Grants and Writing Resources for the University of Cincinnati

An electrical engineering student who does research at the Artificial Intelligence Imaging Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center was named a Goldwater Scholar in 2026. One of the student's projects develops synthetic liver tumors to help AI detect liver cancer in children's MRI scans. UC's 2025-26 award winners also include a Marshall Scholar and two Fulbright English teaching assistants.

Undergraduate Research and Summer Pay

The College of Medicine lists six Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) programs, one of them at Cincinnati Children's. Each student is matched with a faculty advisor by shared research interest and commits to ten weeks. The programs are designed for sophomores and juniors who are U.S. residents.

The College of Engineering and Applied Science pays a stipend for a semester of fall research in science and engineering through its Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship. The money comes through payroll and counts as an academic award, so it can change a financial aid package. Applicants write a 500-word essay on why they want to take part and what they hope to gain. The McNair Scholars Program hosts UC's Undergraduate Scholarly Showcase and Research Symposium; the 2026 edition was the eighth.

Taft Research Center Awards

The Taft Research Center holds fellowship and award competitions for faculty and students in its 15 member units. Advanced undergraduates can apply for an Undergraduate Enrichment award of up to $2,000 for research expenses. Summer Undergraduate Research Mentor-Mentee awards put $4,000 in faculty and student stipend support behind a summer project.

Graduate students can seek Graduate Enrichment awards of up to $2,500 for research expenses and Graduate Travel awards of up to $700 a year to present at academic conferences anywhere in the world. A Graduate Summer Fellowship pays a $3,000 stipend for focused summer research supervised by a faculty mentor. The center's residential Dissertation Fellowship gives doctoral candidates a year-long research assignment as members of the weekly Taft Colloquium; nine full-year fellowships are earmarked for Taft Ph.D.-granting departments and five are open to competition among all units. Taft also nominates graduate students for outside programs that advance their research or writing and covers all costs of taking part. Past examples include the Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop.

Graduate College Fellowships and Travel

The Dean's Dissertation Completion Fellowship pays $12,500 a semester, up to $25,000 for two semesters, to Ph.D. students in their penultimate or final year. It also covers the instructional fee, any non-resident surcharge, and the campus life and general fees, and fellows qualify for the Graduate Student Health Insurance award. Each Ph.D. program may nominate up to two students. Fellows can't hold teaching or research employment during the award. For 2027-28 the Graduate College expects to fund four two-semester fellowships or an equivalent mix of one- and two-semester awards.

The Conference Travel Award gives graduate students up to $500 per fiscal year for presenting original research at academic conferences. It pays for registration, lodging and travel. Meals and per diem aren't covered. Master's graduates may self-nominate for the MAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Master's Thesis Award, and the two UC graduates chosen for the regional competition each receive $150. Students applying for the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Truman or Goldwater go through the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards, which handles UC's nominations and runs a Fulbright Boot Camp.

Writing Help and the ETD

The Academic Writing Center in 401N Langsam Library books one-hour appointments online or in person. Writers can also submit a paper for written feedback or come in for drop-in support. Graduate students and postdocs can join the Graduate College's Writing Accountability Group, which starts with goal setting and then writes in Pomodoro blocks, or attend workshops on topics such as revision, thesis and dissertation writing, and publication.

Committees and departments set the format rules for theses and dissertations. The Graduate College's formatting guidelines offer best practice: about an inch of white space on every edge, 11-point or larger type, double spacing, and every font embedded in the final PDF. The student's chair reviews the ETD and submits it to the Graduate College. The ETD FAQ explains that the finished work is published free online through OhioLINK, and that with the chair's approval it can be embargoed for up to two years at a time, five years in total.

Before a UC paper, thesis or dissertation goes to a chair or committee, our editors can give it a final edit for grammar, consistency and format. See our University of Cincinnati dissertation and thesis editing and University of Cincinnati essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• The Secret to Better Grades: Starting Your Writing Process Early
• The Literature Review: Avoiding Intellectual Overwhelm
• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit