Scholarships & Fellowships

The Joseph and Dorothy Fischer Memorial Endowed Fellowship was established in 1982 by the directors of the Trilog Corporation in honor of their founder, Joseph Fischer. This Fellowship is awarded every other year to one outstanding Ph.D. or M.S. ICS student for use as a summer stipend.

Awards: 1 award of $2,000 for Summer Quarter

Eligibility:

• Student must be in good academic standing, 3.5 GPA or higher
• Student must have full time status, enrolled in 12 units or more
• Student without a summer internship
• Must NOT have GSR/TA employment

Application:

• Research Agenda and Experience
• CV or Resume

Statistician John Tukey once said “The great thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone else’s sandbox.”. The same can be said for all the ICS disciplines. Recipients will be selected based on the documentation or demonstration of the practical benefit of research done in the ICS disciplines. In other words, recipients’ submissions will show how the research benefits the sandbox owner.

The Fred M. Tonge Endowed Graduate Award Fund was established during UCI’s 50th anniversary in honor of Fred M. Tonge, one of two founding faculty in ICS, and one of the founding faculty at UCI.

Awards: 1 award of $1,000 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

Open to all Ph.D. students enrolled at the Bren School who have advanced to candidacy.

Application:

• CV or Resume
• Must submit brief documentation or demonstration of the practical benefits of submitter’s research

The Bob and Barbara Kleist Endowment was established through the generous donation from Bob and Barbara Kleist themselves. This award is designated to support graduate students working towards their higher education degree in the computer science field.

Awards: 2 awards of $2,500 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

Open to all Ph.D. students enrolled at the Bren School with projects or research that benefit society.

Application:

• 1 paragraph abstract of how your research addresses the broader impact of the work you are doing.
• Overview of Research or Dissertation Topic (1 page minimum)
• CV or Resume
• 1 Letter of Recommendation preferred, but not required

The Rosalva Gallardo Valencia Graduate Award in ICS was established by alumna Rosalva Gallardo Valencia (Ph.D. 2012) to honor her heritage and support graduate students in need. As a graduate student in ICS, specializing in Software Engineering, Gallardo Valencia received a fellowship for Latin American students which had a tremendous, positive impact on her life. The establishment of this graduate award fulfills her dream of similarly supporting current students as they pursue their graduate degrees. This award is made possible by generous contributions from Rosalva Gallardo Valencia.

Award: 1 award of $10,000 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

• Open to all Ph.D. students in the Donald Bren School of ICS, with a preference for students in Software Engineering.
• Self-nomination.

Application:

• A one-to-two-page essay that:
  • provides an overview and describes the main goal of the student’s research or dissertation topic;
  • describes the applicant’s career goals upon receiving their doctoral degree; and
  • describes how the award would contribute to their life as a Ph.D. student.
• CV or resume.
• One letter of recommendation by the faculty advisor.

The Richard N. Taylor Graduate Award in Software Engineering was established through the generous contributions of his former graduate students and other ICS alumni in recognition of his distinguished career in and outstanding contributions to the field of software engineering. Prof. Taylor took great pride in advising and working with graduate students and left a legacy of alumni who have gone on to their own careers as professors, educators, entrepreneurs, and leaders in industry. This award continues that legacy.

Awards: 1 award of $5,000 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

• Open to all Ph.D. students in Software Engineering at the Bren School of ICS
• Self-nomination

Application:

• A one-to-two-page essay that answers the following questions:
  • What is the main goal of your research work?
  • What will be the tangible benefits to society of achieving that goal?
  • What are the technical problems that make the goal difficult to achieve?
  • What is the key insight underlying your approach (i.e., how does your approach overcome the technical problems that prevented progress in the past)?
  • How can progress be measured, and what have you achieved thus far?
• CV or resume

The Roberta Ellen Lamb Memorial Fellowship was established through an endowment in 2007 by Bob and Mosselle Pione to honor the memory of their daughter, former ICS Associate Professor of Informatics Roberta Lamb. Roberta passed away on November 29, 2006, after a short battle with cancer.

Awards: 1 award of $5,000 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

• Open to Ph.D. students in the Department of Informatics
• Faculty nominate students in advanced candidacy
• Working on their dissertation.

Application:

• Overview of Research or Dissertation Topic (1 page minimum)
• CV or Resume
• Letters of Recommendation

The Rob Kling Memorial Fellowship was established to honor the life and work of the late Rob Kling. Rob Kling was Professor of Information Systems and Information Science at the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University. He was born in August 1944 and passed away unexpectedly at 58 years of age on May 15, 2003, in Bloomington, IN. He was a visionary and institution builder, who tirelessly promoted a new area of research, Social Informatics, the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Kling was a graduate of Columbia University, and earned his MS and Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University. After two years as assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he joined the Department of Information and Computer Science at UC Irvine. Kling spent more than 20 years at Irvine (1973 – 1996), where his interests shifted to studying the role of computers in society, organizations, and public policy.

Awards: 1 award of $2,000 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

• Open to Ph.D. students in the department of informatics, with a preference for students working in the area of social informatics
• Minimum GPA of 3.5
• Full-time
• Faculty nomination

Application:

• Overview of Research or Dissertation Topic (1 page minimum)
• CV or Resume
• Letters of Recommendation

The ICS Innovation Fellowship Endowed Fund was established to support the work of promising graduate students enrolled in one of ICS’ PhD degrees. Recipients will be selected based on either their potential to produce socially-relevant, innovative work or the innovative nature of their current work at ICS. The ICS Innovation Fellowship Endowed Fund was established during ICS’ 40th anniversary in honor of Julian Feldman, Fred Tonge and ICS founding faculty, and in recognition of the future potential of ICS. The fund was initially set up through a generous gift from ICS alumnus, Greg Hopwood and his wife Christine.

Awards: 1 award of $2,000 or $2,500 for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

• Open to all Ph.D. students enrolled at the Bren School with projects or research that are socially-relevant or innovative in nature
• Incoming, continuing and advanced candidacy Ph.D. students

Application:

• Must submit a one (1) page abstract of an innovative project or research that you are working on

The Robert L. Newcomb Graduate Award was established through and endowment in 2013 by Bob Newcomb. This fund will support fellowships for bright and deserving graduate students in the Statistics Department at the Bren School. Through this fund, we will perpetuate Bob’s dedication to student research and their future careers.

Awards: 1 award of $750 plus plaque for Fall Quarter

Eligibility:

• Open to Ph.D. students in the department of statistics
• Statistics graduate student with the best performance on that year’s comprehensive examination.

Application:

• Committee selection