Stanford
Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education

SPICE: Student Projects for Intellectual Community Enhancement

SPICE

Stanford Optical Society
SPICE funds support graduate students' efforts to build and expand their intellectual communities at Stanford.
by Application
Eligibility: All Students
Period: The annual cycle for AY2025-26 will reopen Spring Quarter 2025.
Duration: Annual application cycle
Amount Awarded: Up to $5,000 ($2,000 for off-cycle awards)

About

Review the SPICE Overview and Application Guidelines.

Most graduate students' educational experiences take place primarily in the degree program. When students are intellectually engaged with many other members of their degree program, they are more likely to learn and grow. All members benefit when a vibrant intellectual community is an explicit part of the degree program’s culture.

Interdisciplinary inquiry and cross-departmental multidisciplinary conversations are a hallmark of graduate studies at Stanford. When intellectual communities include perspectives from many fields and inquiry paradigms, knowledge advances unexpectedly. 

Students do not need to wait for intellectual communities to be developed for them. They can be energetic agents who create activities that enhance the academic life of their degree program or many degree programs.

SPICE funds support graduate (master’s, doctoral, or professional) student initiatives that develop activities to expand the intellectual community of their degree program or many degree programs.

SPICE application:

  • must be led by graduate students
  • put ideas and debate at their center
  • involve graduate students across subfields and at different stages in their studies
  • preferably should offer a comprehensive set of activities

The regular SPICE application opens in Spring Quarter. The first group of SPICE awards was made in Spring 2008. Both department-based and interdisciplinary SPICE applications are encouraged.

Pilot Off-Cycle Funding Round

Since some students with shorter academic program lengths (e.g., Master's students) may not have the capability to plan a full academic year in advance for projects, we piloted an off-cycle funding process to provide same-AY access to SPICE funds for brand-new projects. The off-cycle application process for AY2023-24 has closed. Stay tuned for more information about a possible off-cycle application round during the 2024-25 academic year.

Annual Application Cycle 

Regular Application Opens: April 1, 2024

Regular Application Deadline: May 12, 2024

AY2024-25 Award Notifications: June 2024

Related Events

No events at this time. Please check back later.

The annual cycle application process is closed.

The off-cycle application process is closed.

Contact vpgeapplications @stanford.edu with any questions.