Description:
The A. Regula Herzog Young Investigators Fund was established at the Survey Research Center (SRC) of the University of Michigan to honor Regula Herzog’s contributions as a mentor for young investigators and a survey researcher specializing in older populations. The fund’s primary goals are to support the research and training activities of junior researchers at SRC, with a particular emphasis on those engaged in research on older populations.
Eligibility:
University of Michigan junior researchers, research investigators, research assistant professors, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students.
Terms & Use:
The award provides up to $11,000 in funding. The fund covers various allowable expenses, including research supplies and services, conference costs, training opportunities, travel related to conferences, workshops, training, or research collaborations across institutions, as well as memberships in professional organizations. Additionally, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows can use the funds to participate in summer courses offered by SRC and ICPSR. Awards are intended for use within one year, but may be extended upon request for an additional six months.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Jillian Baker (Doctoral Candidate, Epidemiology)
Exploring a phenotype of accelerated aging in older adult female survivors of intimate partner violence - 2024: Kimson Johnson (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Social Research)
Explorations of the educational exposome on cognitive aging and health over the life course - 2022: Joelle Abramowitz (Assistant Research Scientist, Survey Research Center)
Understanding work arrangements of older adults in the United States and their effects on wellbeing - 2021: Noura Insolera (Research Area Specialist, Survey Research Center)
Food Insecurity and Social Safety Net Programs in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics - 2020: Jessica Francis (Research Assistant Professor, Research Center for Group Dynamics)
Online health community intervention for LGBT older adults
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
The Angus Campbell Scholars Fund was established by Angus Campbell’s family and the Survey Research Center to honor him and to further the wide array of research that characterized his distinguished career. Campbell was the first director of the Survey Research Center, and subsequently, director of Institute for Social Research. In addition to his leadership role over many years, he conducted research on voting and political behavior, social change and quality of life including its meaning and determinants.
Eligibility:
Applicants must be graduate students at the University of Michigan conducting research dealing with quality of life and psychological well-being.
Terms & Use:
The award provides up to $11,000 in funding. The Campbell award may be spent on salary and/or living expenses, travel related to data collection or academic collaboration, acquiring datasets, and/or hiring a research assistant.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Ayleen Correa (Doctoral Candidate, Anthropology & History)
Women in the After: Mothering Psychological Wounds in the Dominican Republic Post-Trujillo - 2024: Deaweh Benson (Doctoral Candidate, Psychology)
Development in the Context of Racism: An Exploration of Health Risk and Resilience Among Black Adolescents and Young Adults - 2023: Lauren White (Doctoral Candidate, Social Work & Psychology)
Employing Participatory Implementation to Investigate Collaborative Use of Research Evidence to Promote Health Equity for Indigenous Youth in a Reservation Community - 2022: Sofia Hiltner (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Making the Loneliness Epidemic: How Government and Nonprofits Construct and Respond to Social Isolation and Loneliness as a Public Problem - 2021: Taylor Spencer (Doctoral Candidate, Anthropology)
A Life History Study of Age at First Birth, Childhood Adversity, and Cultural Success on Chicago’s South Side - 2020: Sara Abelson (Doctoral Candidate, Public Health)
Enhancing Equity: Assessing the Effect of Higher Education Policies on Student Mental Health and Well-Being
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
The Charles Cannell Fund in Survey Methodology furthers research in survey methodology at the Survey Research Center, especially graduate student research and training in an array of issues related to measurement and response quality. The fund particularly seeks to support research on the interaction among the interviewer, the respondent and the instrument and their effects on the quality of survey data.
Eligibility:
Graduate students, postdocs, and faculty at the University of Michigan are eligible to receive funds.
