The Graduate School

Grant Writing

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UW Memorial Library Grants Information Collection has links to subscription databases e.g., RSP for graduate students, SPIN, COS, Foundation Grants to Individuals, IRIS.

The International Fellowships Office provides information about opportunities for international research, grants, scholarships, and other funding information, including Fulbright and Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS).

Information on UW fellowships, funding sources external to the university, and grants search engines is maintained by the Graduate School's Office of Fellowshis and Funding Resources.

GradLink@Madison, an e-mail newsletter produced by the Graduate School, contains funding and other announcements for graduate students.

There are many excellent guides for developing and writing proposals on the web. The UW Memorial Library Grants Information Collection has an annotated list of the best web sites on proposal writing.

Several campus offices offer workshops on writing successful grant proposals, with some workshops devoted to applying for particular awards (check GradLink@Madison).

Initially contact your department and then follow the steps in proposal submission at UW-Madison.

Mentoring

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How to Get the Mentoring You Want: A Guide for Graduate Students at a Diverse University (Thanks to the University of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies.) Includes chapters on forming a mentoring team, how to be a good protégé, and help on addressing problems with your advisor.

Multicultural Graduate Network (MGN) encourages incoming graduate students from targeted underrepresented minority groups to connect with the campus and Madison communities. Provides faculty mentors and professional development and social opportunities.

UW-Madison is a member of MentorNet, an e-mentoring network aimed particularly at women and other underrepresented groups in math, engineering, and science.

Industry E-Mentoring Program is for students interested in working in industry or at a government laboratory or agency, while the Academic Career E-Mentoring Program is for those pursuing faculty careers. MentorNet also offers discussion groups on topics such as work/life balance and job searching and a resume database for students seeking jobs or internships. Read about what one UW-Madison graduate student has learned from participating.

The Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching - Mentoring Program.

How to Mentor Graduate Students- A Guide for Faculty at a Diverse University is from the University of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies. They also produce a companion guide for students (see Finding Mentors).

Teaching

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Teaching and Learning Center - TLE@UW-Madison is an all-campus virtual center. Topics include assessment of student learning, course design and planning, teaching strategies and techniques.

The Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (WPST) has two programs:

1) HHMI Teaching Fellows Program - the goal of this program is to provide graduate students and postdocs with an in-depth experience in scientific teaching. Participants meet weekly in a seminar to develop instructional materials based on scientific teaching principles, then teach them and evaluate student learning.

2) Scientific Teaching Postdoc Program - postdocs learn how to develop, lead,and evaluate their own scientific teaching "events," such as a workshop about assessment or active learning.

L&S and Engineering Learning Center provide TA training and professional development.

The Teaching and Learning Research Guide for STEM and SBE was jointly created by the Center for Biology Education, Delta, Engineering Leaning Center, Wendt library, and Steenbock library.

There are more than 20 courses on teaching offered by departments in various schools and colleges each semester (Timetable). Most are open to graduate students in other departments by consent of instructor.

Guidebook for developing a teaching portfolio (Delta).

The Delta Program for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning has courses and other learning opportunities for graduate students in the social and natural sciences.

The Morgridge Center has resources on service-learning.

UW System's Teaching Forum: A Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Attend events sponsored by the Teaching Academy and by the many teaching and learning centers. See the TLE@UW-Madison calendar.

Resources for inclusive teaching practices in science, math, engineering.

Subject Guide on Equity and Diversity prepared by Steenbock Memorial Library, includes search terms for locating resources on curriculum and classroom techniques and links to campus and UW-System resources.

Graduate Assistant Equity Workshops.

SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) and Student SEED Seminars.

Public Speaking

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Seek help from peers and mentors in your department. They can give you advice on what is expected in your field of study for a conference presentation or a job interview.

English 326. ESL: Academic Presentations and Discussions (for non-native English speakers).

Help for scientists on giving research talks from Science Careers.

Tips on public speaking and presentations (off-campus resource).

Writing

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The Writing Center assists hundreds of graduate students each semester by providing individual consultations, workshops, and other services.

Research

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Information about UW-Madison's safety and ethics programs
Graduate School Seminar and Workshop Series.

Step by step instructions for obtaining IRB approval for Human Subjects Research

The CIC Traveling Scholars Program enables doctoral-level students at any CIC university to take advantage of educational opportunities – specialized courses, unique library collections, unusual laboratories – at any other CIC university without change in registration or increase in tuition. The program allows study for up to two semesters or three quarters at another CIC campus. For more information, contact:  Elena Hsu elenahsu@bascom.wisc.edu.  

Library workshops help you become more efficient and effective in your research, and address topics such as finding information, using citation managers such as EndNote or Refworks, publishing your research, and copyright. You may also contact the subject librarian for your department for an individual research consultation.

Learn new software applications through free classes offered on campus and on-line by DoIt.

Entrepreneurship

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The G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition is an opportunity that encourages cross-disciplinary teams of students to produce technology-based solutions to challenging problems. Teams are supported by a year-long series of workshops and seminars.

Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Bootcamp (WEB) This program is designed to provide Physical/Life Science or Engineering graduate students with an introduction to entrepreneurship and the tools, skills and issues faced in technology entrepreneurship.

Initiative for Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship (INSITE) seeks to enhance the University of Wisconsin’s impact on technology entrepreneurship. INSITE produces a seminar series on research topics with leading academics from around the world. It also produces a seminar series on practical issues featuring area policy professionals, entrepreneurs, and business leaders.

For UW-Inventors, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is the designated patent management organization for UW-Madison. It provides, free of charge, patenting and licensing services for inventions, copyrights and other intellectual property that has the potential to be commercially developed. Particularly helpful for graduate students and other new investigators are the sections on the process for disclosure at UW-Madison and suggested practices for protecting your ideas.

For people wanting to start companies, investigate the Small Business Development Center for classes on pertinent topics.

Strategic Management in the Life and Engineering Sciences has developed an MBA program targeted at people with advanced life science and technical degrees (mainly Ph.D.'s).

UW's School of Business offers a Ph.D. minor in Entrepreneurship. For information, contact Anne Miner.

Preparing for the prelim or comprehensive exams

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Handout from workshop 2/2006.

Tips for preparing (off-campus resource)

Dissertation help

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The Writing Center offers workshops (A Dissertator's Primer), individualized writing help, and an on-line writing center. Instructors can work with you on issues such as analyzing your style, organization, and arguments.

UW-Madison has a site license for RefWorks- a web-based citation manager. The Writing Center and campus libraries also offer workshops and web resources on documentation.

Your liaison librarian can assist you with article alerts, customized searches, citation verification, in-depth consultations regarding your references/research, and more.

UW Madison Libraries have troubleshooting consultants for RefWorks, EndNote, and Zotero citation managers.

Also helpful: the University of Minnesota's Dissertation Calculator

Starting an Effective Dissertation Writing Group - This document was created by Sohui Lee, Ph.D. (Hume Writing Center ) and Chris Golde, Ph.D. (The Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education) at Stanform University. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attrubution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 license.

Graduate School's  The 3D's - Deadlines, Defending and Depositing.

Ph.D. Dissertation Guidelines.

Vilas Travel Grants for UW-Madison dissertators and final-year MFA students.  Awards granted for domestic or international travel to conferences or for research purposes.

Time Management

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Thriving through the Experience - An Assessment Guide for Graduate and Professional Students - The authors advocate that graduate students take a proactive approach to professional development based on the student's goals. Workbook offers questions for self-assessment at different stages of graduate study. Co-authored by Professor Wendy Crone at UW-Madison when she was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota.

Networking

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Steenbock Memorial Library's web site "Job Hunting on the Internet".

Riley Guide: Networking Advice

Social networking - How to use social media effectively for professional networking purposes.

Find UW-Madison alumni (Badger Career Network - Wisconsin Alumni Association)

Join Madison Magnet for professionals in their 20s - early 40s

Graduate Student Collaborative weekly socials and other events.

Multicultural Graduate Network (MGN).

Community Engagement

(also see teaching/service-learning)

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Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment. This competitive grant program is open to UW-Madison faculty, staff, and students. Projects are intended to advance the Wisconsin Idea, which is the principle that the impact of the university should extend beyond its borders.

To identify additional sources of funding, use Memorial Library's Grant Information Center.

Check the Timetable for service-learning and community-based research courses (300 level and above for graduate credit). Courses can be identified by footnotes s-l and cbr. In addition, every department has an Independent Study 699 course that can be developed into a service-learning course.

The Center for Patient Partnerships is an interdisciplinary center of the Schools of Law, Medicine, and Public Health and Nursing. The Center trains professional and graduate-level students from a diversity of disciplines in the art and science of patient advocacy and patient-centered care. Through coursework, practical advocacy experience, and independent study, students collaborate to understand and address problems in the health care system.

The Science Alliance serve as an umbrella organization for science outreach programs at UW-Madison and connects people interested in science outreach and informal science education. It organizes Science Expeditions - an annual event to welcome people to campus to experience science as discovery.

Community-based research for graduate students in the humanities - The Humanities Exposed (HEX) Program fosters collaborative projects that connect graduate students with teachers, schools, after-school programs, museums and neighborhood centers.

International Reach provides opportunities for individuals to share perspectives on their home countries with Madison area schools and community organizations for the purpose of furthering global education and intercultural dialogue. Program is sponsored by the International Student Services Office.

Volunteer Opportunities - Morgridge Center for Public Service has a comprehensive list. Check the GSC's weekly listserv GradConnections for opportunities to volunteer with other graduate students.

Travel

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Vilas Travel Grants for UW-Madison dissertators and final-year MFA students.  Awards granted for domestic or international travel to conferences or for research purposes.

To identify additional sources of funding, use Memorial Library's Grant Information Center.