Department Funding Support
Note: funding is given to PhD applicants. PhDs who do not have a faculty advisor and funding are not admitted to the PhD program.
If you are a PhD applicant interested in funding, submit your application as early as possible, and include the optional graduate application supplement (link below). The department does not fund masters students.
Optional Funding Supplement:
Complete and upload the optional Graduate Application Supplement form with your online application if you are interested in department support. If you have already submitted your online application, email the completed form to aerograd@colorado.edu and it will be added to your application file.
MS Students
- Financial support is not guaranteed for MS students.
- Individual advisors may offer research assistantships to MS students.
- MS students can apply for hourly course assistantships at a competitive salary.
- Top students may be considered for sponsored fellowships or summer internships
Ph.D. students
Students meeting the rigorous admission requirements for the PhD are admitted to a focus area, matched with a faculty advisor, and are guaranteed financial support for up to 4 years to completion of the doctoral degree. This continued financial support will be renewed each year provided that the student is making acceptable progress as evidenced by progression through the preliminary and comprehensive exams, and annual progress reviews by her/his thesis committee. Support for longer periods of study are allowed, but are not guaranteed by the department.
This support may be subject to the availability of continued funds in the student’s selected research area. It is provided primarily by the advisor or focus area, through external fellowships, contracts & grants. In the case of an unexpected loss of funding, the student may be required to switch fields in order to keep their financial support. One year of support (typically the first year) can be provided by a departmental fellowship.
H. Joseph Smead Graduate Fellowship in Aerospace Engineering Sciences:
The Smead Graduate Student Fellowships were established in 2006 to honor the memory of Dr. Harold J. “Joe” Smead (1925-2003), a native of Spokane, Washington, who graduated from CU-Boulder in 1946 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
Joe was able to attend CU through the U.S. Navy’s WWII V-12 program and upon graduation served as an ensign aboard the USS Columbia. He subsequently earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. from Purdue University. From 1954 to 1973, Joe was employed in electronic systems engineering by Litton Industries and Teledyne Corp. He became president and CEO of Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics Corp. in 1974 and continued in that capacity until 1997.
Joe was a leading member of the CU-Boulder Aerospace Engineering Sciences’ volunteer External Advisory Board and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the department’s A. Richard Seebass Chair endowment. For his many extraordinary professional accomplishments and strong volunteer commitment to CU Engineering, he was awarded the College of Engineering and Applied Science Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award.
Dr. Smead had a lifelong passion for education and learning. He quietly, and typically anonymously, supported scholarships and teaching programs as he recognized his responsibility to give back to that which had helped him achieve and accomplish so much.
Original funding for the Smead Graduate Student Fellowships was provided in 2006 by Joe’s widow, Ann, and Michael Byram, then president of the University of Colorado Foundation, in honor and respect for a man who achieved so much and was so modest about his accomplishments and generous philanthropy.
To qualify and be selected a Smead Graduate Student Fellow is a singular and distinguished honor in an individual’s academic career.
Applicants are automatically considered during the admissions process. A separate application is not required.
Link to External Fellowship Opportunities