The George Washington University

Scholarships and Fellowships

The George Washington University drives academic excellence through scholarships and fellowships that inspire outstanding achievement, create opportunities for advanced learning and reward our students’ extraordinary commitment and hard work. Merit-based scholarships and research fellowships enable GW students to explore new frontiers in their fields of study, both within the University and beyond.

Presidential Scholars in the Arts

GW’s arts community provides abundant opportunities to blend theoretical and intellectual exposure to the arts through various forms of expression. Each year the Departments of Fine Arts and Art History, the Department of Music and the Department of Theatre and Dance further extend these opportunities to Presidential Scholars in the Arts—freshmen who show exceptional promise in the fine arts, music, theater, technical theater, directing, dance and choreography. In addition to receiving financial assistance, scholarship recipients work with inspiring faculty members while taking full advantage of our nation’s most important museums, galleries, stages and arts organizations.

Luther Rice Collaborative Fellowships

The Rice Fellowships promote discovery-based education by supporting student-initiated research: a significant, focused examination of an idea or area of inquiry that results in work that could merit scholarly presentation or publication. Carried out with the collaboration and guidance of at least one faculty member, fellowships may take place over weeks or semesters, with or without association with a credit-bearing course, during students’ junior or senior years.

Gamow Research Awards

The Gamow Research Fellowships nurture the careers of talented and promising sophomores and juniors in all of GW’s schools by funding meaningful, mentored research experiences. The fellowships fund proposals submitted by students jointly with a faculty member to conduct research, scholarship or creative activity in the humanities and creative arts, social sciences, sciences and engineering or professional fields.

Hughes Scholarship Program 

The Hughes Scholarship Program introduces students—including freshmen—to the field of bioinformatics, a blend of biology and computer science linked to physics, chemistry and engineering. The program offers summer internships in mentored research with GW faculty who explore cutting-edge interdisciplinary science.

Kiev Writing Prize

The annual Kiev Writing Prize recognizes an outstanding research paper by an undergraduate student whose work substantially relies on the Gelman Library’s I. Edward Kiev Judaica Collection. Funded by the Kiev Family Trust, the prize is awarded each fall for a paper completed the previous spring.

Cotlow Research Awards 

The Cotlow Research Awards support GW students’ anthropological research around the world. While open to all undergraduate and graduate students, continuing students in anthropology majors and concentrations receive preference. Recipients receive funding for travel and other expenses related to field research. They present their findings at the annual Cotlow Conference.

Research Experience for Undergraduates 

GW has developed a variety of research programs that give undergraduates hands-on, professional research experience. For example, the Biology Department’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, begins with an intensive weeklong workshop in molecular biology and bioinformatics, followed by nine weeks of mentored, cross-disciplinary laboratory research on GW’s campus and throughout the Washington area. The undergraduate research program in the School of Business cultivates and supports research partnerships between undergraduate students and faculty members, allowing them to initiate and conduct research on a topic of interest, work as part of the team on a faculty member’s research project or participate in a case competition requiring intensive research.

Undergraduate Fellowships 

The Center for Undergraduate Fellowships and Research assists all GW undergraduates interested in pursuing national fellowships that recognize academic and extracurricular excellence. These fellowships provide remarkable opportunities for both academic study and career advancement in a host of professional fields.