Student Grants

The Mershon Center for International Security Studies seeks applications from Ohio State graduate and undergraduate students for grants to support travel and research on topics related to international security. We will also consider projects that strengthen the global gateways in China, India and Brazil, or speak to the university’s Discovery Themes in health and wellness, energy and the environment, and food production and security.

Funds may be used for a variety of purposes related to the conduct of research including travel costs, food and lodging expenses, interview or library fees, survey costs, and other expenses. To learn about student projects funded by the Mershon Center, please see past issues of the Mershon Center Annual Report under Publications.

For financial support for undergraduate study abroad programs, please see information about the Ralph D. Mershon Study Abroad Scholarship.

Application Instructions
Student grant applications must include:
• Standard cover sheet that includes 500-word abstract of the project.
• Three- to five-page double-spaced proposal detailing the project or dissertation.
• Detailed, itemized budget. Proposals involving international travel must budget for each month of travel outside the United States to cover required supplemental health insurance.
• Letter of recommendation from project advisor or dissertation committee chair (graduate students) or from Ohio State faculty member who will serve as the project advisor or honor's thesis chair (undergraduate students).
• Official copy of student's college transcript or advising report.

The 2013 Graduate Student Grant Application Form and the 2013 Undergraduate Student Grant Application Form are now available for download. These are documents in Microsoft Word with fillable form fields. Please submit student grant applications in both hard copy and electronic formats. Hard copies may be sent to:

Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Student Grant Competition
1501 Neil Ave.
Columbus, OH 43201
Attn: Grants and Scholarships Coordinator

Electronic copies should be sent in Microsoft Word to mershon.student@osu.edu. Please identify each electronic document with your last name and document type; for example, smithvita.doc or smithproposal.doc

Evaluation of Applications
The criteria used to judge proposals include:
• The academic quality of the project.
• The project's applicability to one or more of the Mershon Center's three main research themes.
• The quality of the student's performance at Ohio State.
• The likelihood that the project will fundamentally enhance a student’s academic experience or produce an academic product such as a master's thesis, doctoral dissertation, or publishable article.

Deadline
The deadline for receiving student grant applications is Monday, January 14, 2013. Students with winning grant applications will be informed by April 1, 2013. Funds will be available for a full academic year.

All awards are subject to the rules and regulations of The Ohio State University. In countries under a current Department of State Travel Warning, undergraduate students cannot use scholarship awards for study abroad programs and/or individual international projects outside of venues approved by Ohio State. Graduate and professional students may petition the Study Abroad Health and Safety Committee for approval a minimum of three months prior to proposed travel. For more information, please contact Grace Johnson (johnson.136@osu.edu) at the Office of International Affairs.