Grants and Writing Resources for Washington University in St. Louis

A Brown School doctoral student in social work received the American Public Health Association's 2026 Public Health Social Work Student Award, which recognizes outstanding student research in the field. The winning abstract reports a qualitative study of how poverty and linked family, school and community conditions shape the health of adolescent girls in Ghana's eastern region. The Brown School's Global Programs Office supported the work with a global doctoral pilot research grant.

Undergraduate Research Awards

Summer research runs through SURGE, the Summer Undergraduate Research Guided Experience, open to continuing undergraduates in every discipline with a faculty mentor's nomination. Stipends range from $2,700 to $5,400 depending on the project timeline, and students can request a $500 supply supplement and up to $1,000 for travel. Seniors working on a thesis or capstone in the humanities, social sciences or arts can apply for an Academic Year Undergraduate Research Award of up to $2,500 for project expenses.

A student who will be lead presenter at a professional or academic conference can ask for a Conference Travel Award of up to $500, paid as reimbursement. Awardees get their posters printed free.

Symposia and Student Journals

The Office of Undergraduate Research holds an Undergraduate Research Symposium every fall and spring, where students present talks and posters or perform creative work.

The same office points students to the Washington University Journal of Undergraduate Research, a student-run, peer-reviewed journal that publishes each semester, online and in print, with a DOI for every article. Undergraduate historians can submit to the Gateway History Journal, an annual run by a student editorial board that prints the five best submissions it receives. It accepts papers from students at any university. English students in the publishing specialization can work on The Spectacle, a magazine of art, poetry and prose affiliated with the university.

Writing Prizes

The English department awards about twenty student writing prizes in poetry, fiction, drama, nonfiction and criticism. Two first-year undergraduates each receive $1,000 from the Harriet Schwenk Kluver Prize. The Adeline T.M. Graber Poetry Prize / Academy of American Poets Prize gives $1,000 apiece to one undergraduate and one graduate poet.

Graduate students compete for the Cornelison English Prize for an essay in literary criticism, with $2,500 for first place and $1,500 for second, and for the $1,000 Mary Jo Bang Prize for Poetry Translation. MFA students have their own prizes for creative nonfiction and for a novel in progress.

Graduate Fellowships and Dissertations

Humanities PhD students in the writing stage can apply for a Center for the Humanities Graduate Student Fellowship, which pays a $5,000 stipend for one semester in residence with workspace at the center. Fellows join the center's community of faculty fellows. Arts & Sciences departments can also nominate PhD and MFA students for the Dean's Award for Graduate Research Excellence, a monetary award for achievements such as leading a top-journal paper or winning a conference prize.

Finished theses and dissertations go into the WashU Scholarly Repository, the libraries' open access home for the work of faculty, staff and students. Its collections include electronic theses and dissertations and undergraduate honors theses.

Writing Center and Speaking Studio

The WashU Writing Center & Speaking Studio in the lower level of Mallinckrodt Center gives free one-on-one help with any writing or public speaking project, Sunday through Friday, days and evenings. Undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, postdocs and staff can all book. Some workshops run on Zoom.

For graduate students, the center adds dissertation retreats and a Dissertation Mentorship. Graduate writing groups include a summer group, and consultants help with theses, dissertations, grant proposals and application materials.

For a final edit before submission, our PhD-level editors work with WashU students at every level. See our Washington University in St. Louis dissertation and thesis editing and Washington University in St. Louis essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.