Libraries Staff Share Resources for Finding Scholarly Funding Opportunities During Graduate College Panel Discussion
February 25, 2020
By Jay Bhatt, Engineering Librarian
In February, I was one of three members of the Drexel community invited to discuss financial aid and scholarly funding opportunities at the Graduate College of Drexel University's panel discussion on Education Planning and Funding. The event was part of an ongoing Financial Literacy Series that offers graduate students and postdocs information and advice on personal financial management from a variety of industry experts.
Other panelists included Nina Mielcarz, Assistant Director of Trainer, Drexel Central; Leah Gates, Director of the Center for Scholar Development; and Natalie Chernets, Director of Postdoctoral Affairs and Professional Development. Panelists discussed a variety of issues graduate students and postdocs face, including understanding financial aid and billing, finding fellowship opportunities, and tips for applying for travel awards and research grants.
As a representative of the Drexel Libraries, I provided an overview of some of the funding databases and other resources available through the Libraries.
Pivot, for example, is a great tool for finding comprehensive lists of global funding opportunities, like grants and travel awards. Pivot also offers “Pivot Profiles,” the largest available collection of searchable faculty profiles. Pivot Profiles include key biographical information, research interests, selected publications and contact information, enabling users to identify and connect with relevant scholars based on their research, publishing and professional credentials.
A screenshot that shows an example of the type of funding opportunity that faculty and students can find using Pivot.
Pivot is accessible through the Libraries’ Databases A-Z list, and all Drexel faculty, staff and students must create a personal account using their Drexel email address in order to make full use of the system’s functionality.
I also highlighted Teck-Kah Lim Graduate Student Travel Subsidy Award during my presentation. This award was created in 2016 in honor of Teck-Kah Lim, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Physics and former Associate Vice Provost of Graduate Studies, to encourage graduate students to participate in academic meetings and conferences.
The panel discussion ended with a Q/A session with the audience, and we enjoyed engaging with the audience and answering their thought-provoking questions.
For more assistance in searching for funding opportunities and using Pivot, please contact your subject librarian.
For more information about the Graduate College’s Financial Literacy event series, to download presentations, or to watch a recording of this session, visit the Graduate College website.