THE SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY

Ensure you are using the correct form. This page is for FGST applications only. Click here for Grants-in-Aid of Research (GIAR) applications

The Fellowship of Graduate Student Travel (FGST) provides funds for travel and other expenses for students to work at distant research laboratories, museums, or field sites. The primary purpose is for travel to "distant" research sites to learn specialized techniques or to use unique equipment or collections. The Student Support Committee (SSC) expects to grant 3 fellowships of up to $2000 this year.

Use of and eligibility for funding

Awards are made payable to the individual recipients. No part of an award may be used for the payment of indirect costs to the recipient's institution. All funds must be expended directly in support of the proposed investigation. Awards are made in amounts up to a maximum of $2,000. Previous recipients of a SICB GIAR or FGST award are not eligible.  

Students may apply to ONLY ONE program, either the Fellowship for Graduate Student Travel or Grants-in-Aid of Research.

Awards are limited to graduate students currently enrolled in degree programs who are active members of SICB. Non-members must become members for the 2010 year to be eligible to receive awards.  

If two or more applicants are working on part of a larger project but are applying separately for support, each one should identify the other applicant(s) of the project. Unless indicated to the contrary, the SSC will assume that failure to provide support for one applicant does not affect the ability of the other applicants to pursue their research.

Electronic application process

All grant applications must be filed electronically using the forms provided at this website. All fields in the electronic form must be completed unless noted otherwise. The electronic submittal system will not accept any empty fields! Limits of field length apply. Actual character counts of an entry can be viewed by the applicant on the preview page.

Proposal writing and evaluation

Proposed investigation (3000 characters maximum) is the most critical part of the proposal. This should be written by the applicant with feedback from the major professor.

Suggestions for writing the proposal: In the first paragraph, state the focal problem clearly and concisely with an explicit research hypothesis that has been set in the context of a broader theory or model. Non-experts will be reading the proposal, so pertinent background information is necessary. The second paragraph should describe the proposed research methods and how the gathered data will relate to previous work in the field, the hypothesis, and the broader theory or model. The third paragraph should present the planned use of funds, specifically justifying travel to the 'distant' location. A well-proofread application indicates professionalism and credibility.

Literature citations should be indicated, but used sparingly. Include the authors' names and date of publication (e.g., Darwin, 1859, rather than a number) in the narrative. The full citation should be given in the appropriate field using the format used in the Journal of Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Requested support should contribute directly to the success of the proposed study. The SSC attaches low priority to support for institutional and departmental equipment and facilities. Travel to field research sites and living expenses while doing field research (beyond those normally incurred at home) are considered fundable items.

The following are NOT granted support:

educational programs and curriculum development,

stipends for applicants or assistants,

manuscript preparation and publication costs,

purchase of standard equipment and supplies that should normally be available in an institutional research laboratory,

travel to scientific meetings or symposia,

requests for a second award.

The SSC is unable to provide feedback to applicants concerning their individual proposals.

Questions

For questions regarding the grant program, contact the Chair of the Student Support Committee: Prof. Sheila Patek, patek@bio.umass.edu.

For questions regarding the electronic application process, contact Ruedi Birenheide, webmaster@sicb.org.

The deadline for applications is October 30, 2009.

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You don't need to know your membership ID to apply for support. However, if you do know your membership ID, you can use it to automatically enter your personal data from the SICB database. If you don't have a membership number yet, or if you wish to use a different address, phone number, etc, fill in the data manually or edit the data entered from the database. If you find any of the data from the database incorrect or outdated, use the membership info page to submit an update. The member ID number is included with each email from SICB Headquarters. Use the contact link in the green field on the top of this page for questions regarding your member ID number.

member ID (if available):

SICB - APPLICATION FORM FOR FELLOWSHIP FOR GRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL

APPLICANT:

Name:


Institutional Address (Department, University, Street Address):


City:


State/Province:


Zip/Postal Code:


Country:


Work Phone:


Fax:


E-mail:


Master Student
Doctoral Student

Degree Program:

Department:

Institution:


Previous Education (fill in Degree, Institution, Date on a separate line for each degree earned):


Title of Proposed Project:


Please indicate primary Divisional Affiliation:

Animal Behavior
Comparative Biomechanics
Comparative Endocrinology
Comparative Physiology & Biochemistry
Developmental & Cell Biology
Ecology and Evolution
Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Integrative & Comparative Issues
Invertebrate Zoology
Neurobiology
Systematic & Evolutionary Biology
Vertebrate Morphology

PROPOSED INVESTIGATION - LIMIT OF 3000 CHARACTERS INCL. SPACES (actual character counts for this and the following fields can be viewed on the preview page; count includes invisible formatting characters for newline and/or paragraph that your wordprocessor adds).
If you copy and paste your text, note that wordprocessor formatting is usually not retained (except paragraph/line breaks). You can use HTML-tags to indicate <b>bold</b> or <i>italic</i>text. Don't forget the closing tag unless you wish the rest of the text to be in bold or italic! The tag-characters count towards the total character limit. These rules apply to all text fields on this page.

LITERATURE CITED (Citations in the text should give the author(s) and year of publication. List the full citations here, in alphabetical order, following the format used in Integrative and Comparative Biology. LIMIT OF 1200 CHARACTERS INCL. SPACES):


LOCATION(S) WHERE RESEARCH WILL BE CARRIED OUT (LIMIT OF 400 CHARACTERS, INCL. SPACES):


REQUESTED SUPPORT (Itemize the support needed, with justifications. LIMIT OF 800 CHARACTERS, INCL. SPACES):


TOTAL SICB FUNDS REQUESTED: $

INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR STUDY OF PROBLEM (LIMIT OF 400 CHARACTERS, INCL. SPACES):


PREVIOUS GRANTS RECEIVED FROM OTHERS (LIMIT OF 400 CHARACTERS, INCL. SPACES):


OTHER APPLICATIONS PENDING (LIMIT OF 400 CHARACTERS, INCL. SPACES):


NAME(S) OF ASSISTANTS OR CO-WORKERS, IF ANY, ENGAGED IN THE INVESTIGATION (LIMIT OF 400 CHARACTERS, INCL. SPACES):


RESEARCH FUNDING: Please provide a brief statement of your major professor's funding of your research, including the amount, source of funding and duration.