Grants and Writing Resources for the University of Kentucky

UK reported in May that nine of its students had won 2026 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Five are seniors and four are graduate students, in fields that include entomology, geological sciences, computer science and mechanical engineering. Each fellowship pays a $34,000 annual stipend for three of its five years. In April an agricultural and medical biotechnology student was named a 2026 Goldwater Scholar, one of 454 chosen from 1,485 undergraduates nominated by 482 institutions.

Competitions for Undergraduates

President John Oswald started the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition in 1964 for the university's centennial. Any current undergraduate without a four-year degree can enter. Written entries are full reports of up to 10 pages, with a 300-word abstract, in categories such as Humanities: Creative, Humanities: Critical Research, Social Sciences and Biological Sciences. Design and fine arts work goes on display instead. Judges read every entry blind. The 2026 round pays $350 for first place and $200 for second in each category.

The 5-Minute Fast Track asks for something shorter. Sophomores, juniors and seniors with two terms of mentored research explain their work in five minutes with one static slide. The top ten from a preliminary round reach the final, and the ninth annual contest, held in fall 2026, offered $750, $500 and $250 to the top three.

Where Research Is Shown and Published

The Office of Undergraduate Research works with students in every major and class year. It reports $1.17 million awarded to undergraduate researchers and 9,154 students served since 2009. Each spring it holds the Showcase of Undergraduate Scholars, open to any undergraduate doing faculty-mentored research or creative work. Students present posters, oral talks, performing arts, visual art or table displays, and group projects register under one author.

Finished papers can go to Aperture, an open-access journal of undergraduate scholarship with peer and expert review. A student editorial board edits and produces it. Past issues have carried agriculture, architecture, business, engineering, the humanities and the sciences, along with creative writing and poetry.

Fellowships and Graduate Awards

Students aiming at national awards such as the Goldwater, Fulbright or Rhodes work with the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. It runs the campus nomination process for 11 awards that need university endorsement and meets with applicants by appointment.

The Graduate School's fellowships start with UK seniors. One nomination puts a graduating senior in the pool for the Wethington Fellowship of up to $20,000, the $12,000 Matthews Fellowship and the $20,000 Singletary Fellowship, each for the first year of graduate or professional study. Continuing students with a 3.7 graduate GPA can apply for the $20,000 Presidential Graduate Fellowship, which adds a tuition scholarship and health coverage. The Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship asks incoming students for an essay on how their graduate work reflects the values of its namesake; it pays $20,000 to doctoral students and $10,000 to master's students, and doctoral fellows can apply for a second year to finish the dissertation. For fieldwork, the Appalachian Center's James S. Brown Graduate Student Award for Research on Appalachia gave up to $1,000 per recipient in 2026 for costs such as archival work, interviews and transcription.

Writing Help and Thesis Submission

The Robert E. Hemenway Writing Center works with undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff at any stage of a project. Appointments meet in person in 1115 Patterson Office Tower or by live video, and E-Tutoring returns written comments.

Graduate students who have finished or nearly finished their research can join one of two yearly Thesis and Dissertation Writing Camps: two weeks in May and one week over spring break. Writers meet in groups of five to ten, book up to one 30-minute session a day with a writing consultant when one is available, and attend sessions on formatting and submission, ESL writing and publishing. Finished work goes to UKnowledge, the university's repository, after a format check by the Graduate School. The school takes no responsibility for editing or correcting a thesis, so authors proof spelling, format and completeness before they submit.

Before a thesis goes in for its format check, or a paper goes to a contest or journal, our editors can give it a final edit for grammar, consistency and format. See our University of Kentucky dissertation and thesis editing and University of Kentucky essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• The Secret to Better Grades: Starting Your Writing Process Early
• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• ProQuest Readiness: The Final Mechanical Audit