Program on the Environment

Winter 2015 Quarter Deadline: January 21, 2015

The College of the Environment (CoEnv) supports undergraduate, Masters, and PhD students in furthering their careers, and in particular in connecting students to networking opportunities afforded by the presentation of their original work in meeting venues.  CoEnv supports two types of student attendance at meetings:

• Individual Travel to Meetings:
  Maximums of $500 for North American travel and $750 for international travel; one per student per degree career; we anticipate making about 15 awards annually. The award amounts are modest to enable CoEnv to provide funding to a greater number of students. Students are expected to seek and receive funding from other sources, and students who do so will receive funding priority.

• Student-Organized Meetings:
  Maximum of $1,500 or 20% of total expenditures, whichever is smaller; one per organization annually; maximum of 4 awards given out annually.

Individual Student Travel to Meetings

CoEnv realizes that presentation of original work at national or international meetings hosted by scientific/academic societies can truly accelerate the career of a student.  Because grant and contract funding, unit-based funding sources, and/or individual resources are occasionally not enough to cover travel expenses, the CoEnv will competitively award travel grants to individual students on a one-time basis who are giving oral presentations of their original work (including co-authored work where the student is first author). In special circumstances, funding may be available for poster presentations (e.g., the conference only features poster presentations). If you are applying for funding for a poster presentation, please describe the special circumstances in your application and ask your faculty advisor also to do so in the letter of support. Without this explicit additional documentation, your application will not be considered.

Applicants must be matriculated students pursuing a major within the College of the Environment. Undergraduates pursuing a minor in the CoEnv, but not a major, are not eligible to apply. Graduates pursuing a Graduate Certificate in the CoEnv, but not a CoEnv graduate degree, are not eligible to apply.

Applications for College funding must include:

• Proposal (2.5-page maximum; see requirements below)
• Letter of support from your faculty advisor

Proposal Guidelines:

Applications for CoEnv funding must include a proposal (2-page maximum) listing the following. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

1.       Your name, department, and the degree you are pursuing; indicate whether you are:

• ·         Undergraduate Student

–          Freshman

–          Sophomore

–          Junior

–          Senior

• ·         Master’s Student
• ·         PhD Student – general exams not yet completed
• ·         PhD Student – general exams completed

2.       Meeting title, location, dates, and organizing institution.

3.       FULL presentation title with list of all authors. Note whether oral or poster presentation. In no circumstance will more than one author be awarded a travel grant.

4. Abstract for the proposed presentation – submit the same abstract required by the conference following the conference guidelines for length. If the conference does not require an abstract, submit an abstract no longer than 300 words.

5.       An explanation (300 words max) of how the networking, visibility, and peer review benefits of attendance will be realized at this meeting; specifically:

• ·         how your research represents in-unit or cross-college excellence that merits this level of support;
• ·         how attending this meeting is of special significance to advancing your career goals, and, specifically, how this particular meeting will advance your research/scholarly agenda.

6.       Total estimated budget, broken down into major budget categories – registration, airfare, rental car, meals (use UW meal per diem rates), lodging, etc. To reduce costs, consider cost-saving measures such as sharing a room with a fellow student attending the conference or only requesting the amount necessary for meals (rather than the full per diem amount).

7.       Total amount requested from CoEnv, and amount(s) received or requested from all other sources. The strongest applications will show requested or actual support from several sources. If you are only requesting funding from the College, please state the reasons why you have not applied elsewhere.

8.       All presentations you have given in the last 24 months at meetings, conferences, or workshops.

Faculty Advisor Letter Guidelines:

Submit a letter of support from your faculty advisor, including a statement explaining the following. Please alert your faculty advisor of these required elements to ensure a strong letter of support:

• why this student’s participation in this conference should be supported by the College of the Environment above the dozens of other students seeking support from across the College;
• why grant/contract support is not available to cover all expenses;
• why this particular meeting is especially important for this student at this point in her/his career.
• how many currently active students are in your lab/research program, and what is the total amount of travel funding available to those students.

Meeting Synopsis Guidelines:

Within one month of the meeting, you must submit a brief synopsis (250 words max) documenting how meeting attendance advanced your career, listing any awards/honorable mentions you received, and a final budget documentation.  Failure to submit a timely report will result in further student travel awards to current/future members of your laboratory being suspended.

CoEnv will not provide support for:

• alcohol
• accommodation or food above per diem or actual expenses, whichever is less
• stipend or salary
• attendance to local chapter meetings of national/international organizations
• attendance to student-organized meetings

Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you do not follow instructions, including limiting your request to the maximum award amounts listed above, your application will not be considered.

Student-Organized Meetings

CoEnv supports a range of student organizations that organize and host meetings attended by CoEnv students where central goals of the meeting include linking science (natural and/or social) to policy or real world application; and interdisciplinary attendance realized within CoEnv as attendance and presentation by students from multiple units within the College.  CoEnv will competitively award grants to student organizations for partial funding of interdisciplinary, student-run meetings at which CoEnv students are presenting original (including co-authored work where the student is first author) work.

Applications for CoEnv funding must include a two page proposal listing:

1. Title of the requesting organization, with a list of student officers and highlighting any CoEnv students.
2. An explanation of the event, including how the meeting furthers the mission of the College and the careers of attending students (350 words, max).
3. Planned location and dates.
4. Intended audience, including total estimated attendance, and specific attendance by students from CoEnv units.
5. Total estimated budget, broken down into major budget categories.
6. Total amount requested from CoEnv, and amount(s) received/requested/anticipated from all other sources (please include any proposed registration fees as one source).

Following the meeting, a brief report documenting total expenditures, total attendance, a list of all CoEnv students attending, and a list of any CoEnv student winning presentation awards, must be submitted.  Organizations failing to submit reports will not be funded in the future.

CoEnv will not provide support for:

• alcohol
• non-student (including keynote or plenary speaker) attendance
• conference-organizing contractors
• within-unit annual student symposia

CoEnv also supports diversity-oriented student meetings.

Submission Process

Meeting grants, whether individual or from a student organization, can be submitted on a quarterly basis, according to the following table to coenvaad@uw.edu.  Submissions should be planned such that travel can be accomplished within 6 months of the date of the award, otherwise the award may be retracted.  Submissions outside of these dates will not be considered.

Submission Deadlines

Winter 2015:  1/21/2015
Spring 2015: 4/10/2015

Review Process

All complete applications will be reviewed by the College of the Environment Student Scholarship and Funding Committee, comprised of faculty and staff who are advisory to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Diversity.  The Committee will submit recommendations, together with a brief explanation, to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Diversity, who will make the final funding decisions.  Because of the continuing nature of this funding cycle, the Associate Dean reserves the right to sub-select from highly ranked applications in any single quarter, to balance out awards annually.

The Committee will score each application as follows:

Individual Travel Grants

• Statement of how this specific meeting will help further career (50%)
• Faculty advisor recommendation (20%)
• Budget and need (20%)
• Diversity and security of additional funding sources; has applied for funding from additional sources, or can explain why not (10%)

Student-Organized Meetings

• Interdisciplinarity (25%)
• Linkage of science to policy and/or real world application (25%)
• Number and academic diversity of anticipated CoEnv attendees (20%)
• Statement of how meeting will help further student careers (10%)
• Budget and need (10%)
• Diversity and security of additional funding sources (10%)

Questions? Contact the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Diversity at coenvaad@uw.edu.