Mobil Aggies Future Faculty Fellowship

Expand All

What is the difference between an application reviewer and a Statement Reviewer?

These are 2 different roles:

Application Reviewer

If you are selected as an F3 Fellow, we require your Committee Chair to be an application reviewer in the next year’s cycle (not the current cycle that you are applying in). An application reviewer will help review (approximately 15-20 applications) in early May (approximate deadline of mid-May) the College/School/IDP committee selected applications.

Statement Reviewer

As part of your application, you need to recruit a faculty to be a Statement Reviewer. The Statement Reviewer will serve as a reviewer of yours and one other Fellow’s research and teaching statements and attend the Fall Preparation Workshop (likely in September) to provide constructive feedback on the statements. Expectations for content in research and teaching statements can vary among disciplines. Thus, it is important to have field-specific feedback. We recommend that the Statement Reviewer be a faculty member who was hired within the last 5 years to provide a fresh perspective of the academic job market. The Grad School will provide lunch during the workshop.

Typically, the 2 roles above will be 2 different faculty. Nonetheless, you can select your Committee Chair to be your Statement Reviewer if they so agree to do both. 

Do you have guidance on how to write a research statement or teaching statement?

Yes.

We are providing guidance on writing a Research Statement, but recognize this guidance is purely informational and written as if you were to apply to a tenure-track faculty position. There is variance among disciplines and institutions in the expectations and/or requirements of research statements. The strongest advice is to have a faculty (especially any fresh off the job market) you know in your discipline read over your statement and give feedback.

Also, for the purposes of this competition (and not necessarily an actual faculty position you would apply to), recognize a reviewer may not have familiarity with the expectations in your discipline (e.g., publishing a book in some disciplines compared to journal articles in others). Therefore, we recommend you have a sentence or two that indicates the “norm” in your discipline and how you are meeting or exceeding this expectation within the context of your current career stage. These statements would not likely go in an actual research statement you submit to a faculty position because those reviewers are likely to be in your discipline.

Guidance and additional web resources on writing academic job application research statements are available in the Research Statement Guidance document. 

Is the F3 Program open to terminal master's degrees?

At this time, it is not.

Can F3 Fellows have another major assistantship or fellowship simultaneously?

No. 

F3 Fellows may not accept any additional funding (e.g., assistantships, fellowships, internships, employment, etc.) during the fellowship tenure. However, departments may choose to supplement stipend funds to match those received by other graduate students in the department. For example, if the current departmental graduate assistantship monthly stipend rate is greater than $2500, a department may supplement the additional monthly cost to match the rate of other graduate students in the department.

Primary intents of the program are for the Fellow to focus on completing their dissertation, participate in professional development events, and prepare application materials for next-stage academic positions (e.g., postdoctoral positions, tenure-track faculty positions).

How do I bookmark the required materials in my PDF application?

Simply highlight the text at the start of where you wish to place a bookmark and then, right click and select “Add Bookmark” in the pop-up menu. The Bookmarks window appears on the right side and therein, a box will appear with the text you highlighted. Edit the text with the 5 bookmark headers requested in the Call for Applications: Personal Statement, Research Statement, C.V., Committee Chair, and Statement Reviewer.

Are letters of recommendation required?

No. Your Committee Chair just needs to provide the acknowledgment of participation as described in the Call for Applications. Letters of support are NOT part of the application materials and will NOT be accepted.

I am a doctoral student in an Interdisciplinary Program (IDP): where do I submit my application?

You will submit your application to your IDP. These 6 IDPs will form a committee that will decide on 1 application to submit to the Grad School.

There are 6 IDPs with doctoral programs:

1.     Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
2.     Neuroscience
3.     Water Management and Hydrological Science 
4.     Genetic and Genomics
5.     Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences
6.     Toxicology

IDP applications submitted via a College/School will NOT be reviewed. The Grad School will accept a single IDP application from the IDP Committee.

Whom do I contact if I have additional questions?

Please note that your College/School/IDP Committee determines the internal deadline, submission process, and selection process for within your College/School/IDPs.  If your question is related to any of these topics, then contact your graduate advisor or administrative faculty that oversee your graduate program in your department/IDP or College/School. The Graduate Operations Committee Dean in your College/School/IDP Committee will oversee the College/School/IDP Committee guidelines for the selection process within your College/School/IDPs.

For an overview of the program itself, Eligibility, Requirements of the F3 Program, or Required Application Materials, please read the Call for Applications. If you have additional questions on these topics, please feel free to contact Dr. Charles Criscione, Associate Dean of the Graduate and Professional School. Please put F3 Program in the header.

Are postdocs eligible to apply?

No. The Graduate and Professional School does not support postdocs.

What if I am admitted to Candidacy for my doctoral degree after the deadline set by my College/School/IDP Committee, but before the deadline for College/School/IDP Committee to submit their applications to the Grad School?

As far as the Grad School is concerned, the student must be admitted to candidacy for a doctoral degree by the May deadline for a College/School/IDP Committee to submit to the Grad School. 

You need to communicate with your Graduate Operations Committee Dean in your College/School/IDP Committee to see if they will accept your application after their internal deadlines.