Dean's Award for Graduate Research Excellence

Background

The Dean’s Awards for Graduate Research Excellence recognize graduate students’ outstanding achievements in research, scholarship, or creative practice prior to graduation from the program. This award is designed to celebrate a range of outstanding achievements, which could include:

  • Being the first author of a leading publication in a top-ranked journal
  • Winning a conference prize at a premier meeting for a presentation
  • Leading a research or creative practice initiative (on campus, for a regional or national organization, or abroad) that yields new conversations and possibilities for the student and the student’s field
  • Producing public-facing research that has garnered or has the potential to garner significant visibility
  • Conducting innovative convergent research with colleagues across fields or leading research activity that bridges the academy and industry

This list is not meant to be comprehensive. Each department/program can underscore what constitutes excellence in research, scholarship, or creative practice in their field.

Nomination Guidelines

Departments nominate eligible graduate students for this award..

The guidelines for eligibility are as follows:

  • The student must be enrolled as a full-time graduate student in A&S in a standalone degree program (e.g., PhD, MFA) for at least one full semester during the 2025-2026 academic year.
  • By nominating this student, it is understood the student must complete their degree within their program length to be eligible for this award.
  • Department chairs/Program directors must certify that the nominee will complete their degree within their program length. (One strategy is to nominate students at later stages in their grad school tenure to ensure a completion date is assured.)
  • The student must be in good academic standing and making timely progress in the degree program.
  • The student must have earned this achievement during the previous ~1-2 years (i.e., the date of the award, publication, or performance should be between September 2023 - August 2025).
  • The student can be nominated by any graduate faculty member, but they must be endorsed by the Department Chair/Program Director and the DGS. This group must view the student’s achievement as exemplary.

This award is intended to distinguish students as among the top 5% of all graduate students educated and trained in your department or program. Competitive nominations (1) demonstrate why the student’s achievement is considered exemplary within the discipline/broader area of scholarship (which may include a comparison to put this achievement into context) and (2) explain what this achievement means for excellence in your department/program and for the future of research in this area.

Semifinalists and Finalists

The winners of the competition will be announced in the Fall semester. Students selected as semifinalists will give a three-minute oral presentation about their work to a broad selection committee, who will designate the finalists for this award. Finalists will give presentations to a committee of faculty, university leaders, and external partners. Semifinalists and finalists must be available to present at these events (dates TBD). Semifinalists and finalists will receive a monetary prize.

For questions, please contact Vice Dean Sophia Hayes (hayes@wustl.edu) or Michelle Rabe (rabe@wustl.edu), Director of Academic Initiatives and Special Projects in the Office of Graduate Studies. 

See all finalists and semifinalists here!