Endowment Awards
Photo: 2018 Student Endowment Awardees
Eligibility
- Applicants must be CURRENT STUDENT members of SFS, with the exception of the Systematics Award for which researchers, as well as students, are eligible.
- Student award winners should be present at the annual meeting to receive the award.
- Students will only be eligible for one award during a specific degree program (i.e., only one during a B.S., B.A., M.S. or Ph.D. degree).
- A student cannot receive both an Endowment Award and a Conservation Committee Award in the same year.
- Students may receive only one award in an award year and must identify the funds (Awards) for which they wish to apply.
- The major professor/advisor of applicants must supply confirmation of graduate student standing.
- There are no restrictions on how the awards can be spent from the General Endowment, Boesel/Sanderson, Simpson, or Systematics funds, but it is assumed that disbursements will be directly related to research leading to student degree programs, including travel to the SFS meeting. Funds from the Americas, Fellows, Peterson and Undergraduate Travel Awards funds must be used to support travel to the SFS meeting (i.e. recipients must attend the SFS meeting that year and give a presentation related to their research).
The SFS Endowment Awards are based on research merit. The awards are supported by the General Endowment Fund, seven named funds below, and the Student Resource Committee (SRC). The various funds and eligibility criteria are described below. Applicants for a named fund will also be considered for the General Endowment Awards.
Funds
Americas Fund provides a travel award for a student from Latin America (1-2 awards of ~$1,300).
Andy Sheldon Fund for Field Ecology in Streams supports students doing field-based research in stream population or community ecology to attend annual SFS meetings (1 award of ~$1,000). Established in memoriam of Andy Sheldon.
Boesel-Sanderson Fund supports research on the natural history of organisms (1 award of ~$1,000). Established in recognition of Marion Waterman Boesel and Milton W. Sanderson.
Fellows Fund provides a travel award for Australian students (2 awards of ~$1,800). Established in memoriam of Christine (Christy) Susan Fellows.
General Endowment Fund supports any area of research (14 awards of ~$1,000 each).
Mulholland Fund for Biogeochemical Research supports travel to the annual meeting for students studying stream biogeochemistry (1 award of ~$1000). The fund was established in honor of Patrick (Pat) Mulholland.
Petersen Fund provides travel award for non-North American students (2 awards of ~$1,000). Established in memoriam of Robert (Bob) Carl Petersen.
Simpson Fund supports research in applied issues (1 award of ~$1,000). Established in memoriam of Karl W. Simpson.
Systematics Fund supports various research expenses (including, for example, publication costs) in the area of taxonomy and systematics (2 awards of ~$1,000).
Conservation Fund (1 award at ~$1500) Awarded separately. Information here.
The Undergraduate Travel Award is sponsored by the Student Resources Committee (SRC). The SRC makes 6 awards of $500 each; 2 awards will be reserved for students from minority-serving institutions and primarily undergraduate institutions. Current undergraduate students and post-graduates who received their degree after August 1, 2024, and have not yet matriculated in a graduate program are eligible for this award. Students must be presenting a poster or talk at the meeting. Awards will be partially disbursed as registration fee waivers and applicants are encouraged to wait to register until awardees are selected, which will happen before early registration ends. In addition to submitting a proposal on the main application page, applicants are asked to fill out an application supplement via this form. If you have any questions or concerns regarding undergraduate travel awards, please feel free to contact the Undergraduate Travel Awards subcommittee of the SRC, sfs.uac@gmail.com. Eligible applicants are also encouraged to apply for the Emerge and Instars programs.
How to Apply
The application consists of two parts:
- Basic applicant information. Note: non-students applying for the Systematics award do not need to complete the degree program information.
- One-page description of your research or proposed research uploaded as a PDF, DOC, or DOCX. Please see the instructions in the link below for the one-page description and follow the formatting guidelines.
Applications must be submitted electronically on the SFS website here.
If you experience any technical difficulties in submitting your application, please contact the web editor (webeditor@freshwater-science.org).
For all other questions, please contact the committee chair: Amanda Rugenski, atrugenski@uga.edu.