Grants and Writing Resources for Eastern Michigan University
A Master of Music student won Eastern Michigan's 2026 Three Minute Thesis competition with a talk on performing Franz Liszt's "Vallée d'Obermann," and two master's students in ecology, evolution and organismal biology placed second and third, according to the College of Arts and Sciences newsletter for March 2026. The winner advances to the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools contest. The same issue reports that an MFA candidate was named one of the 20 Multicultural Fellows the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts selects each year.
Symposium and Conference Days
The Undergraduate Symposium is a one-day event each spring, run in a professional conference format. It usually brings more than 300 student presenters and more than 180 faculty mentors from every discipline, and the 46th symposium, held in 2026, is archived in DigitalCommons@EMU. Presenters can apply afterward for Undergraduate Symposium Scholarships, which include $1,000 awards for graduating seniors who continue into graduate work at EMU.
Graduate students present at the Graduate Research and Creative Activity Conference in oral sessions, poster sessions or Arts Front, a platform for music, creative writing, performance, drama and visual art. Its Three Minute Thesis round gives thesis and dissertation writers one slide and less than three minutes, and the top three speakers present again at the conference.
Stipends for Mentored Work
Through the Undergraduate Research Stimulus Program, a student on a mentored research or creative project with a tenure-track professor earns a $2,200 fellowship. The mentor receives $600 for supplies, equipment or professional travel. The McNair Scholars Program adds research stipends for students headed to master's or doctoral study.
Honors College members can apply for Honors Undergraduate Research Fellowships. A semester of research pays $1,500, and a senior thesis or project pays $2,000. A renewal semester can add $1,000 when funds allow.
History students have departmental travel and research awards. The Opperman History Travel Fund gives $1,000 toward an international travel course, and the Opperman History Research Fund pays for archive trips in the United States and abroad.
Graduate Funding and the Thesis
Thesis and dissertation writers with an approved proposal can apply once per degree to the Graduate Student Research Support Fund for up to $750. The money covers research supplies, survey costs and travel to archives or field sites. Conference travel and thesis editing are excluded. Projects with a good chance at peer-reviewed publication get priority.
The Graduate School's scholarship list includes the University Scholarship, worth $500 to $4,000 a year for academic merit, leadership and service. The Bob Holkeboer Endowed Scholarship gives up to $500 to graduate students who presented at the Undergraduate Symposium as Honors College members.
Finished theses and dissertations go in through ProQuest, and the Graduate School checks each one against its requirements before approval. The library then posts a copy in DigitalCommons@EMU. Its submission guide lists each step in order.
Journals and Writing Help
Two undergraduate journals are hosted on DigitalCommons@EMU. The McNair Scholars Program publishes the annual McNair Scholars Research Journal, which reached volume 18 in 2025. Acta Cogitata, an undergraduate journal in philosophy from the Department of History and Philosophy, published volume 13 in 2026.
The University Writing Center meets undergraduates in person, on Zoom or through written feedback. Graduate students can book real-time virtual sessions, asynchronous written feedback or on-campus appointments. The library's thesis help page notes that the center works with graduate writers on structure, argument, citation and revision at any stage, with or without a finished draft.
EMU students can send a finished symposium paper, thesis or dissertation to our editors for a final edit of grammar, consistency and format. See our Eastern Michigan University dissertation and thesis editing and Eastern Michigan University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with Eastern Michigan University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your EMU writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.