Katzin Prize

The Katzin Prize launched in 2013 through a generous gift of $4 million from Jerome and Miriam Katzin to establish an endowment fund that will support graduate students in perpetuity, with the aim of attracting top academic doctoral students to UC San Diego. Each Katzin Prize cohort will be a select group of scholars, demonstrating outstanding talent and promise within their academic disciplines. Over time, the Katzin Prize will be awarded to students who represent the full spectrum of graduate study at UC San Diego, from the fine arts to the physical sciences. More information on current and past Katzin Prize recipients can be found on this website.

In 2025-26 each prize will provide $15,000 of annual funding to the recipient, allocated for each year of study, and renewable for up to five years (support totaling $75,000).  Fellows will be paid a $1,500 monthly stipend for 10 months (September-June), and Fellows can expect to receive the first payment on or around October 1st each year.

The prize funding must be over and above the financial support package offered to the applicant by his or her home department because it is intended as a mark of distinction. All financial support packages should meet or exceed the minimum level as outlined here: https://ucsdcollab.atlassian.net/wiki/x/5gQ6Aw

Recipients are expected to provide written updates upon request on the use and impact of funds from the prize, and may be asked to attend Katzin Prize events during the life of the award. They are also encouraged to recognize the Prize in external communications by, for example, listing it on their CV.

• Incoming Ph.D. students in any discipline who will commence doctoral study (enrollment and course registration) at UC San Diego in Fall of 2025 are eligible for nomination.  

• Nominations may come from the following academic areas:

  • Arts & Humanities, Biological Sciences, Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute (HDSI), Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science, Jacobs School of Engineering, Physical Sciences, Rady School of Management, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Social Sciences, and Health Sciences. 

• Masters candidates are not eligible. 

• MSTP students are only eligible for support during their years enrolled in a Ph.D. program and a compelling case needs to be made as to how the Katzin Prize would retain them at UC San Diego to complete the Ph.D. portion of their studies.

• International students are eligible.

• Students must be enrolled full-time and registered for courses at UC San Diego at the time of award.

Each eligible graduate program may nominate one (1) qualified doctoral applicant via the Slate system. If the nominee ultimately decides to not enroll at UC San Diego, the department may not nominate another applicant.

The following items are required for a complete nomination package in Slate:

1. Nomination of the applicant for the Katzin Prize, submitted via Slate

   1. For more instructions on how to nominate your applicant in Slate, see Graduate Admission's Slate User Guide for Nominating Applicants in the Fellowship Workflow.  Note: When nominating applicants for the Katzin Prize in Slate, use the Fellowship - Department Nomination Form and Letter material type:
      
      

      Open

      

2. Faculty Nomination Letter

3. Financial Support Letter

   • Include details about the multi-year support package offered by the department

   • The financial commitment offered to the applicant should adhere to the provisions outlined on the Graduate Funding Reform & Policy Collab page. 

There are two deadlines for each admission cycle (i.e., per academic year). Programs will be notified of selected recipients, and will be expected to proactively encourage the selected recipients to commit to attending UC San Diego in a timely fashion. Nominees not selected in (or submitted by the deadline for) the first round will be considered again in the second round. Awards will continue to be made until a cohort of at least three incoming students is identified.

• The first deadline is February 14, 2025.

• The second deadline is March 14, 2025.

To learn more about current and past Katzin Prize Fellows, please visit: https://grad.ucsd.edu/financial/fellowships/katzin-prize/index.html