The Bagley College of Engineering will offer year-long assistantships for the period of January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 to students enrolled in the college's graduate programs. The primary objective of this program is to support MSU’s Strategic Plan for Transformational Change. The research thrust areas of this plan include autonomy, economic development, addressing disparity, and cybersecurity. In the spirit of collaboration, all successful submissions will involve an interdisciplinary collaboration between at least two engineering departments or between one engineering department and one department housed in a different academic unit at Mississippi State University. As such, this message will also be distributed to the deans, who are encouraged to forward to their faculty.
Awardees are selected on a competitive basis. Selection criteria include, but are not limited to, GPA, prior research experience, scholarly publications, and recommendation/support letters. The deadline will be 5 pm Central Time, November 1, 2023. LATE AND INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED OR CONSIDERED. Please go ahead and request letters of recommendation in order to meet the application deadline. Students must submit their completed application packets (items 1 through 3 below) online via http://it.engr.msstate.edu/bridge-funding. Please log into the portal using your net ID and net password. Students must not have any other funding sources to be eligible for this program and will serve in a GRA capacity for the duration of the award.
A complete application includes
- Completed online application form, student resume (including a list of completed coursework, expected graduate date, cumulative GPA, and a list of publications and presentations as well as whether or not (yes or no) you have completed your comps and dissertation proposal defense).
- A letter of recommendation, not to exceed two pages, from the major professors / research advisors. This letter should address the multidisciplinary nature of the collaboration and how it supports MSU’s mission. The letter should also indicate prior funding sources for this student and outline some thoughts on future, collaborative proposal submissions (including funding agencies).
- A statement from the academic department head or graduate coordinator (for multidisciplinary programs such as in CME) certifying support of the proposal.
Note: The signed letters should be attached before submitting your application – NOT emailed later. Also, if you do not receive a confirmation email after you have submitted a completed application, please notify Courtney Blaylock (blaylock@bagley.msstate.edu) as soon as possible.
The resume and letters of recommendation can be uploaded in the Bridge funding application portal.
These assistantships are 100% GRA appointments. Funding for these assistantships will be from BCoE with a $5,000 commitment from the home department (or college). Beyond receiving a paid stipend, assistantship awardees will be expected to contribute to their advisor's research program through their research hours on their semester schedule.
Applicants will receive an email notification when their application has been received. Additional inquiries can be sent to Courtney Blaylock (blaylock@bagley.msstate.edu).
Please direct any questions to Dr. Jason Keith and Dr. Kari Babksi-Reeves.