Eligibility criteria

• Nominees for the Microsoft Research Graduate Women’s Scholarship Program must be nominated by their universities, and their nominations must be confirmed by the office of the chair of the department. Direct applications from students are not accepted.
• Student must attend a U.S. or Canadian university and be enrolled as a full-time graduate student in the Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Mathematics departments (if your department is within the scope of these areas, but is titled differently, you are eligible).
• Students must be enrolled in their first year in a graduate program in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Mathematics for academic year 2014–2015. If a student has already completed graduate-level coursework in any subject area, prior to their first year in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or Mathematics, then the student is not eligible for the Scholarship program.
• A maximum of three applicants per department, per university will be accepted. A total of nine applicants total per university will be allowed.
• Payment of the scholarship awards, as described above, is made directly to the university. The recipient must remain enrolled in a graduate program during the 2014–2015 academic year or forfeit the award.

How to apply

• Applications must include: Applicant’s curriculum vitae, a copy of the student’s undergraduate transcript, and two (2) letters of reference from individuals who are familiar with the applicant’s work. Of these letters, one (1) letter of recommendation should come from the student’s graduate advisor and one (1) letter of recommendation should come from the student’s undergraduate advisor or another academic who is familiar with the student’s undergraduate work (should include any research work, if applicable). In addition to the application materials above, student must submit a 500-word essay that describes their research interest and how this scholarship would enable their success.
• Applications must be submitted online via the application tool in any of the following formats: Word document, text-only file, or PDF. All application materials must be submitted by the person designated as the application contact by the departmental chair’s office and must not be the applicant.
• Applications are accepted only when submitted via the online application tool by eligible university department chairs or their designee (students may not apply directly). Emailed or hard copy applications are not considered.
• Applications submitted to Microsoft will not be returned. Microsoft cannot assume responsibility for the confidentiality of information in submitted applications. Therefore, applications should not contain information that is confidential, restricted, or sensitive. Microsoft reserves the right to make public information from applications that receive awards, except those portions containing budgetary or personally identifiable information.
• Incomplete applications cannot be considered and notification of incompleteness will not be made.
• Due to the volume of submissions, Microsoft Research cannot provide individual feedback on applications that do not receive Scholarship awards.