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.

• Incoming Ph.D. students in any discipline who will commence doctoral study (enrollment and course registration) at UC San Diego in Fall of 2023 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

• In 2023-24 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).  
• 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://collab.ucsd.edu/x/xXRdB
• Recipients are expected to attend all Katzin Prize events, provide annual written updates on the use and impact of funds from the prize, and write a thank you/introduction letter to the donor.

Each eligible graduate program may nominate one (1) qualified doctoral applicant via the Slate system. The following items are required for a complete nomination package in Slate:

1. Nominate and confirm the applicant for admission in Slate
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. 

If the above materials are not submitted in Slate by the first deadline, the applicant's application packet will be considered in the next round. 

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. 

If your nominee ultimately decides to not enroll at UC San Diego, the department may not nominate another applicant. 

All nominations must me submitted in Slate

There will be two deadlines for 2023-24 process. Programs will be notified of selected recipients within three weeks after the deadlines and will be expected to make efforts to encourage the selected recipients to commit to attending UC San Diego in a timely fashion. Nominees not selected in the first round will be considered again in the next round. Awards will continue to be made until a cohort of at least three incoming students is identified.

• The first deadline is Wednesday, February 15, 2023.
• The second deadline is Wednesday, March 15, 2023.