Bains Fellowship
Dr. Elizabeth M. Bains and Dr. James A. Bains, Jr. Graduate Fellowship
The Dr. Elizabeth M. Bains and Dr. James A. Bains, Jr. Graduate Fellowship provides a $35,000 per year stipend for excellent graduate students who contribute in meaningful ways to broaden the department’s access and engagement.
Shruti Agarwal
Shruti Agarwal is the first Bains Fellow, joining the graduate program in fall 2022 and working with Professor Cristian Batista in theoretical condensed matter physics. She earned her integrated BS-MS degree from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Mohali, India.
“The Bains Fellowship offered me the opportunity to start early on my graduate research along with my studies, making the offer from UT stand out,” she said. “It has given me greater freedom to choose the research I want to pursue without worrying about the financial aspects of it. I am grateful and happy to be at the receiving end of this fellowship.”
Selection Process
The fellowship is available for new student applicants to our graduate program. Students should apply to the fellowship via a faculty sponsor. Interested students without UT Knoxville contacts are encouraged to contact a faculty member with whom they would like to work. (Faculty members can only sponsor one student per cycle.)
Selection Criteria
Candidates are evaluated based on their academic credentials, including:
- Academic Excellence
- Research Statement and Experience
- Work/life Experiences (leadership, work through challenging problems, maturity)
- Interview with 2+ Faculty Members
- Anticipated Interests in our Department
- Reference Letters (letters submitted to apply to our graduate program (link to the Join Our Program page in this directory) will be used)
In addition, the candidate is expected to contribute in meaningful ways to broaden the department’s access and engagement.
Dates
The nomination deadline is February 9, 2024. The awardee and faculty sponsor will be announced on or about February 23, 2024.
The Bains Fellowship is made possible by a generous bequest from physics graduates Elizabeth M. Bains (MS, 1968; PhD, 1972) and James A. Bains, Jr. (PhD, 1974).