The Wellman Center for Photomedicine offers funding opportunities for graduate students to carry out thesis research under the supervision of a Wellman faculty mentor. Each research assistantship award provides full tuition, stipend and benefits support at the student’s academic institution level for one and a half years. At the assistantship’s end, the Wellman faculty mentor will assume responsibility for the student’s financial support.

The research assistantship program has a dual purpose. It is intended to facilitate high quality and mutually beneficial training opportunities for pre-doctoral students and Wellman investigators. It is also intended to promote collaborative research on topics of mutual interest between Wellman faculty and faculty at external universities. A research project involving collaboration with the student’s faculty mentor at the “home” institution is a primary condition for participation in the assistantship program.

To be eligible for a Wellman Research Assistantship, the research project must be accepted as the student’s doctoral thesis research. At the time of application, it is expected that students will have completed most of their required course work. There are no geographic or other restrictions on applicants.

The initial step in the application process is the identification of an appropriate mentor at Wellman and initiation of three way discussions between collaborating faculty and graduate student. Contact is encouraged via external faculty or graduate student.

A formal letter of application should be accompanied by:
* Completed application form
* A research proposal of no more than 5 pages including:
      ~   specific aims
      ~   background and significance
      ~   experimental design and methods
      ~   Wellman resources and expertise
      ~   source of research funds for project
* Course history and relevant research experience of the student
* A statement describing remaining course work
* Copy of transcripts
* Estimate of stipend costs per semester including summer term
* Letter of support from both Wellman and mentors. Letter from university mentor
    should include a statement that they will serve as thesis advisor for the
    university department.
* Biosketch of university mentor