Financial Support

Most of the graduate students in ESSM are supported by departmental teaching assistantships, grant-based research assistantships, or internal and external graduate fellowships and grants. Research and travel grants are also available from the department and university.

Departmental assistantships

  • Teaching assistantships (TA) are available either as matching for graduate fellowships or allocated to individual faculty members through a rotation system. Contact your faculty advisor on availability of TA positions.
  • Research assistantships (RA) are grant-based and an essential component of graduate student support. Contact your faculty advisor on availability of RA positions.

University & College graduate fellowships and grants

  • Graduate Merit Fellowships • These competitive fellowships are available to incoming masters or doctoral students. Your future advisor nominates you for the fellowship. You must have applied for graduate school at Texas A&M and provide some materials for the nomination package. Recipients are chosen by a university-wide selection committee. ESSM provides matching funds, in the form of teaching or research assistantships. (See the Office of Graduate Studies Faculty-Nominated Fellowships page.)
  • Graduate Diversity Fellowships • These competitive fellowships are available to incoming masters or doctoral students. Your future advisor nominates you for the fellowship. You must have applied for graduate school at Texas A&M and provide some materials for the nomination package. Recipients are chosen by a university-wide selection committee. ESSM provides matching funds, in the form of teaching or research assistantships. (See the Office of Graduate Studies Faculty-Nominated Fellowships page.)
  • Hispanic Leaders in Agriculture and the Environment Fellowship •
  • Tom Slick Graduate Research Fellowships • The Tom Slick Graduate Research Fellowship Program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences provides financial support for students who conduct research relevant to the agriculture of Southwest Texas; the research must be conducted in the State of Texas. This competitive fellowship is awarded to outstanding doctoral students who have completed preliminary exams to support completion of their dissertation.
  • U.S. Senator Gramm Doctoral Fellowships • This competitive fellowship is available to currently enrolled doctoral students. Its purpose is to recognize outstanding teaching and research by doctoral students. Your advisor or another faculty member nominates you for this fellowship; you must provide some materials for the nomination package. Nominations are first routed through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; those selected by the college are then evaluated by a university-wide committee.
  • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Excellence Fellowships • This competitive Fellowship is available to incoming masters (thesis option only) and doctoral students. Your future advisor may nominate you for this fellowship once you are accepted for fall enrollment and have a half-time assistantship or fellowship arranged.

Departmental fellowships and awards

  • Sloan Minority PhD Fellowship • available to minority doctoral candidates through the Sloan Minority PhD Program in ESSM. Contact Dr. Tom Boutton, boutton@tamu.edu, for more information.
  • Leadership Fellows in Forest Management • http://essm.tamu.edu/national-needs
  • Dishman and Lucas Graduate Fellowship • awarded to current graduate students studying in the field of forestry | Application form
  • Carder Fellowship • awarded to current graduate students in urban forestry | Application form
  • McMillan-Ward Graduate Fellowship • awarded to current graduate students studying forest ecology and management in East Texas | Application form
  • Wasko Graduate Fellowship • awarded to current doctoral students in rangeland ecology and management | Application form
  • Gould Research Award • available to current graduate students studying plant systematics |
  • Springfield Research Award • available to current graduate students in rangeland ecology and management or related fields |
  • ESSM graduate travel grants • competitive travel grants (up to $600 each) offered twice a year to provide partial support for ESSM graduate students to present research at professional meetings |

External fellowships and grants

Graduate fellowships from national and private agencies

Research funding opportunities

Postdoctoral fellowship opportunities