The MCS Division Student Travel Award program supports undergraduate and graduate students in their research endeavors by providing funds to attend the Midwinter or annual AEJMC conferences. Midwinter travel in the amount of $500 is awarded to two graduate students. AEJMC annual conference travel in the amount of $1,000 is awarded to four graduate students. These grants are intended to offset a portion of the cost of travel associated with each conference.

Winners of the Midwinter Graduate Travel Awards will be chosen by the Division Head, the Midwinter Committee and the Awards Committee members. Winners of the AEJMC Graduate Travel Awards will be chosen by the Vice Head-Elect and Awards Committee members.

2025 GUIDELINES:

Applications for the Midwinter Conference must be submitted to the MCS Division by January 30, 2025. Applications for the AEJMC annual conference must be submitted by May 30, . All materials should be submitted electronically in PDF format to the Awards Chair Anastasia Kononova kononova@msu.edu by 11:59 pm EDT.

LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

• Applicants must be undergraduate or graduate student members of MCS who are presenting research in the MCS Division.
• Applicants must be full-time undergraduate or graduate students.
• First preference will be given to doctoral students.
• First preference will be given to first authors.
• Approval of travel requests will be limited to one trip per student per fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to September 30.

APPLICATION MATERIALS:

APPLICATION MATERIALS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED AS ONE PDF, WITH THE APPLICANT’S NAME IN THE TITLE OF THE PDF FILE:

• One page letter of application from the student that includes a narrative about how the travel funding would help his/her research agenda, student’s anticipated graduation date, the student’s GPA, whether the student is presenting a poster or making an oral presentation, and the amount of travel support provided by any other party (department, school, major professor, etc.).
• Letter of recommendation from student’s faculty adviser.
• Current curriculum vitae of student.
• A copy of the abstract of the work being presented. The list of authors, in order of contribution, must be included on the abstract.

DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS:

Notification of the award status will be made within 2-3 weeks after the deadline. The award is contingent upon the applicant presenting at the meeting. After granting a MCS Division Student Travel Award, the MCS Division will send a confirmation email to the student and the student’s advisor. Students must provide travel item confirmation (e.g., paid airfare, hotel, car mileage, ground transportation fees, conference registration fees, etc.) following the conference they attended in order to receive reimbursement. The award will not reimburse meals, per diem, society memberships, or poster preparation fees. Receipts must be presented within 30 days of the travel in order to be reimbursed.