Grants and Writing Resources for Texas Tech University

For the first time in 20 years, Texas Tech had three Goldwater Scholars in a single year. The April 2026 selections went to two chemical engineering students and a psychological sciences major, whose research essays ranged from iron-selective organic electrochemical transistors to technology-mediated consent. The award goes to sophomores and juniors with study still ahead of them, and it pays up to $7,500 a year toward the undergraduate years they have left.

Undergraduate Research and the Abstract Prize

The Center for Transformative Undergraduate Experiences (TrUE) has run the TTU Undergraduate Research Conference since 2009, and students from other colleges in the region present there too. Students who already have a faculty mentor can join TrUE as Associate Research Scholars. In the 2026-27 funding cycle, the mentor gets a $500 research expense budget, and the student can request paid research hours at $10 an hour, up to 150 hours. The research can't also be earning course credit.

A good conference abstract can also earn a scholarship. Students who submit to the conference may also enter the Undergraduate Writing Center's Abstract Competition, after first going over the abstract with a writing consultant. First, second and third place each carry a scholarship from the UWC and TrUE.

Graduate Research and Travel Money

Master's and doctoral students enrolled for at least one semester can apply once in their career for Graduate Student Research Support. Awards run up to $1,500 and pay for supplies, software and research training. Tuition, fees and computers are excluded.

Presenting at a conference brings a separate grant. Student Travel funding pays up to $500 for doctoral candidates, $450 for other doctoral students and $400 for master's students, one trip per fiscal year. The department has to put in at least half as much as the Graduate School, and the traveler must first attend two Graduate School professional development workshops.

Fellowships and Thesis Awards

One Graduate School application covers the General Fellowships, where typical awards run $3,000 to $5,000 a year. The same form puts applicants in the running for college awards and for department awards in English, economics, physics and other fields.

Doctoral candidates in their final year of dissertation work can be nominated for the Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship, which gives up to 12 months of Graduate School funding at the student's current assistantship rate. The department uses the freed-up money to recruit a new Ph.D. student. Finished work is eligible for the Graduate School's Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Awards, which are monetary and go by faculty nomination. Even years cover the social sciences, mathematics, physical sciences and engineering. Odd years cover biology and the life sciences, the humanities and the fine arts. Embargoed documents can't be nominated.

A Journal Open to Students

The College of Arts and Sciences developed the International Journal of Basic, Applied and Multidisciplinary Research, and its first issue came out in November 2025. It is peer reviewed, free to publish in and free to read, and it takes manuscripts from high school, undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdocs and early-career researchers.

Writing Centers and the ETD Office

Texas Tech runs two writing centers out of Weeks Hall. The Undergraduate Writing Center books writing and reading appointments and hosts writing groups. The Graduate Writing Center serves graduate students and postdocs with consultations up to six days a week, writing groups, and Thesis and Dissertation Boot Camps. Its consultants help with citation style and with the wording of tables of contents, titles and figures. For questions about required format, the center sends writers to the Graduate School.

Theses and dissertations follow the Graduate School's format, defend and submit steps, with Word templates and a formatting manual. A thesis coordinator or dissertation supervisor marks up the PDF review copy and later approves the final copy, and every document goes through an integrity review in Turnitin. Approved work joins the library's electronic theses and dissertations collection, which holds titles from the 1930s onward.

Before a review copy goes to the ETD office or a term paper goes to a professor, our editors can give it a final check for grammar, consistency and format. See our Texas Tech University dissertation and thesis editing and Texas Tech University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty: Citing and Quoting Sources
• Escaping the Revision Pile: Strategies for First-Round Approval