Graduate Student Travel Support
(rev. 08/01/2023)
Purpose:
To support travel of Arts & Sciences graduate students to conferences and professional meetings where they present the results of their research or to participate in professional activities that enhance the visibility of our graduate programs.
Amount of Awards:
Up to $700 per proposal for eligible graduate students, with a maximum of one award per student and per academic year. The total amount available in the fund is $5,000.
Eligibility:
Applicants must be enrolled graduate students majoring in one of the CAS programs (Biology MS, Chemistry MS, English MA, or Mathematics MS) or the Environmental Sciences PhD program. The travel to be funded must occur after the proposal submission deadline. No retroactive travel awards will be made.
Application Process:
1. Applicant (graduate student) sends to the department chair via his/her advisor a 1-2 page proposal (no more than 500 words including budget and factual details) that includes:
- Name, location, and date(s) of the activity
- Explanation of how the activity will benefit the academic program
- Estimated costs, including, as a minimum, registration, transportation, and lodging
- Extent of support from other sources (e.g., external funds from grants or contracts, departmental funds,Tennessee Tech Chapter 606 funds, etc.)
- Indication of whether or not partial funding would be accepted.
2. Department Chair forwards the application(s) to the Dean's office, along with a one-page letter of support that includes comments on (a) the proposed activity's potential benefit to the academic program and (b) the availability of alternate funding sources. If there is more than one application from the department, the chair ranks them.
Deadlines for Submission to the Dean's Office:
Proposals are due at noon on September 1, December 1, March 1, and May 1 (by noon the following Monday if the 1st falls on a weekend) of each year.
Screening Committee:
The applications will be screened and awards recommended to the Dean by the CAS Faculty Development Committee. This is a representative sub-set of the Executive Committee (i.e., one representative from each of the following departmental groups: Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Sciences; Physics and Mathematics; English and History; Foreign Languages and Sociology /Political Science) that receives and evaluates proposals for the CAS Faculty Development Fund.
Criteria:
Proposals will be ranked consistent with the stated purpose of the fund (to support travel of graduate students to conferences and professional meetings to present the results of their research or to participate in professional activities that enhance the visibility of our graduate programs), with student presentation of papers given top priority. Regarding proposals considered equal in all other respects, preference will given to those by students who have no other available source of travel support.
Limits on Frequency of Applications and Awards:
- The same proposal may be resubmitted no more than once in a 12-month period.
- A graduate student may receive no more than one award in a fiscal year, whether or not the $350 maximum is met in that one award.
Accountability:
Within a month after the activity is concluded, each awardee will send to the department chair a 1-2 page report evaluating the experience.