Terms & Use:
The number of awards and award amounts are determined by the review committee. Awards to senior faculty should be for the purpose of supporting research by graduate students. Funds may also be used for conference travel related to research. Faculty and postdocs can also apply for funds that will cover the creation and implementation of courses on new data collection methodologies for the ISR Summer Institute.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025:
Kai Nurumov (Doctoral Candidate, Survey & Data Science)
Using AI-Driven Virtual Interviewing Agents to Improve Measurement in Web Surveys
Wenqing Qian (Doctoral Student, Survey & Data Science)
Joint Impacts of Respondent and Question Characteristics on Item Nonresponse in Self-Administered Surveys—Evidence from the Life History Mail Survey - 2024: Briana Scott (Doctoral Candidate, Combined Program in Education & Psychology)
“Social Justice Rules!” Survey Validation to Assess Youth Empowerment and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Beliefs and Actions - Yongchao Ma (Doctoral Candidate, Institute for Social Research)
Leveraging Survey Variables to Estimate Response Propensity in Bayesian Adaptive Survey Design: A Simulation Study - 2020: Tiffany Neman (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sociology)
Question Sensitivity and Respondents’ Race: Patterns in Question-Answer Interactions
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
The Daniel Katz Dissertation Fellowship in Psychology and Survey Methodology is to support a PhD candidate in Psychology or Survey and Data Science, depending on the year, while they are writing their dissertation, which is a project at the intersection of survey methodology and psychology.
Eligibility:
Applicants must be doctoral candidates and must have completed all the requirements for the PhD degree, except the dissertation defense. Applicants for 2026 must be PhD candidates in the Michigan Program in Survey and Data Science.
Terms & Use:
The award provides up to $25,000, usually over 12 months, which can be used in the form deemed most valuable to the recipient (tuition, research activities, stipend, etc.).
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Enrica Bridgewater (Doctoral Candidate, Communications & Media and Psychology)
Look, That’s Me on Screen! A Multi-Method Investigation of the Impact of Entertainment Media Representation Among Ethnically/Racially Minoritized Audiences - 2024: Deji Suolang (Doctoral Candidate, Institute for Social Research)
Leveraging Wearable Sensor Data to Improve Self-Reports in Survey Research - 2023: Aaron Neal (Doctoral Candidate, Psychology)
Determinants of Black Youth Mental Health: Examining the Role of Structural Racism - 2022: Wenshan Yu (Doctoral Candidate, Survey and Data Science)
Improving Inferences Based on Survey Data Collected Using Mixed-Mode Designs - 2021: Dominic Kelly (Doctoral Candidate, Psychology)
Modeling person-oriented relations between cognition and personality to inform development - 2020: Fernanda Alvarado-Leiton (Doctoral Candidate, Program in Survey Methodology)
Use of Balanced Scales as a Practical Solution for Acquiescence Response Style (ARS)
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Daniel Katz Dissertation Fellowship in Psychology and Survey Methodology
Description:
The Elizabeth Douvan Junior Scholar Fund in Life Course Development was established by the students, colleagues, and friends of Libby Douvan to honor her life and work by encouraging research agendas in Life Course Development and supporting junior researchers in the departments where Libby spent most of her intellectual life.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from senior graduate students, post doctoral candidates and junior faculty members with research agendas in Life Course Development, with a preference for applicants with an identified affiliation with the Department of Psychology, the Women’s Studies Program, or the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
Terms & Use:
The award provides up to $11,000, which may be used for research supplies & services, conference expenses including travel, training opportunities, travel to support research collaborations, memberships in professional organizations, and/or summer courses offered by SRC & ICPSR.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Jessica Bezek (Doctoral Candidate, Psychology)
Prospective Associations Between Adolescent Brain Network Topology and Young Adult Multi-domain Resilience to Socioeconomic Disadvantage - 2024: Sarah Day Dayon (Doctoral Candidate, Educational Studies)
An Exploration of What Allows Teachers of Color to Stay, Thrive, and Sustain Themselves in Educational Spaces - 2023: Suzanne Perkins (Research Investigator, Institute for Social Research)
Child maltreatment cognitive outcomes across the life course - 2021: Rita Hu (Doctoral Candidate, Social Work & Psychology)
Social Relations and Ageism through the Lifespan Perspective: Examining Factors and Interventions on Ageism through Social Relations
This award will not be offered in 2026. Please check back for the 2027 application cycle.
Description:
Inspired by the work and spirit of Tom Juster, especially relating to issues of social justice and his belief that society will have better policy and science if newer researchers are directly connected to empirical research and innovative modeling of economic and social behavior, the fund has a special emphasis on supporting research directed at understudied topics and the measurement of economic behavior.
Eligibility:
The Juster Fund provides small research awards to emerging scholars in the social sciences conducting empirically grounded economic research using the Health and Retirement Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Surveys of Consumers, or Time Use Study.
