Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research – Awards Services Killam Centre for Advanced Studies 2-29 Triffo Hall, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1

Date:

Friday, January 22, 2016

To:

Department Chairs, Graduate Coordinators, Graduate Program Administrators

Tel: 780.492.9460 Fax: 780.492.0692 [email protected] gradstudies.ualberta.ca

From: Awards Services, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Re:

2016 Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF) Graduate Student Scholarship Competition

Alberta Innovates -Technology Futures Graduate Student Scholarships FGSR is pleased to announce details about the 2016 Alberta Innovates -Technology Futures Graduate Student Scholarships competition. This year we have experienced some delay in getting information from the AITF. The 2016 AITF Graduate Student Scholarship Handbook will be posted on the AITF website by early February. Monday, February 29, 2016 is the deadline for departments to submit their 2016 AITF application packages to FGSR (including ranked lists). In anticipation of this deadline, submission guidelines and information for departments is provided below. GPA Calculations A minimum 3.5 GPA is an eligibility requirement for all applicants. The GPA will be calculated based on the most recent 15 units of course weight, or, if a student is newly admitted, AGPA will be used to determine eligibility. Submission guidelines, Ranking and Quota Applications received without a University of Alberta ID # will not be considered. Incomplete applications submitted to the FGSR for adjudication purposes (including those lacking any of the required signatures) will not be considered. FGSR will not follow up regarding applications that are significantly incomplete. Each department must submit all of their application packages together, at the same time. Please ensure that you rank your PhD applicants and your master’s applicants separately (i.e. use two separate FGSR Department Nominee Ranking Forms). Please rank all applicants, including those who hold an NSERC, Vanier, China Scholarship Council or other external peer-reviewed award. Departments are requested to submit applications up to a predetermined quota. The quota is no more than twothirds of the total number of applications received in each category (Master’s, Doctoral). If a department receives five or fewer applications in a given category, they may forward all applications. Departments are required to include on their ranking forms the total number of applications received in each category. Required Documentation Incoming students: All transcripts of university degree programs available on the Apply Grad (and Grad Admissions) system are accessible to FGSR. Therefore, only documents that do not appear on the Apply Grad (or Grad Admissions) system and which those applicants want included in their AITF application packages need to be submitted to FGSR (i.e. the AITF application form, reference letters, etc.). Current U of A students: Up-to date U of A transcripts are the only transcripts FGSR requires. All other supporting documents (as indicated in application instructions on the website) must be submitted with each application.

Submission Method Google Drive: This year, departments are required to submit all documents to FGSR via Google Drive. Eligible departments (Graduate Coordinators and Graduate Program Administrators) will be given access to a Google Drive folder named “2016 AITF- Department Name”. The Department Ranking form should be filled out in this folder. Please create one folder per applicant, labelled “Student Last Name, First Name”. Each student’s folder must contain all required application documentation. Please note that only Graduate Coordinators (Chairs) and Graduate Program Administrators should have an Edit type of access to the files. If files are further shared with departmental adjudication committees, please make sure that the access is Read/View only. Once the department submission deadline has passed, sharing permissions will be closed so that no additional changes by departments can be made to the department folders. Eligibility/Application Information The most up-to-date eligibility and application information can be found on the FGSR website under Awards and Funding and AITF Alberta Innovates Technology Futures.