Application, Evaluation & Award

Application

Application Categories

  1. Personal Info / Application Form (to include contact information, demographic information, field of study, and proposed research in relevance to the DoD; proposed DoD sponsoring agency and research technical discipline area)
  2. Jobs/Internships, Publications, Patents, Awards – Optional section to provided more information regarding relevant to your technical discipline area.
  3. Resume/CV (Upload a PDF of the official - DO NOT mail or email to Systems Plus/NDSEG. Have an official copy mailed or emailed to you and upload into the application
  4. Personal Essay - Will be typed in a web application (500 words). No special formatting required. Describe your academic or other interest, and personal achievements (e.g., short and long-term professional goals; How your goals were developed; How you have begun to lay the foundation for these goals; How the fellowship fits into these goals?)
  5. Research Proposal (see details under research proposal)
  6. Official Undergraduate Transcript(s) (Upload a PDF of the official - DO NOT mail or email to Systems Plus/NDSEG. Have an official copy mailed or emailed to you and upload into the application
  7. Demographic Information – Provide information on Gender, Ethnicity, and Race
  8. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score (general test only) - Test Taker Scores may be uploaded. Official Copies of GRE's and Transcripts will be requested prior to official award
  9. 3 References – References should be provided by an Academic Advisor, Research Advisor, or Internship Supervisor. References must complete the reference link. Separate letters on letterhead will NOT be accepted. The Reference Evaluation Forms link includes a space for additional comments. Reference should capture professional assessment of the applicant, a testimony to your scholarly excellence.

If for any reason an application does not contain all of the required elements, it will not be reviewed. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure the completeness of his or her application.


Application Tips

  1. In the Graduate section of the application, if this is the first semester of graduate school, place a "0.0" for the GPA and upload your coursework or acceptance letter for the transcript.
  2. Have an Advisor review your Proposal, Personal Statement/Application
  3. Log into the system periodically to ensure references have been submitted
  4. Keep in mind the actual proposal is no more than 3 pages, the 4th page is for the cited work only.
  5. Be sure to visit the BAA links on the website under DoD, your research proposal needs relevancy research and development area aligned with the DoD BAAs.
  6. All Files must be uploaded as PDFs ONLY

Research Proposal Instructions

Proposed research relevant to the DoD. The research proposal should capture How well the proposal responds to one of the BAAs listed on the website under the DOD menu. Guidelines are provided below:

  1. 4 Page Proposal with work cited
    1. 3 Page Proposal Single line space
    2. 1 Page Max Cited Work
  2. Graphics and Charts may be included
  3. 12Pt. Times New Roman Font-a smaller font size may be used for cited work, charts and graphics
  4. Margins should be no less than 0.5

Additional Information About BAAs

Applicants must find the BAA that list research areas that relate to your discipline/area of research (https://ndsegfellowships.org/dod). The Research Proposal should reflect your field of study as well as connect with one off the BAA’s.

In the application, there is a section where you will list the BAA number (not name of the BAA), and the name of the research area you select. Additionally, if you are interested in the international research area, that is okay. Generally, the rule is, if it’s listed under 1 of the BAAs, and it is an open and current BAA, applicants can write their proposal in that area.

Please list the BAA number. For example, N00014-18-S-B001, W911NF-17-S-0002-03. Sometimes this number is found on the cover page of the BAA or in the Footer. This number identifies which BAA announcement you are using. Under the announcements there are different projects or research areas with titles (i.e. Chemical Sciences, Energy Transport and Storage, Human Dimension and so on).

Please list the title of the research area your proposal will support. This is to ensure you are responding to one of the BAAs. Additionally, in the application is a field to incorporate a title for your proposal.

Evaluation, Selection, & Award

NDSEG fellowships will be awarded on a merit basis. This merit-based evaluation of applicants will rely on the applicant’s application, to include academic records, CV, Essays and research proposals.

Each application will be evaluated by a panel of academic experts who have doctoral degrees from the science and engineering discipline of the applicant’s proposed advanced degree program. A list of top-ranked applicants results from the evaluation panel.

Participating DoD agencies will then select final awardees from the top-ranked applicants. Final selection of fellows will be made by AFRL, ARO, ONR, and other sponsoring DoD agencies (if applicable).

Systems Plus will notify successful and unsuccessful applicants within 14 days of official award.

Fellows must provide their acceptance soon after receiving their award notification. Notifications will be sent via email. If an official letter is required by your Institution, notify the DoD NDSEG Program Office at NDSEG.PMO@syplus.com.