Terms & Use:
The Juster Research Award Fund will provide a research award of up to $5,500 to an emerging scholar from the University of Michigan. Award funds may be used to support travel related to data collection or academic collaborations, acquisition of datasets, hiring research assistants, and/or individual stipend for living expenses.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Xinrui Zhou (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
How Inflation Shapes Voting Behavior - 2024: Asher Dvir-Djerassi (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology & Public Policy)
- 2023: Janet Wang (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Education and Earnings Inequality Among Older Worker - 2022: Davis Daumler (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
The Demography of Wealth Accumulation: Household Finances and the Returns to Family Dynamics - 2021: Jane Furey (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology & Public Policy)
Economic Behavior and Educational Attainment Over the Life Course
This award will not be offered in 2026. Please check back for the 2027 application cycle.
Description:
The Garth Taylor Dissertation Fellowship in Public Opinion will support a doctoral student at the University of Michigan who is completing a dissertation on a topic related to the study of public opinion. The dissertation should be primarily a quantitative study of U.S. public opinion as either a dependent or independent variable. Research can be with national or lower level data as well as part of an international comparative study. The projects should not be primarily methodological.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from graduate students at the University of Michigan whose work involves quantitative analysis of public opinion and having a member of the ISR faculty on their dissertation committee. Applicants must have defended their dissertation prospectus before the application deadline.
Terms & Use:
The award provides up to $10,000 for dissertation research support and/or living expenses.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Francy Luna Diaz (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
How Transnational Connections and Misinformation Shape Latino Political Perspectives - 2024: Hilary Zedlitz (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
From Reason Rally to Political Reality: Understanding Nonreligious Identity, Political Behavior, and Public Opinion - Shayla Olson (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Racialized Religion and the Politics of White American Christians - 2023: Eugenia Quintanilla (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Prosocial Politics: A Theory of Political Engagement and Public Opinion - 2022: Hwayong Shin (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Building Bipartisan Trust in Political Fact-checking: Norms, Practices, and Public Perceptions - 2021: Guadalupe (Lupita) Madrigal (Doctoral Candidate, Communications & Media)
Anchor Babies, Dreamers, and Family Separation: The Content and Consequences of U.S. Media Coverage of Immigrant Children - 2020: Princess Williams (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
The Politics of Place: How Southern Identity Shapes American Public Opinion
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Garth Taylor Dissertation Fellowship in Public Opinion
Description:
George Katona was a founder of behavioral economics, a pioneer in the empirical measurement of expectations, and the founder of the Surveys of Consumers. The George Katona Research Award Fund in Economic Behavior was established to support emerging scholars who are interested in how economic expectations shape consumer behavior and the macro economy. The award is designed to jumpstart the dissertation process by providing flexible support early in candidacy.
Eligibility:
Applicants must be doctoral candidates in Economics at the University of Michigan. The award is intended for early candidacy. Priority will be given to research using the Surveys of Consumers (SCA) database or similar data from the more than 60 other countries that conduct consumer surveys and to work on the development and application of expectational measures.
Terms & Use:
The Katona award will provide a fellowship equivalent to a one-semester .5 GSRA appointment including stipend, GradCare, and candidate tuition. Recipients may not hold this award in conjunction with another award. Recipients must not be employed more than 10 hours per week during the tenure of the fellowship. The award also includes $3,000 in research support, which may be spent on research-related travel, the acquisition and analysis of data, the hiring of an hourly research assistant, or other research-related expenses.
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the George Katona Research Award in Economic Behavior
Description:
The Hanes Walton, Jr. Endowment for Graduate Study in Racial and Ethnic Politics was established by Hanes’s family, colleagues, mentees, and friends in order to continue his legacy of scholarship, teaching and mentoring. The award is intended to support professional development of the recipient’s career. The stipend may be used for travel related to data collection, academic collaborations or conference participation, summer courses at ISR, pilot research for a dissertation, or the purchase of research-related equipment.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from graduate students in Political Science at the University of Michigan.
