The ARFTG Roger Pollard Student Fellowship in Microwave Measurement

December 9th, 2022 is the deadline for ARFTG Fellowship applications

Purpose

To recognize and provide financial assistance to graduate students who show promise and interest in pursuing research related to improvement of radio frequency and microwave measurement techniques. The fellowship is named in memorial of Roger Pollard, in honor of his leadership in Microwave Measurement and Microwave Measurement education.

Award

One or more $7500 gold awards and/or $5000 silver awards may be granted each year. The number to be presented will be determined by the ARFTG Executive Committee yearly based on available funding and on the number and quality of applications received. The application deadline will be listed on the web site.

Conditions

  1. Award will be made to an educational institution for support of named student, but managed by a faculty advisor or supervisor. No overhead rates shall be applied by the institution.
  2. Award shall be used primarily for graduate student stipend. At least 2/3 of the funds is expected to be used for this purpose. If desired, an amount not to exceed 1/3 of the award funding may be used for travel and supplies (excluding capital equipment) related to the measurement related research project proposed as part of the application. Examples of appropriate travel expenditure include travel to an ARFTG conference to present measurement related research results or to a company or government laboratory that has agreed to collaborate with the work.  Exceptional use of the Roger Pollard Student Fellowship for overseas travel & internship exceeding 1/3 of the budget may also be granted if properly documented and justified.
  3. Student shall be pursuing a full-time course of study leading to a graduate degree in engineering, physics, applied physics or computer science. If the student graduates, or for any other reason leaves the university, before funds are expended, the faculty advisor or supervisor may use the funds in support of another student in similar research pursuits.
  4. Award shall not be used for capital equipment purchase nor for faculty compensation (sometimes termed "release time").
  5. This award may be granted in addition to any other support received by the student.
  6. There is no limit to the number of applications per year per institution; a maximum of one award will be made per year per institution.
  7. An individual student may receive this award only once.
  8. Proposals for the Roger Pollard Student Fellowship Awards are due by December 9th each year. Announcement of awards will be made at the Fall ARFTG conference following the deadline.
  9. Any publications or presentations resulting from the Roger Pollard Student fellowship grants shall be marked with the statement "This work was sponsored in part by the Roger Pollard Student Fellowship from the Automatic RF Techniques Group."
  10. Within two years from the award date, reporting on the use of the fellowship funding is required in at least one of the following ways: 1.Writing one or more ARFTG papers that benefited from the fellowship, or 2. A short report explaining how the funds were applied towards the project goals and explaining the status of the work and student applicant. Any papers presented at other than ARFTG conferences are to be attached to this report. Lack of such reporting would make a future award endorsed by the same faculty member unlikely.

Eligibility

  1. Applicant must have a bachelor's degree in engineering, physics, or computer science.
  2. Applicant must be enrolled as a full-time student in a graduate degree seeking program in engineering, physics, or computer science at a suitably qualified institution of higher learning.
  3. Applicant must be carrying out (or plan to carry out) research as part of his/her degree program, not just taking course work.
  4. Proposed research project must clearly involve RF/microwave measurements, and be supervised by a full-time faculty member. Proposed work can be a sub-set of a broader thesis or dissertation problem.
  5. Faculty advisor or supervisor must be an ARFTG member or the proposal must be sponsored/endorsed by an ARFTG member. For assistance in identifying an appropriate ARFTG sponsor, please contact the Fellowship Coordinator at the address below.

General

Research proposals that involve collaboration with companies and/or government agencies are allowed. Particularly encouraged are projects that can form the basis for a paper to be presented at an ARFTG conference.

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation criteria used for the proposal evaluation include: 1) the relevance of the proposed work to ARFTG, 2) the originality of the proposal, 3) its technical merit, 4) its quality of presentation, 5) the availability of measurement facilities, 6) the probability of successful completion, 7) the relation to the degree program pursued and 8) the technical background of the applicant. Priority will be given to proposals geared towards the development of novel measurement techniques with supportive data analysis. For your information, here is the Evaluation form .

Application

The applicant should submit a pdf document, addressing all items enumerated in the  Application Form , by e-mail to the Fellowship Coordinator. In addition, the applicant is responsible to ask his/her faculty advisor or supervisor and, if applicable, the endorsing ARFTG member to e-mail the requested information and letter(s) of reference to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. prior to the deadline.