Financial Support & Scholarships

Graduate Program Assistantships

The Department of Biology offers several Teaching Assistantships for MS and PhD students on a competitive basis.

The MS Teaching Assistantship includes a full tuition award, a 9-month stipend of $16,500, and 75% of student health insurance at TCU. The award is renewable for a second year, based on satisfactory performance in the first. The work load is no more than 20 hours per week during the 9-month academic year, and most students are assigned to teach labs in either Introductory Biology I & II (BIOL 10501/10511) or Contemporary Issues in Biology (BIOL 10003).

In addition, MS students may apply for a competitive internal award, the Adkins Fellowship, to provide $3,600 in summer stipend in support of their thesis research between the first and second year.
For Ph.D. students, the Department of Biology also offers a small number of Teaching Assistantships (full tuition award, a 12-month stipend of $20,000, and 75% of student health insurance at TCU) and one Green Fellowship that is awarded on a competitive base for a single year (full tuition award, a 12-month stipend of $20,000 with no teaching responsibilities, 75% of student health insurance at TCU).

The Department also provides up to $1,300 of support for MS and PhD students to attend a scientific meeting and present their research.

Scholarships

Dr. Ray Drenner Biology Student Research Fund

Students can receive research and travel support by applying for the Drenner Student Research Fund, named in honor of Dr. Ray Drenner, a long-time biology faculty member. The fund was established through the generosity of Dave Hambright, Ph.D., Pamela Genova, Ph.D. and former students of Dr. Ray Drenner to recognize his 44 years of teaching and mentoring at TCU. The fund supports Biology undergraduate and graduate student research and travel to scientific meetings to present their research. Please consult your faculty mentor if you are interested in applying for the Murphy Fund.

Clifford E. Murphy Memorial Fund
Students can receive travel support by applying for the Murphy Fund Grant, named in honor of Dr. Clifford Murphy, a long-time biology faculty member. The fund is available to undergraduate and graduate student researchers to help support regional or national travel to present scientific research. Only primary authors are supported through this opportunity, and yearly support cannot exceed $1,000 per graduate student and $500 per undergraduate student. Please consult your faculty mentor if you are interested in applying for the Murphy Fund.

Adkins Fellowship
All graduate students whose major professor is in the Department of Biology are invited to submit grant proposals to the biology Committee on Graduate Studies to receive summer financial support between their first and second years. Proposals will be evaluated by the committee, and funds will be awarded on a competitive basis to students with proposals deemed to contain the most scientific merit. All recipients of the Adkins fellowships are required to have a committee meeting during the third semester to discuss research progress. Please consult your faculty mentor for additional information.