Terms & Use:
Up to $6,000 will be awarded. The stipend may be used for travel related to data collection, academic collaborations or conference participation, summer courses at ISR, pilot research for a dissertation, or the purchase of research-related equipment.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Ignangeli Salinas Muniz (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Governed Unequal: A Study of Power and Democratic Accountability - 2024: Francy Luna Diaz (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
Rumors Across Borders: The Impact of Transnational Ties on Latino Information Environments and Political Attitudes - Maya Khuzam (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
Beyond Targets: Mapping the Wider Impacts of Political Discrimination on Group Identities - 2023: Shayla Olson (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
Inconsistent Ambivalence: White Christians’ Responses to Calls for Racial Justice from the Pulpit - 2022: Zoe Walker (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
“To Be Both a Negro and an American”: How Black Americans Reconcile Systemic Racism with the American Dream - 2021: Kamri Hudgins (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
The Ties That Bind: Race, Trauma, and Political Behavior - 2020: Sydney Carr (Doctoral Student, Political Science & Public Policy)
The Right to Bare Arms: Representation of Michelle Obama in Political News Media
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Hanes Walton, Jr. Endowment for Graduate Study in Racial and Ethnic Politics
Description:
To honor and celebrate his many achievements, the Institute has established the James S. Jackson Emerging Scholars Fund. By providing support for tomorrow’s research scientists, this endowment will serve as a living, enduring tribute to the contributions of a remarkable leader, scholar, teacher, and mentor.
Eligibility:
The fund, including any additional contributions from the Donors or others, will be used to support doctoral dissertation research, post-doctoral fellows, assistant professors, and assistant research scientists conducting empirical research on cultural and ethnic influences in the social and behavioral sciences.
Terms & Use:
The fund can be used for a broad array of purposes, including but not limited to, pilot grants, travel, purchasing datasets, etc.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Myles Durkee (Associate Professor, Psychology)
- 2024: Katrina Ellis (Assistant Professor of Social Work and Public Health)
- 2023: Mosi Ifatunji (Faculty Associate, Program for Research on Black Americans)
For more information, please visit RCGD’s website.
Description:
Jim Morgan came to the University of Michigan in 1949 as a postdoctoral fellow in economics, and was one of the founding members of Institute for Social Research (ISR). Jim published extensively over his career, writing on topics including consumer behavior; the distribution of income and wealth; the dynamics of income change; economic survey methods; retirement, philanthropy, and mobility decisions; housing status; and productive non-market activity. Throughout his career, he was known for both substantive and methodological innovations including the Panel Study on Income Dynamics and developing SEARCH, the first data mining program. To continue his spirit of substantive and methodological innovation in the analysis of economic behavior, Jim and his family established the James Morgan Innovation in the Analysis of Economic Behavior Fund to encourage U-M graduate students to use PSID data in new and original ways.
Eligibility:
Applicants must have advanced to candidacy in a doctoral program (or equivalent progression in a professional school) at the University of Michigan. Preference will be given to students with a strong affiliation with the Institute for Social Research, and applicants working with a faculty member affiliated with ISR or applicants who can demonstrate that they will benefit from such an affiliation. Preference will also be given to an applicant with a substantively or methodologically innovative project using data from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics.
Terms & Use:
The Morgan award will provide a fellowship equivalent to a one-semester .5 GSRA appointment including stipend, GradCare + dental insurance, and candidate tuition. Recipients may not hold this award in conjunction with another award. Recipients must not be employed more than 10 hours per week during the tenure of the fellowship.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Kelcie Gerson (Doctoral Candidate, Economics & Public Policy)
Implications of Student Debt on Home Equity Accumulation - 2023: Zsigmond Palvolgyi (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
Did decreasing residential segregation reduce the Black–White wealth gap? - 2022: Jiaming Soh (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
Entrepreneurship and Wealth Inequality - 2021: Nishaad Rao (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
Local Labor Markets and Wealth Inequality in the United States
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the James Morgan Innovation in the Analysis of Economic Behavior Award
Description:
The Jerald and Virginia Bachman Fellowship provides support for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty from the University of Michigan social science departments (e.g. Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Nursing) and the School of Social Work, the School of Education, and the Law School, to examine patterns and changes in the lifestyles and values of American youth and young adults. Applicants will use data from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) project, and may be working with faculty and staff of MTF.
Eligibility:
Applicants must be a graduate student, postdoctoral scholar, or junior faculty at the University of Michigan. The project supported by the Bachman Research Fellowship should examine the patterns and changes in the lifestyles and values of American youth and young adults outside of the area of substance use and related attitudes and behaviors.
