Grants and Writing Resources for the University of South Florida
In June 2026 the Office of National Scholars announced five USF recipients of 2026 Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards. A 2024 graduate of the creative writing MFA will do research in Sri Lanka and a new public health graduate in India. Two May 2026 graduates will teach English in Spain and Taiwan, and the fifth recipient will pursue graduate study in Turkey. That April, two third-year students were named Goldwater Scholars. USF has produced at least one Goldwater Scholar every year since 2018.
Where Students Present
Undergraduates show posters at the One USF Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium, held in 2026 at the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library in St. Petersburg and the Judy Genshaft Honors College Atrium in Tampa. Every presenter needs a USF-affiliated faculty mentor. Alumni within a year of the bachelor's degree can present too, as can students in USF-sponsored REU, RET and IRES programs.
A presentation there or at the spring OneUSF Undergraduate Research Conference is one of three parts of the Undergraduate Research Badge. The other two are the courses IDS 2912 and IDS 4914; the second asks for at least five hours of mentored research a week.
Graduate students present at the Graduate Research Symposium in digital and printed poster sessions and oral talks grouped by field. Judges score the poster and the presenter's ability to discuss the research, and winners at the 2027 symposium will get travel awards of up to $500, to be spent within 12 months. The Three Minute Thesis final pays $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for People's Choice, and the winner represents USF at the regional 3MT competition.
Applying for National Awards
The Office of National Scholars mentors students and alumni who apply for Fulbright, Goldwater, Truman, Rhodes, Marshall, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and other competitive awards. It offers resources on personal essays, recommendation letters and résumés, and it manages the nomination process for awards that require university endorsement. Its June 2026 Fulbright announcement counted 61 USF recipients of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program over the previous decade.
Fellowships and Graduate Awards
Graduate program directors nominate new research doctoral students for the Presidential Doctoral Fellowship, which pays $37,000 a year for up to five years with tuition, fees and student health insurance, plus up to $1,000 for conference travel. Domestic and international students are eligible. Students working full time to finish apply directly for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship, $12,000 for one semester with a tuition waiver, fees and health insurance, by sending a 500-word project description and a letter from the major professor. Candidates whose research falls in a USF signature area, such as integrated neurosciences or drug design and delivery, can seek the USF Signature Research Doctoral Fellowship of $22,000 a year for up to two years.
Published work counts for the Chih Foundation Research & Publication Award of $3,000. Third- and fourth-year PhD, PharmD and MD students in science, engineering and medicine submit two or three peer-reviewed papers on a common theme, and the clarity of the written materials is one of the judging criteria. Departments and major professors nominate graduates for the Outstanding Thesis & Dissertation Awards, meant for work in the top 2% of its discipline. Winners receive a cash award and travel to the Scholars of Excellence ceremony.
Help With Writing and Theses
The Writing Studio sits in the Academic Success Center on the second floor of the Tampa library. Enrolled undergraduates and graduate students get free 50-minute sessions in person or on Microsoft Teams, and the Write-a-Bull service returns written feedback on up to five pages within four business days. Tutoring in spoken Vietnamese is available for English-language writing. Theses and dissertations are welcome. Under the studio's FAQ, consultants ask about purpose, audience, evidence and organization and help the writer plan a revision, while copyediting stays with the student. Each writer can book three appointments a week.
A finished thesis or dissertation goes to the Electronic Thesis & Dissertation office in the Office of Graduate Studies for approval and is submitted through ProQuest. ETD specialists hold 15-minute one-on-one help sessions for questions about Word and formatting. The ETD FAQ lists an extra $25 charge for manuscripts that need major editorial comments and review. Generative AI may appear in an ETD only with the approval of the whole committee and a disclosure that names the program and version. Digital Commons at USF holds the USF Graduate Theses and Dissertations collection.
Where Student Work Appears
Thread, a student-run literary and arts journal, marked its 24th release in September 2026 with a gala of contributor readings and an art gallery walkthrough. Graduate students in USF's Creative Writing Program helped establish Saw Palm as a web journal in 2006, and a print edition followed in 2008. Each yearly issue carries stories, essays, poems, book reviews and visual art about Florida, with different work in print and online.
Before a thesis goes to the ETD office or a personal statement goes to a scholarship committee, our editors can check grammar, consistency and format. See our University of South Florida dissertation and thesis editing and University of South Florida 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 South Florida, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your USF writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.