Applications for GA or TF appointments must be received before the deadlines of January 31 (for Fall applications) or September 15th (for Spring applications). Applications are only considered if they reach the CS Graduate Office by that date and the student has been admitted into the graduate program by that date (i.e., the paperwork for admission must have already been processed). Since it may take 4-6 weeks for admission materials to reach our office, perhaps even longer for international applicants, and then it requires time for our office to processes those applications, students should apply for aid well in advance of the deadlines listed above. Applications for admission and aid sent in the last few weeks before a deadline will probably not be processed in time to be considered for aid.

Calendar for Aid

To apply for a departmental GA or TF, get the "Application for Graduate Appointment" form from the appropriate office or online (see Applying to our Program for details on the application process) or from the CS Graduate Office in our department, and send it back to the CS Graduate Office.

Students who receive awards will be notified by early March, or late October, respectively. Unfortunately, due to the large number of requests, we can only notify applicants who will be awarded an assistantship.

If you were admitted to our program but did not receive aid, you may want or need to defer your admission. In this case, you can ask us to reconsider your financial aid application for a later semester by sending email to the CS Graduate Secretary (cs-gradinfo@cs.kent.edu). We should receive this request before the deadlines listed above. Also, when making this request, please send your current address, a revised resume, and any additional letters of recommendation or other materials that may make your case stronger.

RAs from individual faculty members who have received a research grant from some extramural source are awarded at the discretion of those faculty members. Most of those awards are given to students personally known to the professor. Please do not send email to every member of the department asking if they have an RA available!

OBR RAs and summer support are available only to students who have already begun their studies in our department. See OBR RAs and See Summer Support for details.

There are several types of financial aid (graduate appointments) for which a student can apply (see Graduate Support Regulations for further details). Note that aid is granted only to students with a full admission into the graduate program, not Post-Undergraduate students or graduate students with a Conditional Admission.

• Graduate Assistantships: Sometimes informally referred to as a Teaching Assistantship (TA), GAs are our primary form of support, especially for incoming students. Available to both Master's and Doctoral students, a GA appointment caries a monthly stipend, and a fee waiver that covers up to 9 credits of graduate CS courses per semester (plus additional credits for any courses required by the university, such as College Teaching of Computer Science). GAs usually perform duties such as teaching or grading, although some GAs have specialized duties such as computer or library support.

  
  

• Research Assistantships: RAs are another primary form of support. Available to both Master's and Doctoral students, most RA appointments are made by an individual faculty member who has received a research grant from some extramural source (government or industry). However, using funds received from the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), the Computer Science Department also offers a small number of OBR RAs each year on a competitive basis, primarily for students nearing the completion of their degree (see OBR RAs). In either case, an RA's duties consist of assisting in the research of faculty member who is the principal investigator of the grant, or who nominates the student for a departmental OBR RA. The stipend and fee waiver for an RA are the same as that of a GA.

  
  

• OBR Research Assistantships:
  

  Using funds received from the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), the Computer Science Department offers a small number of OBR Research Assistantships (RAs) each year on a competitive basis. These RA awards are primarily intended for students nearing the completion of their degree, so students receiving these RAs are assigned no duties other than conducting research with their advisor.
  
  In the past, one RA was typically awarded each fall for a one-year period, and another RA was typically awarded each spring for a one-year period. However, starting Spring'03, 3 one-year OBR RAs have been awarded each spring and each fall.
  
  The stipend and fee waiver for an OBR RA is the same as that of a departmental GA, and includes summer support.
  
  

  Applying for an OBR RA
  
  

  Applications for OBR RAs follow the same timeline as applying for departmental Graduate Assistantships. Applications for OBR RAs appointments must be received before the deadlines of January 31 (for Fall applications) or September 15th (for Spring applications). Students who receive awards will be notified by early March, or late October, respectively. Unfortunately, due to the large number of requests, we can only notify applicants who will be awarded an assistantship.
  
  The student must be nominated by his or her advisor by the dates listed above. Together, the student and advisor must give the Graduate Coordinator a 2-3 page description of a research plan that the student proposes to pursue during the period of the OBR RA. In addition to describing the proposed research, the student's preparation for the research should be described, as well as prior accomplishments in the research to date. (While this description may be prepared primarily by the student, a student should not submit such a description in isolation without an accompanying request from his or her advisor.)
  
  Applications for OBR RAs will be reviewed by the GSC. Each RA will be awarded on the basis of the merit of the proposed research plan, the student's preparation and prior accomplishments. Preference is also given to PhD students over Master's students, and to advisors whose students have not been funded recently. (Again, please note that these RA awards are primarily intended for students nearing the completion of their degree).
  
  See Calendar for Aid for a summary of these and other aid deadlines.
  
  

  Previous OBR RAs Awarded
  
  

  To honor those students who have received this competitive RA in the past, their names are listed here (note that the award period was less consistent in early years):
  
  