Terms & Use:
The Bachman Research Fellowship Fund will provide up to a $11,000 award. The Bachman award is flexible, but we anticipate that the recipient will use the money largely for salary support. Awards are intended for use within one year, but may be extended upon request for an additional six months.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Esther Lee (Doctoral Student, Health Behavior & Health Education)
Longitudinal Impacts of Adolescent Weapon Violence on Mental Health and Behavioral Trajectories - Marvin Schilt-Solberg (Assistant Professor, Nursing)
Perceived Discrimination, and Mental Health Outcomes among Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adults: Leveraging the Monitoring the Future Panel Data - 2024: Janet Wang (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Changing youth attitudes towards division of labor - 2023: Brooke Arterberry (Research Investigator, Institute for Social Research)
Loneliness from young adulthood to midlife - 2022: Delvon Mattingly (Doctoral Candidate, Epidemiology)
Understanding the role of police exposures on racial/ethnic disparities in substance use among US youth
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Jerald and Virginia Bachman Research Fellowship on Change in American Youth
Description:
Climate-related changes are affecting every corner of our global community. These changes are influencing the resources of all nations, especially agriculture, fuel sources, and water supplies, and having an impact on every facet of life, especially among the young and aging populations.
Eligibility:
The Marshall Weinberg Population, Development, and Climate Change Fellows Program will award grants to U-M graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and early career faculty studying or conducting research activities focused upon population, economic development, and climate change. At least one component of this research is to occur beyond the boundaries of the United States. The recipients may have an affiliation with the Population Studies Center and/or School for Environment and Sustainability, but such an affiliation is not required.
Terms & Use:
Awards for research activities will range up to $8,500. The award must serve recipients by providing international experiences that are needed to succeed in a complex, globalized world.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Marcia Ruiz Pulgar (Doctoral Student, Economics)
Breaking the Norms Barrier: How Belief Corrections Shape Gendered Participation in Agricultural Associations and Sustainability in the Peruvian Amazon - 2024: Emma Banchoff (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Community and Environmental Change in Nepal: Implications for Livelihoods and Family Formation - Nabin Pradhan (Doctoral Candidate, Environment & Sustainability)
Nature-based climate action through employment-based social assistance program: Evidence from India - 2023: David Grace (Doctoral Candidate, Environment & Sustainability)
Effects of Religious Networks on Forest Conservation in the Western Ghats, India - 2022: Paloma Contreras (Doctoral Candidate, Anthropology)
The Threat of Water Insecurity and its Effects on Mental and Physical Health among Women in Mexico City - 2020: Marlotte de Jong (Doctoral Candidate, Environment & Sustainability)
Effects Of Climate Change On Livelihood Insecurity And Development
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Marshall Weinberg Population, Development, and Climate Change Fellows Program
Description:
The fellowship honors the individual and joint contributions of Philip Converse and Warren Miller to the fields of American Politics, public opinion, and voting behavior as well as the study of the concept of representation. Their cutting-edge scholarship energizes new generations of graduate students and is alive in the field more than 50 years after their first discipline-shifting publications.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from graduate students studying American political behavior at the University of Michigan and working with research faculty at the Center for Political Studies (CPS) at ISR.
Terms & Use:
Up to $6,000 will be awarded for support of graduate students. Awards will be for graduate student support during the period of 5/1/2026 – 8/31/2026.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025:
Katie Nissen (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
The Effect of Optimism and Pessimism on Climate Attitudes
Franshelly Martinez-Ortiz (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science & Public Policy)
Lost in Translation: Language and Perception of Misinformation for Latinos in the U.S. - 2024:
Adam Rauh (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
The Social Life of a Polarized America
Avery Goods (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Chronic Political Stressors and the Development of an Apocalyptic Mindset - 2023:
Francy Luna Diaz (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Latinos’ Unique Information Environments and the Spread of Misinformation
Ignangeli Salinas-Muñiz (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Islands of the Underrepresented: Public Opinion of Political Status in the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico
Phoebe Henninger (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Partisan Election Administration and its Effect on Voter Confidence - 2022:
Ciera Hammond (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Gendering the Presidency
Joshua Thorp (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Body Politic: Disability and Political Cohesion - 2021: Gavin Ploger (Doctoral Candidate, Communications & Media)
Learning about Politics from Social Media? The importance of Informational Comments on News Stories - 2020: Ben Goehring (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science & Public Policy)
Behavioral Foundations of Presidential Accountability
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Philip Converse and Warren Miller Fellowship in American Political Behavior
Description:
The Population Studies Center Small Grants Program supports predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees’ research and training activities.
