Dean's Fellowship

Dean's Fellowship - Research Funding for Ph.D. Students

The College of Health and Human Sciences is pleased to announce the 2025-2026 Dean’s Doctoral Fellowship program. These competitive $20,000 fellowships will support outstanding doctoral students who are full-time Ph.D. students working with faculty mentors in any of the eight units in the college. In the current competition, we anticipate one to two fellowships will be awarded for academic year 2025-2026. The number of fellowships that will be awarded each year is contingent on funds available. Recipients may not receive the fellowship more than once.

The award is apportioned as a $20,000 fellowship stipend that will be distributed in student accounts in two parts (half in fall semester and half in spring semester).

College of Health and Human Sciences Mission: With a commitment to the principles of community, access, and success, the College of Health and Human Sciences provides transformative academic, research, and outreach programs that promote the health and well-being of people, their environments, and communities in which they live.

If you have questions regarding this award and the application process, please contact Associate Dean Matt Hickey at matthew.hickey@colostate.edu.

Grant Application Deadline: Closed Dec. 1, 2024 Details for Applying

Students currently enrolled in good standing in a CHHS Ph.D. program or in a joint degree program where the primary mentor is a CHHS faculty member and the degree is conferred by a unit in CHHS. Prior or current CHHS Dean’s Ph.D. student fellows may not reapply for additional funding via this mechanism .   The College of Health and Human Sciences is committed to upholding principles of community, access, and success and strongly encourages all eligible CHHS Ph.D. students from any of the Ph.D. programs in CHHS to apply.

Dean’s Fellowship applications will be reviewed by an ad hoc review committee that includes members of the CHHS Research Committee. Reviews will be discussed in the CHHS Executive Council, and the final award decisions will be made by the Dean.  It is expected that successful proposals will clearly and thoroughly articulate the:

Broader Impact of the proposed work
Coherent and achievable plan and milestones
Fit with the primary mentor/mentoring team’s research program and expertise
Degree to which this research will advance the priorities of the college mission

Applications are closed on Dec. 1, as new Dean’s Fellows will be introduced at the CHHS Research Day (March 11, 2025). Please submit applications via email to: lee.nagle@colostate.edu. Applications should not exceed 10 pages in length (not including cover page, references, and mentor letter of commitment) and must be submitted as a single bookmarked PDF. All sections must be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with 1” margins.  Proposals that do not meet these formatting guidelines will not be reviewed.

Cover Page (1-page max):  

Title of the proposal
Applicant Name and Email Address
Name of Degree Program
Applicant’s Year in Degree Program
Name of Department/School
Name(s) of Mentor and mentoring team
Signatures from the Applicant, Primary Mentor, and Department Chair/School Director

Description of Proposed Research (6-page max):  

Provide a description of the proposed project, addressing the following points:

The specific aims of the proposed research;
The broader impact of the proposed research;
Describe the research design and proposed methods;
Describe your qualifications for carrying out the proposed research;
Anticipated Outcomes of the proposed research;
Describe the impact of the proposed research contribution toward the college’s priorities of promoting health and well-being of people, their communities, and the environments in which they live.

Plan for Supervision of the Proposed Research/Study: (2-page max):  

Briefly describe:

The mentor or mentoring team with whom you will be working;
The contributions of each team member to the design and the conduct of the proposed studies;
How the proposed studies fit within your mentor/mentoring team’s research program/expertise;
How the proposed studies align with progress toward your degree and career goals.

Project Plan and Milestones (1-page max):  

Provide a project plan and timeline for the year of funding.  Include all anticipated major activities and key milestones.

References (2- page limit)  

Mentor Letter of Commitment (2-page limit)

The Primary Mentor should describe their commitment to and specific plans for mentoring for the student. This should include additional contributions of other members of the mentoring team where their expertise is essential to the design and conduct of the proposed studies.

Awardees will be expected to participate in various research-related leadership efforts within the College, and contribute to a research mentorship culture for current and future fellows.

2025-2026 Dean's Fellows

Anjali Tiwari – Department of Health and Exercise Science, Cognitive Variability as an Early Predictor of Vascular Cognitive Impairment in Stroke Survivors

Steffany Joslin – Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Roles of Adolescent and Parent Depression in Adolescent Cardiometabolic Risk

2024-2025 Dean's Fellows

Andy Hagen – Department of Health and Exercise Science, The Neural Underpinnings of Split-belt Treadmill Training in People with Multiple Sclerosis

Brock Rigsby – Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Mindful Partnering: Developing and Validating an Observational Coding System for a Novel Construct and Testing Associations with Health Outcomes

2023-2024 Dean's Fellows

Ross Atkinson – School of Education, Tracking Trajectories of Change in Well-being of Participants in a Veterans Writing Workshop: A Quasi-experimental Mixed Methods Design. Mentor: Louise Jennings

Megan Moran – Human Development and Family Studies, The Role of Engagement in the Efficacy of Mindfulness Training for Adolescents. Mentors: Rachel Lucas-Thompson and Lauren Shomaker

Maureen Walsh – Health and Exercise Science, BAM! Targeting proteostasis to simultaneously halt drivers of both Brain and Muscle aging in a novel guinea pig model. Mentor: Karyn Hamilton

Collage of three portraits, one woman wearing a lab coat, a woman in a grey sweater, a man outdoors in front of a brick wall waring a flannel shirt — Left to right: Maureen Walsh, Megan Moran, and Ross Atkinson

2022-2023 Dean's Fellows

Elliot Graham – Food Science and Human Nutrition, Mentors: Chris Gentile, Tiffany Weir – FSHN, Marcela Henao-Tamayo – Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology, Examining the Effects of a Novel Probiotic on Blood Vessel and Gut Function in Diet-Induced Obese Mice.

Mohammad Teymouri – Construction Management, Mentor: Mahmoud Shakouri – CM. Long-Term Performance of Concrete Infrastructures Exposed to De-icing and Anti-icing Salts.

Han-Yun (Heidi) Tseng – Human Development and Family Studies, Mentors: Manfred Diehl and Stephen Aichele – HDFS. Trajectories of Subjective Well-Being over 20 Years in Older Adults: The Role of Self-Perceptions of Aging.

2022-2023 CHHS Dean's Fellows (Elliot Graham, Heidi Tseng, Mohammad Teymouri) — From left, Elliott Graham, Heidi Tseng, and Mohammad Teymouri

2021-2022 Dean's Fellows

Patricia Grady – Occupational Therapy, Mentor: Anita Bundy, Sc.D. Improving Health, Well-being and Equity for Children with Sensory Integration Dysfunction through Assessment: Establishing Evidence for the Validity and Reliability of the Evaluation in Ayres Sensory Integration (EASI).

Susan Mingils – Occupational Therapy, Mentors: Patti Davies, Ph.D., OTR/L, and Jaclyn Stephens, Ph.D., OTR/L. Is Moving to Music Good for Your Brain? Studying the Effects of Rhythmic Entrainment on Neural Integration and Efficiency with EEG.