REA Student Awards

Spring Grants and Awards

Applications for Spring 2026 Grants and Awards are currently open!

Each year the Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) provides grants, awards, and scholarships to students in the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing in recognition of their academic achievements and to support their efforts in a variety of student endeavors.  Explore the programs below to learn more about eligibility and requirements.

Please note that application deadlines vary by award — be sure to check the corresponding application link for details!

REA Undergraduate Scholarship Awards

  • Leadership Excellence Award

    This award is given to undergraduate engineering majors demonstrating outstanding leadership while at Rice.

    Amount: $1,000 - $2,000

    Application

  • Research Excellence Award

    This award is given to undergraduate engineering students who have performed outstanding academic research at Rice.

    Amount: $1,000 - $2,000

    Application

  • R.K.M. "Bob" Dickson Prize

    Created by H. deForest Ralph Jr. BA ’55, ChE ’56 in memory of his roommate Bob Dickson ’55, this award recognizes engineering students whose work benefits society. The purpose of this prize is to provide awarded students with support for community service projects or activities.

    Amount: $4,000

    Application

  • Buckley-Sartwelle Scholarship

    Created by Jack Boyd Buckley CE ’48 and Helen Sartwelle Buckley BA ’44 in memory of their parents, this scholarship is awarded to an outstanding junior in mechanical engineering.

    Amount: See application for more details

    Application

  • Outstanding and Distinguished Junior & Senior

    Each year, the REA selects one Distinguished Junior and one Distinguished Senior from among the Outstanding Juniors and Seniors chosen by their departments. No application is required for these award.

    No Application Required

REA Student Project Grant Program

This REA Student Project Grants Program was created to support outstanding student-led engineering initiatives at Rice — with a focus on providing financial support to projects, activities and initiatives which are not directly related to class work. Undergraduate students are encouraged to apply to the program. Grant funding must be used to support a specific activity and may not be used to supplement a general operating fund for an organization or group.

Student-led projects/activities/initiatives will be selected for funding based on the following criteria:

  • Demonstrated need for financial support

  • Educational impact for involved students

  • Societal impact of proposed project/activity

  • Feasibility of project/activity

Applications for the REA Student Project Grants are only open in the Fall Semester.

REA Graduate Student Travel Grant Program

This REA Graduate Student Travel Grants Program was created to support engineering graduate students who are attending conferences or professional meetings to present their research work. The key requirement for receiving the grant is that the graduate student is presenting a paper or a poster at the conference or meeting. Grant funding must be used to support travel to the conference and may not be used to supplement a general operating fund for the research group.

The grant request will be selected for funding based on the following criteria:

  • Demonstrated need for financial support

  • Educational and professional impact for involved graduate students

  • Impact/significance of research in the field

The REA will award the grants during the fall and spring grant cycles. Grant winners will be required to provide a follow up report and/or 10-minute presentation at an REA event, such as at the Winter Social or at the REA Homecoming event, after attending the conference/meeting. In addition, grant winners will be recognized at the annual REA Student Awards Celebration in April.

The Application for this program can be found here.