Eligibility:
Only graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who actively participate as trainees in the PSC training program are eligible to apply.
For a list of past recipients, visit Population Studies Center’s website.
Learn more about supported research and training activities supported by PSC endowments, and more information on how to apply, by visiting the Population Studies Center website.
Description:
The Robert and Judith Marans/Kan and Lillian Chen Dissertation Award in Sustainability and Survey Research (Marans/Chen Award) will support a doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan who is completing a dissertation dealing with human aspects of environmental sustainability. The Marans/Chen Award is based on the belief that the answers to complex sustainability challenges can only be developed through technology solutions that incorporate an understanding of human behavior.
Eligibility:
The award supports a U-M doctoral candidate, from any unit at the University of Michigan, whose dissertation deals with the human aspects of environmental sustainability. The award will support a student who demonstrates a strong commitment to fostering sustainability using innovative quantitative social research methods in combination with creativity and other disciplinary specific technical skills.
Terms & Use:
The Marans/Chen Dissertation Award will provide up to $11,000 for relevant research support. The award provides funding to be used in the form deemed most valuable to the recipient during any stage of their dissertation research.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Lanika Sanders (Doctoral Candidate, Urban & Regional Planning)
Balancing solar expansion & farmland retention in rural America - 2024: Amelia Zuckerwise (Doctoral Candidate, Environment & Sustainability)
Enhancing social resilience to human-wildlife conflict risk - 2023: Soobin Choi (Doctoral Candidate, Communications & Media)
Communicating Climate Change Efficacy - 2022: Jess Lasoff-Santos (Doctoral Candidate, Environment & Sustainability)
Psychological effects of municipal resilience planning on citizens - 2020: Alexandra Cohen (Doctoral Candidate, Environment & Sustainability)
Sustainability Challenges, Judgments, and Dec
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
The fellowship fund was established by the students, colleagues, family and friends of Robert Kahn to honor his lifelong commitment to using the best social science to generate new insights on major social problems and point toward their solutions.
Eligibility:
The Kahn Fellowship will provide dissertation support for one doctoral candidate each year from the University of Michigan community who is committed to using empirical science to help solve the deep and abiding challenges confronting society. The fellowship will be awarded to the candidate whose research gives most promise of dealing innovatively with some major social problem.
Terms & Use:
The fellowship includes two semesters of candidate tuition, one calendar year of GradCare + dental insurance, and a stipend of $48,000.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Jamie Yellowtail (Doctoral Candidate, Psychology)
Community Blaming: Investigating the consequences of stereotypes used to rationalize sexual violence towards Native women - 2024: Erin Ice (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Becoming Mom’s Nurse: Making the American Family Caregiver - 2023:
Elly Field (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
How School Choice Policies Shape How Schools and Neighborhoods Experience Racial Demographic Changes Over Time
Kimberly Hess (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Representation Matters: Minority Inclusion and American National Identity in K-12 U.S. State Social Studies Standards - 2022: Elizabeth Burland (Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy)
Consequences of Rural-Urban Inequality: The Role of Geographic Variation in Educational Inequality - 2021: Darrell Allen (Doctoral Candidate, Education)
Disconnect between race-blind policies and race-conscious results: A mixed-methods Critical Policy Analysis of two district Local Control Accountability Plans - 2020: Sara Stein (Doctoral Candidate, Social Work & Psychology)
Towards Intentional Relational Well-Being: Syndemic Contributions of Mental Health, Trauma Exposure, and Sociodemographic Factors to Risk for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Victimization
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for the Robert Kahn Fellowship for the Scientific Study of Social Issues
Description:
The Robert B. Zajonc Scholars Fund of the Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) at the University of Michigan (U-M) was established by colleagues and friends of Bob Zajonc to honor his legacy and continue his work, by enabling early Ph.D. candidates to investigate social problems in innovative ways and by facilitating their development as productive scientists.
Eligibility:
In making awards, special emphasis will be placed on supporting studies being conducted by early career graduate students. Priority will be given to 1st and 2nd year graduate students conducting research in the Robert B. Zajonc Experimental Labs located in the Institute for Social Research (ISR). Applicants must be a currently enrolled U-M graduate student in good standing, with an assigned U-M faculty advisor directly affiliated and appointed in RCGD.
