Stipends for Engineering School graduate deans' fellows will increase an average of $1416 next year, an increase described as "extraordinary" by Wayne Worrell, Engineering's associate dean for graduate education. Allocations to deans' fellows, a combination of teaching assistants and research fellows that exist in most Engineering departments, will increase from a minimum of $600 to a maximum of $2400, varying by department, Worrell said. However, much of the increases can be attributed to many departments' decision to pay the $1410 in graduate student fees. "I think [stipends increased] because the graduate students really lobbied in an effective way to get the fees paid," Worrell said. "They convinced the faculty that paying these fees was really something that should be done." The large increases are also due in part to the many research contracts and grants -- from such groups as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Energy -- secured by the Engineering faculty that serve as a supplement to the Engineering School funds. The Bioengineering Department's stipends will increase by the largest amount to $14,400, from $12,000 this year. Materials Science and Engineering fellows will receive an extra $2200 according to the new figures, up to $15,400. The smallest increases will be given to the Systems Engineering fellows. The department, which is one of only two departments that has yet to institute the deans' fellows and still utilizes teaching assistants, will pay only an extra $700, an increase that fails to cover the graduate student fees. A survey done by the Materials Science and Engineering department indicated that some of the University's peer schools, such as Cornell University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were paying higher stipends. Worrell said that the University hopes that the increased stipends will attract better students. "We hope this will result in a lot of good, bright graduate students entering [the Engineering School] this fall," he added. Graduate Student Engineering Group Chairperson Sara Mooers said that she was pleased with the figures. "We're always happy to get an increase because the cost of living does keep rising," the third-year chemical engineering doctoral candidate said. "Even though there is a broad spread between those on the high and low ends [of the increase scale], even those at the low end are doing OK." But she added that the Engineering graduate students empathize with students from other schools. "[With the Engineering stipends], you can survive," Mooers said. "You won't profit by it but it's not as low as the ridiculously low stipends that students in other schools get."
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