Student Scholarships & Funds
Announcing the Niebanck Founder’s Prize!
Paul Niebanck was the Founding Provost of College Eight (now Rachel Carson College) in 1972-73. In his honor, a group of friends and alumni created an endowment to fund an annual $2,500 prize to a UCSC student whose work contributes original and innovative insight into the idea and practices of environmental analysis and planning in the urban and built environment, broadly defined.
All UCSC undergraduate students, of any college or major, are eligible.
To be eligible for the prize, a student’s work must be intentional, substantial, and exceptional. It may take the form of a senior thesis, internship, field project, community service, independent research, or any other individual or small group work that is appropriately supervised and credited. The content may range from practical to theoretical. It may be an artistic endeavor. It may be a critique or proposal. It may be a scientific exploration. It may call on a student’s ingenuity or it may entail physical labor. It may be something strongly conventional or it may be something quite daring and original. Any and all approaches are welcome.
Nominations of students must be made by either a UCSC faculty member, lecturer, staff member or project mentor, and submitted to the manager of Rachel Carson College Ella Carroll, ellac@ucsc.edu for Provost review.
Submission deadline: March 1st, 2026
If you have questions, please contact Rachel Carson College Academic Manager ellac@ucsc.edu.
Call for Applications: Rachel Carson College Graduate Student Research Fellowship (2026–2027)
Rachel Carson College (RCC) invites applications from graduate students for a 50% one-year of Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) funding for the 2026–2027 academic year.
We seek a scholar whose work aligns with environmental justice and engages with one or more of the following areas: traditional ecological knowledge, unequal climate crises, critical sustainability studies in a manner that is community-engaged, centers equity, or is aimed at social change.
This opportunity is open to graduate students in any discipline/department whose research intersects meaningfully with RCC’s growing focus on ecological responsibility, social justice, and community-engaged scholarship. This is an opportunity for a graduate student to develop a new project or continue the work they are doing with their primary faculty mentor in their home department. Please note that you will need a faculty sponsor in your own department. While the funding will come from Rachel Carson College, the appointment will be made through your home department and supervised by your faculty sponsor.
The selected student will be expected to contribute to the RCC community in meaningful ways, including the following: 1) Presenting their research at a RCC Fall Plenary, 2) Giving a guest lecture on their research in an RCC-affiliated course, 3) Participating in at least one annual RCC event.
Please submit the following materials as a single PDF to Rachel Carson College CAM at mherna81@ucsc.edu by April 17, 2026 5pm:
- A 1-page cover letter that describes your research/project/data collection and its relevance to the call.
- A 2-page CV.
- A brief letter of support from your faculty advisor who you’ll be conducting the work with. This does not have to be a formal letter of recommendation – it can be an email from your advisor about why this is a good opportunity and their commitment to serve as your faculty advisor/supervisor for this position..
Faculty are encouraged to share these calls with graduate students whose research fits these themes and who may benefit from additional support and engagement.
For questions or more information, please contact Provost Shelly Grabe sgrabe@ucsc.edu