The University of Georgia has created two new graduate fellowship programs to boost the recruitment of students in fields that align with UGA’s Signature Research Themes and the needs of Georgia’s knowledge-based economy.

At the doctoral level, the university is launching an internationally competitive graduate fellows program known as the Georgia Research Education Award Traineeship. GREAT Fellowships are renewable for up to five years of total support and include a graduate research assistantship with an annual compensation of $27,000 and a tuition waiver. Ten elite Ph.D. students will be named GREAT Fellows annually beginning in fall 2017, and they will work closely with UGA faculty to conduct high-impact research in the university’s Signature Research Themes of Inquiring and Innovating to Improve Human Health, Safeguarding and Sustaining Our World, and Changing Lives through the Land-Grant Mission.

At the master’s level, UGA is launching the Georgia Impact Now fellows program. GAIN Fellowships are renewable for up to two years of total support and include a graduate research assistantship with an annual compensation of$20,000 and a tuition waiver. Ten GAIN Fellowships will be awarded annually beginning in fall 2017 to outstanding students pursuing degrees in fields that are critical to Georgia’s economic vitality.

“These new programs will better position the University of Georgia to attract the best and brightest graduate students to our institution,” said Graduate School Dean Suzanne Barbour.

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Pamela Whitten noted that the new fellowship programs are part of a broader initiative to increase the enrollment of talented graduate students at UGA by offering new funding opportunities and interdisciplinary programs as well as a wider array of professional development opportunities.

“Our goal is to make the University of Georgia the institution of choice for the world’s most promising graduate students,” said Whitten. “Working under the direction of our outstanding faculty, these students will enhance the impact of our growing research enterprise while keeping Georgia competitive in the global economy.”

In January 2017, departments and programs will be invited to nominate doctoral students who are among the top 10 percent of their applicants for the GREAT Fellowship. The Provost’s Office will fund the first three years of the fellowship, and programs agree to provide support for two additional years for each student. GREAT Fellows will be selected by the Graduate School, and recipients will be notified of their award in mid-February.

Departments and programs will be invited to nominate master’s students who are among the top 10 percent of their applicants for the GAIN Fellowship in January as well. The GAIN Fellowship is funded entirely by the Graduate School, and recipients will be notified of their award in mid-February.

“I am pleased the University of Georgia is taking this significant step to elevate graduate education,” said President Jere W. Morehead. “The new fellowship programs not only will support the research and education missions of the university but also will place us in an even stronger position to meet the needs of the citizens of Georgia.”