Grants and Writing Resources for the University of North Dakota
At the 2026 U.S. National Aerobatic Championships in Kansas in September, a UND student who also works as a flight instructor won the national title in the Sportsman category. Other current members of the UND Aerobatic Team competed as well: six flew in Sportsman, and one finished fifth in Primary.
Showcases and Competitions
Each semester the College of Arts & Sciences holds an Undergraduate Showcase in the Memorial Union for undergraduate research and creative work, presented "without the pressure of competition." Poster presenters take a 75-minute session, performers get 10-minute slots on the Social Stairs, and one session runs on Zoom. At the Experiential Learning Center's URSA Grand Journey, undergraduates either show a poster or serve as Student Research Ambassadors who talk with visitors about how they got started in research.
Graduate students compete for money. At Graduate Research Achievement Day in 2026, poster presenters faced faculty and community judges for prizes of $500, $300 and $200 in both a virtual program and an on-campus program. Programs nominate students close to finishing for the Three Minute Thesis, which pays $1,000 for first place in the January 2027 competition and sends the winner to the Western Association of Graduate Schools regional round.
Graduate Grants and Fellowships
The School of Graduate Studies lists two awards on its grants and fellowships page. The Conference Travel Grant pays up to $750 for master's and doctoral students who are the presenting author at a national conference, with up to 46 grants a year and one request per student each academic year.
The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship pays $21,500 for full-time dissertation work during the 2027-28 award year. Up to three go out each cycle, one each in engineering, in the natural and health sciences, and in the professional and social sciences, humanities and arts. Fellows hold no assistantship during the award and give a talk at Graduate Research Achievement Day. UND Today describes it as the highest honor UND gives Ph.D. students, and the first cohort of three fellows was honored at the Gershman Graduate Center in October 2026. Graduate assistantships are offered in more than 75 programs.
National Awards, Floodwall and the Writers Conference
Through National Scholarships & Fellowships, the Experiential Learning Center in McCannel Hall supports students applying for nationally competitive awards such as the Truman Scholarship and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. UND Today counted 19 nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships won by UND students and faculty in 2025-26, a year that brought UND its fifth Goldwater Scholar and its first Astronaut Scholar.
Floodwall Magazine, started by English graduate students in 2012, is staffed only by UND students and publishes student fiction, poetry, nonfiction, photography and digital art. Issue 13 came out in spring 2026. The UND Writers Conference has met every year since 1970, with six to eight authors over three days and every event free and open to the public. Its 57th edition ran in March 2026.
Writing Center and Thesis Submission
The UND Writing Center in Room 321 of the Chester Fritz Library is free to undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff, including students in distance and online programs. Sessions run 30 minutes in person or on Zoom. Thesis and dissertation writers can ask by email for an hour-long appointment, though availability is not guaranteed. Consultants work through drafts with the writer and do not take drop-off papers.
The School of Graduate Studies posts its thesis and dissertation requirements, a Word template and a manual updated in October 2026. Student and committee share responsibility for scholarly style, and the final PDF goes to ProQuest, which makes no changes to formatting or content. Starting with May 2027 graduates, manuscripts must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards. An electronic copy goes into UND Scholarly Commons, and the School of Graduate Studies supplies a list of formatters and editors on request.
ProQuest publishes a UND manuscript exactly as submitted, so a final check for grammar, consistency and format before upload is worth the time, and our editors also review course papers and scholarship essays. See our University of North Dakota dissertation and thesis editing and University of North Dakota 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 the University of North Dakota, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your UND writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.