Terms & Use:
Factors considered in evaluating applications will include scientific merit, innovation, and feasibility of the research plan. Possible uses of funds include, but are not limited to, the purchase of experimental research supplies, programmer costs, respondent payments, lab equipment rental fees, duplicating and communication costs.
For a list of past recipients, visit RCGD’s website.
For more information, please visit RCGD’s website.
Description:
Created in memory of pioneering CPS scholar and mentor, Ronald F. Inglehart, this fund supports research and travel by early career scholars to study comparative politics, with a preference for graduate students traveling internationally. Ron’s research transformed the way that social scientists understand the role of human values and cultures in societies worldwide, and his ideas have been central to our understanding of public opinion and cultural change. The fund honors his professional legacy and his many contributions to students and fellow political scientists.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from graduate students in Political Science at the University of Michigan who are conducting research involving comparative politics and working with CPS faculty.
Terms & Use:
Up to $6,000 is awarded to support social science research. The fund may also be used to support travel by comparative politics assistant professors in the Department of Political Science. If the fund cannot be used for travel, it will be used to support the research of early career scholars, both graduate students and assistant professors, who study comparative politics.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Hood Ahmed (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Social Reforms and Value Shifts - 2024: Charlotte Boucher (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Negotiated Citizenship: Managed Relationships with a Violent State - 2023: Peter Carroll (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Patronage as Insurance: Precarity, Clientelism and Political Engagement in Africa
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
For almost 50 years Roy Pierce was an integral part of Michigan’s Department of Political Science. He became a researcher in the Center for Political Studies in the 1960s and remained a central figure in the Center until his death. He was a leading scholar of French politics, a creative practitioner of genuinely comparative research, and a devoted mentor to graduate students. The Pierce Fund was created to mark Roy’s lifetime commitment to the community of political scientists at the University of Michigan and his enthusiastic mentoring and care of graduate students.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from research faculty at the Center for Political Studies, ISR, to support collaborative work with graduate students in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan. Preference will be given to applicants in comparative or international politics requiring international travel as part of their research. Preference will be given to graduate students working with junior faculty and to projects that are full collaborations between the student and the faculty member.
Terms & Use:
Up to $6,000 will be awarded for support of graduate students. Awards will be for graduate student support during the period of 5/1/2026 – 8/31/2026.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025:
Hanna Lee (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
Muga as Resistance: Political Mourning and Counter-Discourse
Rebecca Wai (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
The Immigration Consensus Revisited: The Case of Singapore
Nian Zhan (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
Administrative Borders and Economic Development: A Natural Experiment from China - 2024:
Esmeralda López (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Measuring Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
Hood Ahmed (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Social Change by Decree: Autocratic Reforms and Social Norms
Jun Fang (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Going Green while Decoupling from China: Fragmented Responses to Green Foreign Investments in the United States - 2023:
Jun Fang (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
Gender Inequalities in Constituency Service Delivery in Authoritarian Regimes: Evidence from China’s Public Restroom Project
Martin Macias Medellin (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
The Politics and Logistics of Police Violence: Evidence from Rio de Janeiro
Victor Rateng (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Election Observation and Public Confidence in the Outcome of the 2022 General Elections in Kenya
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
The Sarri Family Fellowship for Research on Educational Attainment of Youth in Low Income Families will support a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan to conduct research on improving the chances for low-income students to attend and succeed in post-secondary educational institutions.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the University of Michigan whose work involves research on improving the chances for low-income students to attend and succeed in post-secondary educational institutions. Research can be in settings outside the U.S. but the research should be relevant to the U.S. situation.
