GPS Career Development Grant

Fall Cycle: November 15, 2025 by 11:59 pm central time

Spring Cycle: April 15, 2026 by 11:59 pm central time
 

• Master’s students, predoctoral students and postdoctoral scholars in the UM Medical School biomedical sciences.
• Master’s and predoctoral students must be in good academic standing.
• Postdoctoral scholars must have at least a one-year appointment at the UMN Medical School.
• A student or scholar may only receive one grant at any education level under this program at any time. For example, a predoctoral student can receive an early predoctoral level grant AND a late predoctoral level grant but cannot receive two early predoctoral level grants. Applicants who have applied before but have not received an award are encouraged to apply again. 

Award amounts:

• The maximum award for students is as follows:
  • Master’s Students – 5 awards each cycle:  $2,000 each award
  • Early Predoctoral Students (1st/2nd year) – 5 awards each cycle: $2,000 each award
  • Late Predoctoral Students (3rd year and later) – 5 awards each cycle: $2,000 each award
  • Postdoctoral Scholars – 5 awards each cycle: $2,000 each award
• Awards are for a 12-month period from when the funds are awarded. Unused funds will be returned to the GPS Office Grant Funds.
• Awards will not be applied retroactively for any activities before the grant funding period. GPS Office Grant Award money will not be applied to any funds already utilized including travel paid for before the award date, conference registration paid for before the award date, or equipment purchased before the award date. Funds cannot be used to pay one’s lab for equipment or travel purchased through the lab chartstring or p-card.
• Awards may only be used while the student is an active student or the postdoctoral scholar is on an active appointment with the UMN Medical School. Should a student or postdoctoral scholar depart the University prior to completion of the project and/or expenditure of the funds, the funds will no longer be available for use. All remaining funds will be returned to the GPS Office Grant Funds. 
   

Grant recipients are determined by faculty members and near peer reviewers within the UM Medical School Graduate Programs who are appointed by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Decisions are based on the reviewer's careful evaluation of applications and availability of funds. This is a competitive award; therefore, more applications will be received than can be funded in a single cycle. 

The application materials described below must be submitted via the GPS Office online application through Qualtrics; the application link will be available on September 8, 2025 for the Fall 2025 Cycle and February 2, 2026 for the Spring 2026 Cycle.

• Cover Page (filled in on Qualtrics directly, not a separate pdf):
  • Includes personal details and demographics, academic information, project title, faculty mentor, and project abstract

Application Components should be uploaded as a pdf document with the file name formatted as: Last Name_FirstName_GPSResearchGrant. Unless otherwise noted, instructions are applicable to all applications including both research focused and career focused applications: 

• Project Narrative - One page maximum not including references;  
  • Research Focus: Should include a brief description of the research project on which you  will be working on during the 12-month grant period. This description should include the research purpose and hypotheses, and real brief description of methods. If results are known, provide a brief summary of the results.
  • Career Development Focus: Should provide a detailed statement describing the experiences or accomplishments that have shaped your educational and career goals. Identify the gap in career development that you will be targeting with the proposed activity and how the proposed activity will address that gap while contributing to your career preparedness.
• Description of the activity for which the funding is being requested - One page maximum
  • Should describe in detail what the funds will be used  and the  significance of this activity within your scientific discipline and overall training. Additionally, please expand on how you will leverage this activity to further your training and career. Finally, please include a brief description of why the funds are needed to complete this activity. Please include a reference page as needed.
• Budget and Timeline  - No page limit
  • Each application must include an itemized budget listing the expected expenses using the budget worksheet template.
  • Applicants must ask for a specific amount of funding and will be awarded the amount requested, which may not always be the maximum amount available.  Applicants may not bundle unrelated items to reach the funding maximum.  For example, airfare and registration for a conference could be in the same request.  Airfare to travel to a conference and funds for a training course (not at the conference) should not be bundled.
  • Items allowed include:
    • Travel costs include appropriate airfare, ground transportation, lodging, and meals while traveling.
    • Conference registration and related expenses including poster printing.
    • Access to licenses or subscriptions related to research training or career development (if asking for a software license, you must justify why this expense is not paid for by the faculty mentor)
    • Memberships and professional organization dues and other related expenses  
    • Fees related to professional development, workshops, seminars, and other training related to research training and career development.
    • Assistive technology
  • Items not allowed include:
    • Stipends or living expenses for any persons related to the research project.
    • Travel expenses not directly related to the project or the applicant’s research training
    • Costs of preparing one’s dissertation
    • Retroactive charges for expenditures incurred before the funding period
    • Lab equipment, supplies, or other research equipment.
    • Computer equipment
  • The budget should include a timeline for the completion of the proposed activities within the application. This timeline is not for the research project itself, rather the timeline should be for when the activities that the requested funding is for will be completed (e.g. conference and travel, enrollment in educational courses, etc.).
  • Justification for each requested expense should be included in the worksheet. Items included with no justification may receive poor scores.
• Biosketch – Five page limit
  • Predoctoral and Postdocs: Using the NIH Biosketch template format, upload your current biosketch.
  • Master’s Students: Using the Master’s specific biosketch template format, upload your current biosketch.
• Letter of Support – No page limit
  • Provide a letter of support for the requested project from your mentor.
  • The letter of support should reference your specific application components, budget areas, and how these will be supported by their lab. 
     

• Grant funds will remain in the GPS Office and not awarded directly to the student or postdoctoral scholar.
• To utilize grant funds, see this award guidelines document.  Note that two weeks minimum is required to request funds.
• Use of grant funds will not be approved without written approval from the project’s faculty mentor.

A final report on the project must be submitted using this template to the GPS Office by the deadline identified in your award letter.