As a graduate student at the Clark School, you'll find an outstanding faculty, a friendly environment, close proximity to the cultural amenities of Washington, D.C., state-of-the-art laboratories and computing resources, and excellent assistance in and opportunities for employment.

The school offers both full-time master and doctoral programs and programs for working professionals.

You may also take advantage of the broad range of student services offered by the University of Maryland and the Clark School that cover many aspects of the student experience.

      3/4/24 - Alumna Blasts Into Space

      As the countdown reached zero and the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off amid billowing smoke and flame from the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Sunday night, a Terp was preparing to take up temporary residence in a new home circling over the globe.
      Mission specialist Jeanette Epps M.S. ’94, Ph.D. ’00, one of four astronauts on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission, is beginning a six-month stint on the International Space Station (ISS), where she’ll serve as a flight engineer. A NASA astronaut since 2009, she ventured into space for the first time.

      02/5/24 - Jeanette Epps: From Engineer to Astronaut

      Jeanette Epps, who received her doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland in 2000, pursued a successful career in engineering—working for Ford and the CIA and co-authoring several patents—before being selected by NASA for astronaut training. In the coming weeks, she is set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket and then begin a half-year stint as part of the ISS crew.

      10/25/23 - Alumnus Receives National Medal of Technology and Innovation

      "President Joe Biden yesterday awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest award for technological achievement, to a University of Maryland alum, faculty member and benefactor.

      Jeong H. Kim Ph.D. ’91, namesake of the A. James Clark School of Engineering's administration and interdisciplinary research and education building, was recognized for his advances in broadband optical systems, data communications and wireless technologies that have made communication faster and clearer, including improvements in battlefield communications that strengthen national security."

      10/3/23 - ECE Alumna Rose Faghih wins NIH MIRA

      "ECE Alumna Rose Faghih (’08) has been awarded the National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) for Early Stage Investigators.  The award is accompanied by a five-year $1,825,840 grant for her project entitled “MESH: Multimodal Estimators for Sensing Health”. 

      Faghih is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering and Director of the Computational Medicine Laboratory.  Her research interests include wearable technologies, medical cyber-physical systems and control, estimation and system identification of biomedical and neural systems."

      9/1/23 - UMD Team Lands First Place in VFS Competition

      "Graduate students from the University of Maryland’s Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center (AGRC) have won first place in the Vertical Flight Society’s (VFS) 40th Annual Student Design Competition.

      Led by Nathan O’Brien, a UMD Clark Fellow, the team took the top spot in the graduate category with its design for a high-speed vertical takeoff and landing (HSVTOL) aircraft. The victory comes with a $2,500 stipend. O’Brien and fellow team members Xavier Delgado, Brendan Egan, Noam Kaplan, Ray Shimry Garatsa, and Nicholas Paternostro will be invited to present their design at the next VFS Annual Forum and Technology Display."

      7/28/23 - Alum Sean Andersson named Mechanical Engineering Department chair at Boston University

      "Alum Sean Andersson (ECE Ph.D. 2003) has been named chair of the Boston University Mechanical Engineering Department. He had been serving as interim chair of the department since July 2022, and has been on the university's faculty since 2006."
       

      7/23/23 - Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department Graduate Selected for Prestigious Department of Energy Award

      "Nahin Ferdousi-Rokib, PhD ‘23, chemical engineering, was one of 87 graduate students recently selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program (SCGSR). Through world-class training and access to state-of-the-art facilities and resources at DOE national laboratories, SCGSR prepares graduate students for positions of critical importance to its mission and to maintaining the nation’s position at the forefront of discovery and innovation."
       

      7/3/23 - Alum's Book Explores 'Lost Relics' that Spurred the Nuclear Era

      "It all began with a mysterious gift that landed on the desk of Tim Koeth, a nuclear physicist and Maryland Engineering researcher with a penchant for nuclear oddities: a cube of uranium metal wrapped in a cryptic note that read, “Taken from Germany from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger.”

