The Kummer Innovation and Entrepreneurship Doctoral Fellows Program (Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows) is one of several new initiatives established through a generous gift of $300 million from June and Fred Kummer, longtime benefactors of Missouri S&T. This program is designed to help Missouri S&T realize Mr. and Mrs. Kummer’s desire to encourage innovative-minded students to pursue doctoral degrees to strengthen applied research, technological innovation, and economic development in the region, state and nation.
The Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows Program is limited to no more than 100 active fellows. The program is open to domestic and international students. Each Kummer I&E Fellow will receive a Graduate Research Assistantship position on campus, a fellowship (paid out semesterly), and tuition remission for required coursework for up to four years.
Kummer I&E Fellows will engage in a number of special opportunities, including:
The Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows Program is open to on-campus domestic and international full-time Ph.D. students admitted to a STEM degree program starting in the Fall 2023 semester.
Current Missouri S&T undergraduates are eligible and encouraged to apply!
S&T graduate students currently enrolled in either M.S., M.A., or Ph.D. programs are not eligible to be nominated for or awarded a Kummer I&E Fellowship unless they meet the following exception:
Thus, students enrolled in M.S., or M.A. degree programs in Biological Sciences, Psychological Science, Business and Information Technology, and English and Technical Communication are eligible to be nominated for and awarded a Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellowship for the pursuit of a Ph.D. degree at S&T.
Only potential incoming doctoral students who have not yet started their graduate program at S&T are able to apply for the Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows Program. Potential incoming students must complete their application to a doctoral program, prior to submitting this fellowship application. After submitting the student application, the faculty advisor for the student candidate will complete a nomination form. Students who have been admitted into the doctoral program and have a completed Kummer I&E Fellowship application packet (student application and faculty advisor nomination) will then be reviewed by the Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows Program Selection Committee for final review and awarding of the fellowship. See specific deadlines below.
January 31: Submit your completed Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellowship Program application.
February 15: The faculty advisors will have until this deadline to complete and submit a faculty advisor nomination form and to submit an admission decision for the student's doctoral application.
IMPORTANT: No conditional admits will be considered by the Kummer Fellows Selection Committee; students must be fully admitted by the department.
Beginning March 6: Finalists for the fellowship will be scheduled for zoom interviews with the selection committee.
March 20: Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows selection committee to announce awards.
March 20 - April 14: Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellow awardees living in the U.S. will be invited to campus for an in-person visit with their academic departments. Travel costs will be reimbursed by the Kummer Institute. International students will be able to schedule a virtual visit. Visits will be coordinated by the academic departments.
April 15: Deadline for Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellows to accept their award.
If you have not applied to a Missouri S&T doctoral program, you must first apply for the doctoral program and submit all required application materials. Once that process is complete you can submit your Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellowship application.
Doctoral students who have already applied to S&T or are newly admitted, please review the fellowship application requirements and complete a Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellowship application. For help with the short-answer essay questions and your resume, contact Phillip Bode, Director of the S&T Writing Center, at pbode@mst.edu and writing@mst.edu at least 2 weeks prior to the application deadline.
Are you an academic faculty internal to S&T who would like to nominate an exceptional student for this fellowship program?
Once you have been admitted as a Kummer I&E Doctoral Fellow you will receive a welcome packet with additional program information.
Requirements to stay in the I&E Doctoral Fellows program include:
View additional requirements and program information on the program page.
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