesh Sivaraman, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fellowship Location: University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Project: “Speech Production Study of Accent Variation in Speech”
Yue Xizi, Chengdu Institute of Biology, China
Fellowship Location: Department of Biology, University of Maryland
Project: “Midbrain in Integration of Sound and Water-Wave Inputs”
AY 2015-16
Laura Bracaglia, Fischell Department of Bioengineering
Fellowship Location: National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
Project: “Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering”
Emily Darly, University of Bristol, UK
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Department of Linguistics
Project: “Psycholinguistics”
Kevin Gibbons, Department of Anthropology
Fellowship Location: University of Tuebingen, Germany
Project: “Soils & Human Cultures During the Holocene Epoch”
Mark Gondelman, Hebrew University, Israel
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Department of History
Project: “Interaction between Jewish and Christian Thought in Early Modern Times”
Jennifer Guida, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Fellowship Location: Anhui Medical University, China
Project: “Social Networks and Health/Aging”
Hanna Landes, Hebrew University, Israel
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Department of English
Project: “The Disnarrated in Charles Dickens and Henry James”
Sara Mack, Department of Environmental Science and Technology
Fellowship Location: University of Tuebingen, Germany
Project: “Soils & Human Cultures During the Holocene Epoch”
Adriane Michaelis, Department of Anthropology
Fellowship Location: University of Tuebingen, Germany
Project: “Soils & Human Cultures During the Holocene Epoch”
Maria Monsalve, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Fellowship Location: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru
Project: “Literature: Complication and Analysis of 'La Mano Desasida' by Martin Adan”
Saskia Ottschofski, University of Tuebingen, Germany
Fellowship Location: Department of Linguistics, University of Maryland
Project: “Children's acquisition of Pronouns”
Emily Rosenzweig, Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
Fellowship Location: University of Tuebingen, Germany
Project: “Motivation in Mathematics (MoMa) Intervention”
Francisco Javier Simon Salinas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Fellowship Location: University of Maryland, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Project: “Transvestism in Chile Poetry in Postdictators”
Barrett Wessel, Department of Environmental Science and Technology
Fellowship Location: University of Tuebingen, Germany
Project: “Soils & Human Cultures During the Holocene Epoch”