Can I be nominated for a Martin Fellowship if my grade point average is below a 4.5?
You can still be nominated for a Martin Fellowship, but please be aware that this program is extremely competitive and that you will be at a disadvantage compared to other candidates.
Can I be nominated for a Martin Fellowship if I have not completed my doctoral exams?
No, successful completion of the qualifying exams is a prerequisite for a Martin Fellowship. We advise students in this situation to wait a year to apply.
Can I receive a Martin Fellowship at the same time my work is being funded by another fellowship program?
No, funding from the Martin Family Society of Fellows cannot be paired with other fellowships. However, all new Martin Fellows are given the option to delay their funding by one year. If you find yourself in a situation where you are offered two fellowships, we advise you to delay your Martin Fellowship funding (and congratulations!)
If I have previously been passed over for a Martin Fellowship, can I apply again?
Yes! Previous Martin Fellows have received their fellowships after multiple nominations.
In my statement of interest, can I use a previously written research statement from a conference or grant application?
We advise against it. Please remember that the members of the Selection Committee will not be experts in your field. Your research question should be readily comprehensible to a member of the MIT faculty in a field unrelated to your own.
How should my statement of interest be formatted? How long should it be?
There are no formatting requirements for the statement of interest—simply answer all the questions and be mindful of the length limits. The entire statement of interest should be no longer than three pages: up to two pages for the research question, and one page total for the remaining questions.
I’m a PhD candidate in an MIT program jointly administered by another institution (for instance, the MIT-WHOI Joint Program). Can my non-MIT advisor nominate me for a Martin Fellowship?
Yes.
Can someone other than my faculty advisor nominate me?
If at all possible, nominations should come from candidates’ faculty advisors. However, if this is impossible—for instance, if your advisor has already nominated another student—we will consider candidates nominated by other qualified individuals. You must be nominated by a PI on your research team with direct knowledge of your work, and who is affiliated with MIT or another institution with direct research collaborations with MIT (such as Harvard or WHOI). Ultimately, we want a qualified nominator who can gauge the relevance of your work to the Martin Fellowship’s goals of supporting sustainability research.