Background

The JBT Graduate fellowship program is named for pioneer agriculturalist and educator Jonathan Baldwin Turner and is funded by several endowments and gifts including the Hunter, Hackett and Wright funds, the Louis V. Logeman endowed fund, the Homer White endowed fund, the W. R. and Carol Gomes endowment, and the Addington endowment.

Selection Considerations

Qualified applicants must have applied for admission to the Department’s M.S. or Ph. D. programs or are beginning a Ph. D. program of studies in the Department after having successfully completed a M.S. degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nominations of qualified applicants by departmental faculty are welcome. The NRES Graduate Admissions and Policy Committee will evaluate all the nominations to the fellowship as part of its departmental funding process in February each year.

Criteria for Selection

Nominees must be U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents.

Nominees must demonstrate sincere interest in a professional career within their proposed areas of specialization.

Applications must coincide with the initial year of a M.S. program (thesis required) or a Ph. D. program in the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.

Nominees must meet the following minimum GPA and GRE percentile scores.

JBT Graduate Fellowship
GPA/GRE Criteria for JBT Fellowship Consideration

(adopted 1/31/03 and reviewed 2/19/04 by ACES Graduate Educational Policy Committee)

*For M.S. applicants, minimum GPA for last 60 hours. For Ph. D. applicants, minimum GPA for last 60 hours including M.S. work. If they are a graduating Masters student, continuing as a Ph. D. student, we calculate the last 60 hours of their transcripts. For example, if the person took 32 hours for their M.S., those hours, and the last 28 hours of their B. Sc. transcript will be considered.

**Average of the percentile score for Verbal, Quantitative and Analytical, or for Verbal, Quantitative and Writing, depending on for which test version scores are available.

Preference will be given to nominees whose previous degree was awarded by an institution other than the University of Illinois.

Consideration will be given to other indicators of probability of high achievement in graduate education such as past research accomplishments, leadership roles, etc.

Post-Award Considerations

The faculty advisor is expected to supplement the award to the current level of a 50% graduate research assistantship in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. The fellowship exempts the recipient from tuition and service fees.

Fellowships are renewed on a yearly-basis (up to 2 years for a M.S. and 3 years for a Ph. D.) conditional on the student’s good academic standing and progress in their research. To retain the JBT Graduate Fellowship for a second or third year, recipients must demonstrate outstanding progress in their program of study according to the following criteria:

1. Maintain a GPA of 3.50 or higher (4.00=A) for all course work and dissertation research undertaken.
2. Select courses of quality and scope to demonstrate appropriate rigor in the program of study.
3. Display evidence of a sound research plan and/or outstanding progress in the thesis/dissertation research project.
4. Receive favorable evaluation from the major professor supervising the program for research progress and/or contributions.

Questions can be directed to the Graduate Program Coordinator.