SMART Scholarships ($38,000/December 5, 2025)

All applicants for this award must be:

• a citizen of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or United Kingdom at time of application,
• 18 years of age or older as of January 1, 2027
• requesting at least 1 year of degree funding prior to graduation (which starts at the program start date),
• able to complete at least one summer internship (multi-year scholars only)
• willing to accept post-graduation employment with the Department of Defense,
• a student in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale,
• pursuing a technical undergraduate or graduate degree in one of the 24 STEM disciplines listed below,
• able to produce a fall 2023 college transcript from a regionally accredited US college or university, OR be pursuing a graduate degree at a regionally accredited US college or university.

The program focuses on students pursuing disciplines that are critical to national security functions of the Department of Defense. The following is a list of SMART’s 24 approved STEM disciplines.

• Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Biosciences
• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Cognitive, Neural, and Behavioral Sciences
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Cybersecurity
• Data Science and Analytics
• Electrical Engineering
• Environmental Sciences
• Geosciences
• Industrial and Systems Engineering 
• Information Sciences
• Materials Science and Engineering
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Oceanography
• Operations Research
• Physics
• Software Engineering

Scholarships are awarded for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 5 years of funding, depending on degree requirements. SMART is a one-for-one commitment; for every year of degree funding, the scholar commits to working for a year with the DoD as a civilian employee. 

Scholarship Amount: $38,000

Application Deadline: December 5, 2025