The Mary Gates Research and Leadership Scholarships are open to all UW undergraduate students, including all class years, all majors, and all residency statuses (US citizens, permanent residents, international students, and undocumented students are all eligible to apply). Visit our website to learn more.
Mary Gates Research Scholarship: Students engage in a research project to discover, articulate, and contribute their talents and ideas with the guidance of a UW-affiliated faculty mentor.
Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship: Students foster leadership development skills as they pursue a project or activity important to them and their community.
Benefits: Mary Gates scholarships provide $5,000 ($2,500 per quarter for two quarters) for students to pursue leadership or research activities. These scholarships benefit students as they engage in their projects and connect them with a community of scholars, mentors, and alums.
Visit our website to register for all dates and deadlines and to attend an info session and sign up for workshops.
We are making some changes to the application process for 2025-26 and wanted to give you advance notice, as we hope you will apply for a Mary Gates Research and/or Leadership Scholarship in Autumn 2025.
Inspired by exploration, community investment, opportunity and impact, the values that guide the Mary Gates Endowment, these changing and expanding programs encourage and support undergraduate students to become independent learners and community leaders through research, leadership and mentorship.
Starting in 2025-26:
· Mary Gates Endowment Research and Leadership Scholarship will change to offering one application cycle per year, during Fall quarter only.
o Applications for 2025-26 scholarships will open Aug.4, 2025 with a deadline to apply of Oct. 20, 2025.
o Over 100 Research Scholarships and over 50 Leadership Scholarships will be awarded in this cycle, for a total of over $900,000 in scholarships. With one cycle, we are awarding all at once the total we previously spread over two cycles.
o We expect this will have many positive outcomes, including:
§ Awarding more students earlier.
§ Allowing us to expand our programming for Mary Gates Scholars. Having one application cycle per year will allow us to create more opportunities for Scholars to connect with each other, mentors, and alums. Our goal is to support Scholars to get closer to the educational and long-term goals they have.
§ better aligning with the applications for the Undergraduate Research Symposium and the Spring CELEbration. Awards will be announced before the applications to present at these events close.
o We will not offer an application process during Winter quarter, only Fall.
o Learn more and get ready to apply in fall 2025
· New Undergraduate Research Collective:
o The Office of Undergraduate Research is excited to launch the Undergraduate Research Collective, a campus-wide, interdisciplinary research initiative designed for first year, second year, and new transfer students to explore research in a supportive and welcoming environment.
o Scholars enroll in a two-quarter seminar focused on research preparation and community-building and are matched with a faculty mentor to conduct research for 5-10 hours per week. Ten students in the program will receive an $8,000 Mary Gates Research Scholarship over the course of their two-year participation.
o The website and application will launch in mid-May. Learn more by visiting our website in May.
· New Venture Scholarships program:
o Advanced undergraduate students deeply engaged in community efforts will be able to apply for up to $10,000 to support creative and unique projects in communities and serving community-derived goals. Two Venture Scholarships will be available each year starting in Winter 2026.
o Visit our website in Fall 2025 for more details about the winter/spring application process.
The Mary Gates Endowment also has continuing partnerships that provide unique and valuable academic and research experiences for students, which you may want to consider:
· Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities
We hope you will plan ahead for your future applications and we look forward to seeing you at our upcoming information sessions and workshops!