Terms & Use:
Up to $6,000 is awarded to support social science research and/or living expenses. Recipients are eligible to apply for a second year of funding during the subsequent competition.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025:
Micah Baum (Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy & Economics)
The Effects of Gentrification on the Long-Run Outcomes of Low-Income Children
Saheel Chodavadia (Doctoral Student, Public Policy & Economics)
Educational Resource Allocation: A Path to Low-Income Student Achievement
Nelson Oviedo (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
Quality Regulation in Higher Education: Evidence from the Gainful Employment Rule - 2024:
Junchao Tang (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Boarding, Schooling and Academic Achievement Gap
Tiffany Wu (Doctoral Candidate, Combined Program in Education & Psychology)
SMOTE, XGBoost, Action! Leveraging Modern Machine Learning to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Rates for Students from Low-Income Families - 2023: Elly Field (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
How School Choice Policies Shape How Schools and Neighborhoods Experience Racial Demographic Changes Over Time - 2022:
Emma Bausch (Doctoral Candidate, Higher Education)
Financial Aid Award Letters and College Choice: A Mixed Methods Study
Briana Starks (Doctoral Candidate, Social Work & Sociology)
Diapers, Debt, & Degrees: The Practical and Theoretical Implications of Maternal Postnatal Educational Attainment - 2021: Andres Pinedo (Doctoral Candidate, Combined Program in Education & Psychology)
Cultivating Latinx Students’ Critical Consciousness and Ethnic-Racial Identity: Ethnic Studies and Educational Achievement - 2020: Elizabeth Burland (Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy)
Postsecondary Decision Making: The Role of Family, School and Financial Aid Provision
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Description:
With a focus on the dynamics of social inequality, CID’s scientific mission is to develop a better understanding of changes and stability in social inequality across time, generations, and sociopolitical contexts. The center also helps expand the social scientific data infrastructure available to support research on these topics and increases the accessibility of high-quality data for inequality researchers everywhere. The CID Emerging Inequality Scholar Awards provide early-career social scientists with dedicated time to pursue their research in an intellectual community with a culture of engagement and collaboration.
Eligibility:
The competition is open to all graduate students, including international, at the University of Michigan who have achieved candidacy by the Award term start date and are doing research on the topic of socio-economic inequality.
Terms & Use:
The Emerging Inequality Scholar Award will provide funding for independent research that is equivalent to the funding provided by a 50% GSRA position for one semester. The Award may be used for the Fall, Winter, or Spring/Summer semester. Additionally, the award will provide funding for one semester of tuition and GradCare health and dental insurance coverage during the term of the award. The award also includes $3,000 in research support, which may be spent on research-related travel, the acquisition and analysis of data, the hiring of an hourly research assistant, or other research-related expenses with prior approval.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Jiaming Soh (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
Government Contracts and Small Business Dynamics in the U.S. - Janet Wang (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
Overqualification across the life course: patterns and consequences - 2024:
So’Phelia Morrow (Doctoral Candidate, Social Work & Sociology)
(In)visible Violence: Exploring Black Women’s Lived Experiences of Hidden Abuse
Chalem Bolton (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology)
How do American States Shape Economic Inequality - 2023:
Jasmine Simington (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology & Public Policy)
Negotiating homeownership: The Paradox of Heirs’ Property
Neil Christy (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
Capital Income Taxes and the Distribution of Wealth - 2022:
Catalina Anampa Castro (Doctoral Candidate, Sociology & Public Policy)
“Nothing and nobody can kick them out.” Incorporating the experiences of formerly undocumented older adults into aging and health research for the Latino/a population
Zsigmond Palvolgyi (Doctoral Candidate, Economics)
The Long-Standing Effect of Racial Segregation on Wealth Inequality in the United States
Deadline:
February 9, 2026
Apply for The Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics Emerging Inequality Scholar Award
Description:
The Tessler Fellows Fund will support a graduate student at the University of Michigan in Political Science, who are being mentored by faculty in the Center for Political Studies, with preference for those who study comparative politics and need funding for data collection. Multiple types of fieldwork and data collection are eligible, including dissertation-related fieldwork to gather quantitative or qualitative information. Multiple types of fieldwork and data collection are eligible, including dissertation-related fieldwork to gather quantitative or qualitative information.
Eligibility:
Applications will be accepted from graduate students in the Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan, working with research faculty at the Center for Political Studies (CPS) at ISR. Preference will be given to graduate students working with junior faculty and to projects that are full collaborations between the student and the faculty member.
Terms & Use:
The award will provide up to $6,000 in funding.
Recent Recipients:
- 2025: Patrick Peralta (Doctoral Student, Political Science)
“Facing Impunity: Forgiveness and Power in Southeast Asia” - 2024: Hanna Lee (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Revisiting the power of distributive policy under dictatorship: Does autocratic distributive policy strengthen its legacy? - 2023: Rebecca Wai (Doctoral Candidate, Political Science)
Maybe in my backyard: How refugee-host cooperation promotes peace and prosperity
Deadline:
February 9, 2026