      What followed was a yearslong quest by Koeth, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, and his student-turned-colleague Miriam “Mimi” Hiebert Ph.D. ’19 to discover the origin of the cube and its place in the high-stakes race between the United States and another would-be nuclear power: Nazi Germany."

      Upcoming Events

       

       

      Boston Consulting Group: Programs for Graduate Students

      The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) invites students to delve into the world of management consulting to learn how your experience as an advanced-degree candidate (ADC) can help BCG clients solve their biggest problems. There will be a variety of opportunities to connect with the firm, including our new BCG Accelerate info series and virtual coffee chats. 

      • BCG ADC Coffee Chats – Option 2: March 15, 2024, 12 pm - 4 pm (ET), Each participant can register for one 20 minute time slot: Register.

      • Bridge to BCG is an application-based immersive workshop where advanced degree candidates can test drive the case team experience. Deadline: March 20, 2024 at 11:59pm ET

      • BCG Accelerate is a virtual series that provides current advanced degree candidates (ADC) with an exclusive look into BCG and the journey to becoming a BCG Consultant.

       

       

      A2i Federal Career Series, Federal Job Application Process
      Thursday, March 28 | 12:00PM-1:30PM | Virtual | Registration
      If you are interested in federal jobs, come to this workshop to learn more about best practices so you can better navigate:

      • USAJOBS: the platform, resources, setting up your profiles
      • Federal resume: learn how expectations vary from the private sector and leverage the resume builder

      A2i Consulting Bootcamp
      Friday March 29 | 9:30 am - 3 pm | 3301 Thurgood Marshall Hall 
      What is management consulting? What do consultants do? What is a case interview? 
      Join this unique, immersive bootcamp-style program, which will help you gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to land a job not only in consulting but also within “industry” more broadly. Participants will learn a hypothesis-driven structured problem-solving approach used by many top strategy consulting firms and apply it to help improve their skills in case interviewing. Sessions will also cover topics on introduction to consulting, communicating like a consultant (the pyramid principle), tips for “telling your story” as a graduate student, and tips for networking to land an interview and a job. Registration

      Graduate Student Open Forum, International Graduate Students (co-hosted with the Office of International Affairs)
      Monday, April 22 | 1:00PM-2:00PM | TBA
      International graduate students have a variety of unique issues that affect their student experience. Representatives from OIA, ISSS, and other international affairs offices will join this session to answer questions and hear your thoughts about improving the international graduate student experience. 

      Graduate Student Open Forum, Graduate Student Housing (co-hosted with Office of Finance and Administration and Office of Student Affairs)
      Tuesday, April 30 | 3:00PM-4:00PM | TBA
      Graduate student housing is a major concern for some of our students. This forum will provide an update on a new graduate housing project that will double UMD's graduate housing capacity in fall 2026, allow discussion about current graduate housing, and elicit feedback on a possible living-learning community idea for graduate students.  

      A. James Clark School of Engineering Capstone Design Expo
      Wednesday, May 1 | 4:00PM-8:00PM | XFINITY Center
      Join us for the 1st Annual Capstone Design Expo where student innovation and dedication meet fabrication, and ideas are transformed into reality.

       

      Graduate Research Talks
      Elevate your research profile with ease! We're kickstarting our Research Presentation Series—a low-stress, relaxed environment designed for you to practice and perfect your 10-minute research presentation. Don't miss this opportunity to showcase your work, receive valuable feedback from peers, and enhance your presentation skills. Secure your spot now by filling out the Google Form —because practice makes presentations perfect!

      Are You Interested in Startups? 

      Calling for all graduate students who want to learn more about startups! 
      As a student-run startup incubator and co-working space at UMD, Startup Shells is looking for graduate students who have interest in entrepreneurship or want to get involved in building new ideas. The organization is a community open to all students and majors, and provides the student entrepreneurship community with the space, resources, and network to explore ideas, collaborate, and scale their ventures. 
      Join a culture of innovation that produces the next generation of venture-scale companies by connecting the most innovative builders, creators, and designers here at UMD. See upcoming events and follow Startup Shells on Instagram (on-campus space: IDEA Factory). 

      Commencement Ceremony

      Are you about to complete your degree? Visit the Commencement Ceremony page for all the times, dates, procedures and guest information you need.

