Valle Scholarships are limited to graduate students in programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering or Built Environments. All applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States, or of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, or Sweden. The application deadline for all Valle applicants is February 1.

Online application

Applications are submitted online where a set of basic instructions is included. You may save your application at any time and return to it later to finish.

Application preparation

In addition to asking for standard information (your name, address, etc.) the application requires a few items that students should consider and prepare in advance.

• Current resume. You should have a current resume to upload in PDF or MS Word form. This helps us understand your academic and work history and any other special features or skills you wish to mention.
• Plan of study. We ask for a 1-4 page document (500 - 2,000 words) that describes your proposed plan of study. This document should, as a minimum, include:
  • Your name
  • Academic area of study (for example: architecture, transportation engineering, hydrology) during the Valle exchange.
  • Research and study plans during the exchange. Describe what you propose to do, how long it will take (number of months), and the location(s) of your study.
  • The impact of your proposed Valle exchange time on your academic and professional career. It may contribute towards a degree program (for instance, credits towards a degree) but there may be other impacts that are not so obvious.
  • Description of arrangements you have made with a potential Valle mentor or faculty advisor for your supervision during the Valle exchange. It is important to know who will be working with you and helping you through issues.
  • Any anticipated products from the Valle exchange time (for example: papers, reports, other media products).
• Two (2) references. The application will ask you to enter email addresses for your references and then it will automatically send them a reference request. Before entering email address, you should contact the references (especially the one at your destination) and let them know you are applying to the Valle Program and what your plans are and how you hope they can help.
  • Reference 1: Someone familiar with your work/studies. From a professor, instructor, or mentor familiar with your academic work (or work relevant to your Valle exchange proposal). Likely, this will be from one of the schools you listed as having attended previously. This reference is recommending you for the program and pointing out why you are a good fit for the program and will be successful.
  • Reference 2: From your proposed Valle mentor during your Valle exchange. This can be the professor with whom you will conduct research, a supervisor for whom you will work, or other manager. We want to know that this person is aware of your proposal, what their responsibilities will be if you are funded, and that they are willing to work with you. It is important to know that you have made contact and have begun to establish a support system at your destination.
• Portfolio (sometimes). If you are in a field that uses portfolios to display your work (for instance: architecture, landscape architecture) you may be asked to upload a portfolio of your work.