Grants and Writing Resources for North Carolina State University
Three NC State students won Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships in 2026: a computer science junior and two third-year students, one in plant biology and biochemistry, the other a double major in physics and mathematics. The scholarship pays up to $7,500 a year in eligible expenses to sophomores and juniors who plan research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering. NC State may nominate four candidates each year and chooses them through an internal competition.
Grants for Undergraduate Research
The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) pays for projects in practical amounts. For fall 2026, Project Supply Grants offer up to $500 for research supplies and up to $1,000 for research work paid at $15 an hour, and applicants must attend a help session first. Travel Awards give up to $200 toward presenting at a conference, matched by the mentor or department and reviewed on a rolling basis. Students eligible for Federal Work-Study can also be hired as OUR research assistants at $15 an hour.
Colleges and institutes fund student research as well. The OUR's additional funding list names the CALS Research Pack Abroad Program and the College of Engineering's Engineer Your Experience Program. Sophomores in North Carolina can compete for the George Barthalmus Undergraduate Research Award, named for the first director of NC State's undergraduate research office.
Where Undergraduates Present
The OUR holds three symposia a year. At the fall Sidewalk Symposium, students draw their research in chalk at D. H. Hill Jr. Library. The spring Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium fills Talley Student Union with posters, 12-minute talks followed by three minutes of questions, and performance and exhibit sessions arranged around each presenter's needs. A summer symposium follows, and the abstracts from each event are collected in abstract books that students search for mentors and research areas.
Mentors nominate students for the fall Research Slam, five-minute talks followed by a panel discussion. For the statewide State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, the OUR covers registration fees and poster printing and helps with travel.
Fellowships and Graduate Funding
The University Fellowships Office works with undergraduates, graduate students and alumni on applications for external awards such as the Truman, Fulbright, Marshall, Rhodes and Gates-Cambridge. Its help includes advising sessions, writing support, interview preparation and institutional endorsement. Faculty and staff can nominate a student they think would make a strong candidate.
Graduate School fellowships are outright awards that require no service, and they often cover tuition and fees plus a living stipend. Departments nominate students for Provost's Doctoral Fellowships, University Graduate Fellowships and endowed awards such as the Andrews Doctoral Fellowship and the Warren-Wolfpack Club Graduate Fellowship. For some other awards, students apply directly to the Graduate School. The Graduate School's list of opportunities also includes Doctoral Dissertation Completion Grants and an International Travel Grant.
Writing Centers and the ETD Process
The Academic Success Center runs two writing centers on the second floor of D. H. Hill Jr. Library, both also available on Zoom. The Undergraduate Writing Center books 30- or 60-minute sessions with trained peer consultants for course papers, scholarship applications, speeches and multimodal projects. At the Graduate Writing Center, graduate consultants work with graduate and professional students in any discipline on long projects as well, including theses, dissertations, grant proposals and journal articles. Appointments are booked online or by calling the Academic Success Center at (919) 515-3163.
Graduate manuscripts go through the Graduate School's Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) process, with templates and a formatting checklist available before submission. The ETD Guide is built from the comments the ETD reviewer leaves most often on submitted files, and every ETD must meet federal digital accessibility standards. The reviewer also leads optional ETD workshops on formatting, deadlines and graduation requirements. Reviews, approvals and library cataloging all happen electronically, and finished theses and dissertations are open to the public in the NC State Libraries repository.
Our editors give theses, dissertations and course papers a final edit for grammar, consistency and format, with the ETD Guide's requirements in view. See our NC State dissertation and thesis editing and NC State 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 North Carolina State University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your NC State writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.