Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust

How to apply for the Josephine de Karman Scholarship

The Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust: Scholarships are available for students with a remarkable scholastic track record who are presently enrolled in a college or university in the US.  The Trust will award at least ten scholarships every academic year.

What is the Josephine de Karman Trust?

• This is a Fellowship Trust which was set up way back in 1954 by Dr Theodore von Karman, in memory of his sister Josephine de Karman, after her death in 1951. Dr. Theodore was a former director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Lab at the California Institute of Technology and a well known expert and professor of aeronautics.

Who can apply?

• The scholarships are open for PhD students who will defend their thesis in June next year and to undergraduates who will are currently in their Junior Year and will graduate in June of the next year.  Those in postdoctoral or masters programs cannot apply.  Applicants in the Humanities stream will receive priority, though students of all disciples can apply for the de Karman fellowship.  International students who are presently in college in the US (those enrolled in the college by July for the fall semester) can also apply.

What does it entail?

• Every academic year the Trust offers at least ten fellowships for the semesters in spring and fall or the corresponding period where they follow the quarter system.
• Graduate students: $22,000
• Undergraduate students: $14,000
• It will be paid out by the office of the Fellowship to the college where the student is enrolled in the US.  Please remember that the study has to be the US and the monies must be spent only in the US.  Half of the money will be paid out in September and the other, the coming February.
• The fellowship should not cover any other overheads, as the de Karman fellowship is for merit.  So university support commitments will be maintained during the tenure of the de Karman fellowship.

How to apply?

• Graduates who apply for the Josephine de Karman scholarships should have two really great recommendation letters, noteworthy publications and good grades, and should have finished quite a bit of the dissertation when applying.   Undergraduates should also have outstanding letters of recommendation, great grades and a track record of scholarship or research.  Please remember that though all students can compete for the fellowship, most of the previous awardees were from the top schools in the country.

• You can download your application at www.dekarman.org. or write in, via the website for a hard-copy.  The filled-in applications, along with the official transcripts of application for undergraduate or graduate study in Canada and the US and letters of recommendation must reach the fellowship committee in one cover stamped, the latest by January 31 2013.  Applications coming in late will not be entertained.

How will you know if you got the Josephine de Karman fellowship?

• The names of the winners of the Josephine de Karman scholarships along with the department – the thesis title of the PhD students- and the universities will be up on the website.

Responsibilities

• Awardees will have to write a report (one or two pages), after completing their Fellowship, on what they have achieved as a recipient of the Josephine de Karman fellowship.  PhD student awardees will also have to include an abstract of the thesis.  This letter must be addressed to the Josephine de Karman Fellowship Committee; P.O.Box 3389. San Dimas CA 91773.