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Funding

The East Asia Program (EAP) offers several categories of fellowships and grants to support student research and study related to East Asia.

A fellowship is an arrangement in which financial support is given to a graduate student to pursue his or her degree without obligation on the part of the student to engage in teaching. Fellowships are generally merit-based awards intended to support a student with full-time enrollment in field research or a course of study at Cornell. 

EAP offers research travel grants that supplement the Einaudi International Research Travel competition, with support for graduate student research travel in East Asia. EAP travel grants will pay for fieldwork expenses such as lodging, travel within the research country, and research costs, while the Einaudi International Research Travel Grant will only cover international airfare. 

The East Asian Language Study Grant is the only undergraduate funding opportunity offered by EAP.

The Post-Fellowship & Grant report(link is external) is available here, or can be obtained by sending us a request(link sends email).

For more information on EAP funding, please refer to the 2024-2025 EAP Student Funding Info Session slides(link is external).

EAP also offers small amounts of funding for co-sponsorship of student organizations on campus to hold events featuring cultures of East Asia.

Congratulations to the 2024-2025 Fellowship and Grant Recipients!

A young woman sits on a hill facing away from the viewer looking out over green hills with a path winding through the center of it.

FAQs

Many of the following questions were generated in our 2021-2022 EAP Student Funding Info Session(link is external)

Yes. However, students not yet doing research and still doing coursework, i.e. pre-A-Exam, during the fellowship period will be given lower consideration.
Not necessarily. Applicants should include in their proposal when they have completed, or plan to complete, their field A-exam, and how this relates to the work they are proposing to do with an EAP fellowship. 
Yes, you can always re-apply the following year. And, declining a fellowship is actually a positive factor for the next application. EAP tries to spread the wealth of its funding to many students rather than repeatedly awarding to the same students. Having had, and used, an EAP fellowship previously counts against one’s application.
No, not at the same time. But EAP fellowships are for one semester. Therefore, some recipients have other fellowships or grants that cover the other semester of the academic year. If you receive some other fellowship such as a Fulbright Hayes or a foundation fellowship that is for the full year and overlaps with an EAP fellowship semester, you must decline the EAP fellowship. 
Students can begin, edit, and save their application as many times as they need, until the deadline and full submission.
Yes, the application allows recommenders to upload their letters at any time once an application is started and saved. Once the recommender’s email address is put into the field and the application saved, the system sends an email to the recommender. 
Yes
Yes
No, we do not have a preference either way.
No. Students should arrange with their department how an EAP fellowship will fit into their funding for the following academic year.
No
Yes, you can ask an employer depending on your project and if its outside of the Cornell advising structure. For Language Study Grant applications we suggest that one recommender be a language instructor, either that you have studied with previously, or in the language you intend to study.
No, but you can use an EAP travel grant or an LSG Award in the summer.
No, the stipend amount is the same for all fellowship awards: the authorized Cornell Graduate School research stipend amount.
Generally, people submit fellowship proposals that are 2–3 pages long and single-spaced. Please do not exceed 5 pages. Keeping it short and focusing on the activities you would do to achieve your research goals during the fellowship award period will work best.
We suggest three sections: Abstract, Project Description, and Budget Description. That has been a good structure for applications in the past. Please paste your project proposal into the Statement of Purpose fields since the LSG application does not have a file upload for the proposal—only for a CV/Resume. 
Your country of research is the primary country on which you are conducting research. 
Yes, please list the language programs you have or are planning on applying to.

All Funding Opportunities