Grants and Writing Resources for Northern Arizona University
The Udall Foundation named 65 Udall Scholars in 2026, chosen from 838 candidates at 181 colleges and universities. One was an NAU junior in exercise physiology, a transfer student who also minors in nutrition and health wellness coaching. The scholarship, worth up to $7,500 for educational expenses, goes to students committed to careers related to the environment, Tribal public policy or Native American health care.
Money for Undergraduate Projects
OURCA, the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity, posts the undergraduate funding opportunities in one place. The Hooper Undergraduate Research Award (HURA) is an annual grant for student-designed projects in any discipline. Jean Shuler Research Mini-Grants of up to $500 pay for consumable materials, training or travel on a student-led project with a faculty mentor. Teams of two to five students from the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering and the College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences can apply for an Urdea Collaborative Research Award for an interdisciplinary project. Interns-to-Scholars (I2S) pays undergraduates, sophomores in particular, to assist faculty on scholarly, creative and research projects.
National Scholarships and Fellowships
Students aiming at a Fulbright, Udall or Goldwater start with the office of National and International Scholarships and Fellowships. A Discovery Appointment with its coordinator covers goals, likely awards and campus resources, and the office says a competitive application takes three months or more to prepare. Its recent winners for 2026 include a graduate student in informatics and computing with a Fulbright study and research grant, and a chemistry graduate with a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
Graduate Fellowships and Prizes
The Office of Graduate and Professional Studies lists the graduate awards. Its Presidential Fellowship Program, started in 2015, pays incoming Ph.D. students about $23,000 per academic year; students can't apply directly, and Ph.D. coordinators or department chairs make the nominations. The ARCS Foundation Award gives $8,500 a year to U.S. citizens in four on-campus doctoral programs: astronomy and planetary science, biological sciences, forestry, and earth sciences and environmental sustainability. Finished dissertations and master's theses can be nominated for the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award and the WAGS/ProQuest Outstanding Thesis Awards.
Graduate Student Government gives roughly $50,000 each academic year in Professional Development Awards to graduate students on the Flagstaff Mountain campus, with applications through each college every semester. GSG also holds a poster symposium twice a year. The fall round is virtual and judged by GSG members. The spring round runs the same day as the 3 Minute Research Presentation competition and is judged by faculty.
Writing Help and Thesis Filing
The Lumberjack Writing Center serves undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff. Of its 32 writing assistants, 27 are graduate students. General appointments run 50 minutes, in person or online, and Review-and-Return is an online service that sends back asynchronous feedback on a submitted draft. Thesis and dissertation writers can book DATA: five consecutive appointments with one tutor, all on a single part of the project. DATA can guide formatting, though the center rules out copyediting. Its Lumberjack Writing Showcase publishes student writing on the Lumberjack Voices Blog.
Every NAU thesis and dissertation is published electronically through ProQuest. Students enrolled in 699 or 799 who plan to defend take a zero-credit format course in the semester of the defense, and the final version goes to ProQuest by a fixed term deadline. The Graduate and Professional Studies office works with Cline Library to add the finished work to OpenKnowledge@NAU, the university repository.
Since the Writing Center rules out copyediting, our editors can give a thesis or dissertation its final pass for grammar, consistency and format before it goes to ProQuest. See our Northern Arizona University dissertation and thesis editing and Northern Arizona 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 Northern Arizona University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your NAU writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.