Microsoft Research announces Dissertation Grant Program to support under-represented groups in computing

Microsoft Research this week announced a new academic program called Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant. This program will offer up to $20,000 for selected doctoral students for doing computing research at U.S. and Canadian universities to fund their dissertation work.

This program is open to students currently under-represented in the technology sector, including women, people with disabilities, and people who are African-American/Black, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, reflecting Microsoft’s commitment to growing the number of diverse students obtaining computing degrees.

Microsoft will also arrange and pay for travel and accommodations to grant recipients to attend a two-day Microsoft Research workshop in Redmond, Washington, in autumn 2017. The workshop will provide grant recipients an opportunity to present their research, meet individually with Microsoft researchers in their research area and receive career coaching from Microsoft researchers.

Students must still be enrolled in their PhD program during the autumn of 2017 in order to receive and use the grant. Grants are for completing dissertation research only, and cannot be used for support in a role past graduation, such as a postdoc or faculty position.

Students can learn more about this announcement here.