Application

Application Process

• Please watch a recorded information session available on our AGEP STRIDES YouTube channel.
• Complete the Scholar Application by 11:59 PM on April 30, 2023. OPEN UNTIL ALL SLOTS ARE FILLED.
  • Candidates will be notified of eligibility for further consideration by late July.
  • Additional application documents will be requested after candidates are determined to be eligible for the program.
  • Please contact agepstrides@rice.edu if you would like more information.
• Attend one of the Applicant Open Houses via Zoom.
  • Thursday, June 15, from Noon - 1 pm (link)
  • Thursday, June 22, from 2 pm - 3 pm (link)
  • Thursday, June 29, from Noon - 1 pm (link)

Eligibility Requirements

• STEM Ph.D. Candidate¹ or Postdoctoral Scholar at Rice University, Texas Southern University, or University of Houston
• Research Aligned with Data Engineering or Data Science (DES)²
• Interested in Faculty Career
• Current CV
• United States Citizen, National, or Permanent Resident of the United States³
• Identification as African American, Hispanic, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and/or Native Pacific Islander⁴

Participant Benefits

• Quarterly Professional Development Workshops
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Leadership & Administration
• Engagement with Affinity Mentors from Universities throughout the US
• Engagement with Peers and Faculty at Rice, TSU, and UH
• A Minimum of $2,500 per Year Paid Development Opportunities
  • $1,500 Travel Award⁵
  • $1,000 Stipend

Notes

[1] Ph.D. applicants must be dissertators (i.e., at the “all but dissertation” phase of their program) by their initial semester of engagement as a STRIDES Scholar.

[2] Data science is an interdisciplinary field focused on developing scientific methods, processes, and systems to extract knowledge from complex data sets in various forms. Data engineering is the process of preparing data infrastructure to be used by data scientists. The primary disciplines of focus are electrical & computer engineering, computer science, computational and applied mathematics, and statistics; however, because of the wide variety of disciplines that have research applications in DES, we will also accept applicants who are engaged in DES research in other engineering and science disciplines.

[3] Per NSF requirements: “… all project participants must be United States citizens, nationals, or permanent residents of the United States. The term ‘national’ designates a native resident of a commonwealth or territory of the United States, such as American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It does not refer to a citizen of another country who has applied for United States citizenship and who has not received U.S. citizenship.”

[4] Per NSF requirements: “The AGEP program supports proposals that address equity for AGEP populations: African American, Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and/or Native Pacific Islander doctoral candidates and/or postdoctoral scholars who are entering STEM faculty positions and/or those who are currently employed early career STEM faculty. At the graduate student level, only doctoral candidates are included because they have greater potential to enter a faculty position within the project duration timeframe.”

[5] Each STRIDES Scholar will receive travel support in the amount of up to $1,500 to present one paper at a conference during the last two years of their program/appointment. Additional funding to attend conferences, workshops, trainings for professional development is also available.