  Student	Period	Advisor
  Bonita Sharif	Fall 2007 - Summer 2008	Prof. Jonathan Maletic
  Kevin Schaffer	Fall 2007	Prof. Robert Walker
  Shannon Steinfadt	Spring 2007 - Fall 2007	Prof. Johnnie Baker
  Thomas Clouser	Spring 2007 - Fall 2007	Prof. Mikhail Nesterenko
  Yasir Drabu	Fall 2006 - Summer 2007	Prof. Hassan Peyravi
  Saleh Al-Shomrani	Fall 2006 - Summer 2007	Prof. Paul Wang
  Huzefa Kagdi	Spring 2006 - Fall 2006	Prof. Jonathan Maletic
  Hong Wang	Spring 2006 - Fall 2006	Prof. Robert Walker
  Xun Lai	Fall 2005 - Summer 2006	Prof. Paul Wang
  Yongbin Ma	Fall 2005 - Summer 2006	Prof. Javed Khan
  Chenyu Yan	Spring 2005 - Fall 2005	Prof. Feodor Dragan
  Nouman Bantan	Spring 2005 - Fall 2005	Prof. Javed Khan
  Hassan Gobjuka	Fall 2004 - Summer 2005	Prof. Yuri Breitbart
  Asrar Haque	Fall 2004 - Summer 2005	Prof. Javed Khan
  Qiyu Zhang	Spring 2004 - Fall 2004	Prof. C. C. Lu
  Michael Collard	Fall 2003 - Summer 2004	Prof. Jonathan Maletic
  Oleg Komogortsev	Fall 2003 - Summer 2004	Prof. Javed Khan
  Meiduo Wu	Fall 2003 - Summer 2004	Prof. Robert Walker
  Nawar Malhis	Spring 2003 - Fall 2003	Prof. Arden Ruttan
  Michael Scherger	Spring 2003 - Fall 2003	Profs. Johnnie Baker & Jerry Potter
  Xiao Zou	Spring 2003 - Fall 2003	Prof. Paul Wang
  Andrian Marcus	Fall 2002 - Summer 2003	Prof. Jonathan Maletic
  Raid Zaghal	Fall 2002 - Summer 2003	Prof. Javed Khan
  S.S. Yang	Spring 2002 - Fall 2002	Prof. Javed Khan
  Irina Lomonosov	Spring 2002 - Summer 2002	Prof. Feodor Dragan
  Angela Guercio	Fall 2001 - Summer 2002	Prof. Arvind Bansal
  Mostafa Rahmani	Spring 2001 - Fall 2001	Prof. Ken Batcher
  Mingxian Jin	Spring 2001 - Fall 2001	Prof. Johnnie Baker
  Dhamim Packerali	Fall 2000 - Summer 2001	Prof. Hassan Peyravi
  Weidong Liao	Fall 1999 - Summer 2000	Prof. Paul Wang
  Steve Ryan	Spring 1999 - Summer 2000	Prof. Arvind Bansal
  Michael Scherger	Fall 1998	Profs. Johnnie Baker & Jerry Potter

  
  

• Summer Support:

  Graduate appointees in computer science are sometimes supported during the summer session with a stipend equal to 1/3 of their academic year stipend. Such support is not guaranteed, and is contingent on the student making satisfactory progress toward a degree, on satisfactory evaluations associated with previous financial support, and on available funds. Applications for summer support will be reviewed by CS Graduate Studies Committee.
  
  For graduate appointees who hold a GA or TF appointment during the spring semester and are making satisfactory progress toward a degree, summer support is allocated as follows:
  
  RA summer appointments are generally offered to allow those appointees time to pursue their research under the direction of their Thesis or Dissertation Advisor.
  
  GA summer appointments may also be offered to GA or TF appointees, who will be assigned to teach, grade, or perform other specific duties during the summer.
  
  If you are a student who is holding a GA or TF appointment during the spring semester, and you would like to receive summer support, you must complete the performance tracking form by February 15 and email it to the Graduate Secretary at the address cs-gradinfo@cs.kent.edu. In addition, you need to devise a summer research proposal and send it to the CS Graduate Secretary before February 15. The proposal for summer research support must include a description of the research you intend to pursue, a detailed plan of work for the summer period, and a list of goals you intend to achieve. Students supported during the summer will be required to spend a majority of their time in the Department to conduct the proposed research.
  
  For graduate appointees who hold a RA appointment from an individual faculty member (who has received a research grant from some extramural source) during the spring semester, RA summer appointments are dependent on the principal investigator's research funding. OBR RAs usually include one summer appointment during the period of the award.

  
  

• University Fellowships:

  If you have passed your Candidacy Exam, you might want to apply for the University Fellowship. The Division of Research and Graduate Studies sponsors this award and the application form can be obtained from the RAGS web page. Since our department can only nominate one applicant, the Graduate Studies Committee will select our applicant. The award recipient is subject to approval by the Vice President and Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and the Dean of the student's college.

  Fellowships are awarded to outstanding doctoral students who have been admitted to candidacy and who will be registered only for dissertation and are eligible to remain on appointment during the award period. The University Fellow must be committed full time to dissertation research or writing. Any change in the student's status requires notification to the office of Research and Graduate Studies.

  The graduate coordinator will guide the completion of the University Fellowship Application Forms for the doctoral students to be nominated.

Effective the Summer / Fall 2001 semester, 9-month GA and RA stipends are as follows:

• $13,000 -- Master's students

• $13,500 -- PhD students who have not yet passed the Preliminary Examinations

• $15,000 -- PhD students who have passed the Preliminary Examinations, but have not yet passed the Candidacy Examination

• $18,000 -- PhD students who have passed the Candidacy Examination

(Increased stipends take effect the semester following the one in which an Exam was passed. Summer stipends are 1/3 of the 9-month amount, fall stipends are 4/9 of the 9-month amount, and spring stipends are 5/9 of the 9-month amount.) In addition, graduate appointees in computer science are sometimes supported during the summer session with a stipend equal to 1/3 of their academic year stipend. Such support is not guaranteed, and is contingent on available funds. See Summer Support for details.

If you did not receive financial aid when you originally applied to our program, you may want to reapply for aid once you are here (note that you must reapply each semester you want to be considered -- an application does not remain active forever). To make your case stronger, provide the CS Graduate Office with updated transcripts and letters of recommendation from local faculty. Good grades here at Kent State and a start on your thesis / dissertation work are particularly desirable.

If you reapply once you are here, and you still do not receive aid, work on improving your case and then try again the next semester. Also, note that we typically have more new GAs to hand out for the Fall semester than for the Spring semester.