Grants and Writing Resources for Florida Gulf Coast University

More than 400 FGCU students presented projects at Eagle X in spring 2026, the largest edition of the showcase so far. Over 150 judges from the campus and from community partners heard work drawn from research, internships, leadership and service learning. Forty-two students came away with awards.

Research Money and Fellowship Advice

The Office of Scholarly Innovation and Student Research (SISR) awards Student Research Funds to undergraduates and graduate students in every academic program, for research, creative work and scholarship. The funds pay for consumable supplies and for presenting at conferences. Graduate students can also use them to travel to research sites, and a request for on-site thesis, dissertation or capstone research comes with a copy of the signed proposal. SISR funds students presenting as first or second author, usually for one opportunity a semester. A faculty letter of support explains how the trip helps the student or moves the project forward. The office also points students to Honors Development Funds and Whitaker Institute Mini-Grants.

For national awards, the Office of Competitive Fellowships in Reed Hall 153 works with undergraduate and graduate students one at a time. Its advisers cover the Gilman Scholarship and the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, the Goldwater Scholarship, NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates and the Department of Defense SMART Fellowship, and they stay with a student through the application.

Where Students Present

Each December, SISR and the Whitaker Center for STEM Education hold the Symposium of Undergraduate Research and Internships in the breezeway of the academic corridor. Undergraduates can also take posters to the Florida Undergraduate Research Conference, which a different state university hosts every year. SISR coordinates registration and travel costs for FGCU presenters.

The colleges give out research prizes at Eagle X. In 2026 the College of Arts and Sciences offered $250 undergraduate awards, the College of Education gave $200 awards to an undergraduate and a graduate presenter, and the Marieb College of Health and Human Services made six awards ranging from $150 to $350.

Student Journals

Aquila: The FGCU Student Research Journal began in 2014 and is housed in the University Library. It prints original research, literature reviews and case studies by undergraduates and graduate students in any major, including thesis, capstone and course projects. A faculty mentor fills out a verification form for each submission, and authors work through reviewer comments and final edits before publication. Graduates may submit for up to a year after they finish. Every article gets a DOI, so it turns up in Google Scholar. The March 2026 issue carried four articles, among them studies of golf swing kinetics and of vitamin A.

Mangrove Review, the student-run literary journal, first appeared in 2002. An editor in chief and a lead editor for each genre train the assistant editors, who read submissions blind. The journal takes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, drama and visual art from students, alumni, faculty and staff, and from outside writers and artists as well. Its 2026 issue featured 70 artists and writers.

SISR's publication page also lists the Florida Undergraduate Research Journal, a peer-reviewed outlet for undergraduates at Florida colleges and universities.

Graduate Scholarships and Theses

Graduate Studies awards the Graduate Studies Scholarship on financial need. Each one is worth $1,250 for a single semester. About 40 go out in each of the fall and spring terms, and 20 in summer. Recipients carry at least six master's or doctoral credit hours, volunteer at two or more Graduate Studies events and reapply every term. Graduate tuition waivers come from the individual colleges and programs.

Master's and doctoral candidates submit the final thesis or dissertation electronically through ProQuest. Published FGCU theses and dissertations are on ScholarsCommons, and the library offers Honors, master's and doctoral writers a presentation on copyright, publishing agreements and author rights.

The Writing Lab

Any FGCU student enrolled in at least one credit hour can book a free 30-minute session at the Writing Lab in Library West 202, at any stage of a draft. Sessions also run on Microsoft Teams. Students who prefer written comments can post a paper to a Canvas dropbox and hear back in three to five business days. Before a paper goes to a student journal, consultants will check it against the journal rubric. When the lab is closed, Brainfuse offers online tutoring at any hour.

Our editors can give an FGCU thesis or dissertation a final edit for grammar, consistency and format before it is uploaded to ProQuest, and they do the same for papers headed to Aquila. See our Florida Gulf Coast University dissertation and thesis editing and Florida Gulf Coast University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit
• Literature Synthesis: Moving Beyond the Summary toward Authority
• How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty: Citing and Quoting Sources