      Student Societies

      The Clark School supports more than 30 active student societies, such as the Engineering Student Council, departmental honor and professional societies and special interest organizations.

      Opportunities current and future Clark School graduate students to compete, earn awards, or receive fellowships

      Advising

      As graduate student, your main source for advising is your department or program:

      Parental Accommodation for Graduate Students

      It is the policy of the Graduate School that all graduate assistants have the right to a 8-week paid absence for the birth or adoption of a child. To learn more about the academic policies and assistantship policies for graduate student parental leave, visit the Graduate School's policy page here.

      Graduate School Writing Center

      The Graduate School Writing Center offers support for graduate students at every stage of their development as academic and professional communicators who can, in turn, fulfill the university’s mission of sharing research, educational, cultural, and technological strengths with the broader community.

      The Center offers:

      • Writing and oral communication consultations
      • A variety of workshop and weekly write-ins
      • Writing Groups
      • English editing for international graduate students
      • Information on how to use sources in your writing
      • Resources for writing in your, or another, discipline
      • Resources for writing in a specific linguistic or cultural context

      University Counseling Center

      The University Counseling Center provides comprehensive support services that promote the personal, social, and academic success of UMD students.

      Resources:

      • The Counseling Center is offering a number of counseling groups specifically geared toward graduate students. These groups are a great way to connect with others, learn about yourself, improve your mental health, and receive support. This semester groups will take place virtually. An intake appointment is required to participate in the groups. The groups are free to registered graduate students. If graduate studen ts are interested in any groups, please contact the counseling center at 301-314-7651 to schedule an intake appointment. The services are free to graduate students. The schedule of the upcoming group sessions can be accessed at this page

      • The Counseling Center is hosting drop-in virtual workshops on a wide range of topics (Coping Skills, Academic Success, Relationships and Communication, Resilience and Adaptability) to support your health and wellbeing. More information can be found here.

      The Health Center has daily online meditation groups which vary in topic.  Students can go to health.umd.edu/meditation to register for the groups and learn more about the meditation sessions.

      Graduate School Academic Counseling

      UMD National Scholarships Office

      The UMD National Scholarships Office and the Graduate School have experienced staff and hold information sessions to help students explore various fellowship opportunities.  Many students found the application process a valuable experience, and if awarded, the external fellowships not only help augment the resources and provide flexibilities to the graduate research of the fellows, but also provide additional peer and mentoring networks with potentially lasting impact on the fellows' career development.  

      Prospective and early-career doctoral students:

      • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) - 3 years of full support for PhD studies, with an annual stipend of $34,000, in science, math, engineering, and social/behavioral science fields.

      • DoD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship

      • Hertz Graduate Fellowship

      • Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship (info)

      Mid-career graduate students:

      • Google Fellowship  (Initially UMD internal selection)

      • Apple Fellowship  (Initially UMD internal selection)

      UMD External Fellowships Database
      University of Illinois Fellowship Finder

      Proposal Development Services for Graduate Students and Postdocs

      If you are planning to submit an external fellowship application to support your research, please reach out to discuss how we can support you at proposals@umd.edu, or submit your PDM support request here! The Research Development Office is excited to partner with the Graduate School to provide free Proposal Development and Management (PDM) services to Graduate Students and Postdocs seeking external fellowships of $10,000 or more to support their research. Our team works with students and postdocs year-round on an individual basis to Strategize, Develop, Review, and Elevate proposals.

      Postdoctoral Funding Opportunities

      Johns Hopkins University Vice President for Research Denis Wirtz has compiled a list of funding opportunities for researchers. As of Fall 2022, there are over 380 items search through. The list can be found by clicking here.

      Graduate School Professional and Career Development Office
      The Graduate School has launched a Professional and Career Development office for current doctoral students. Get started looking into their services and events here. Other quick links:


      Clark School Career Services for Engineering Students

      Find more here about:

      • Finding an Internship or Job
      • Meeting Employers
      • Increasing Your Employability
      • Getting Career Advice
      • You're Hired, Now What?

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