Financial Support Opportunities for Ecology Center Graduate Students
Graduate students working on ecology degrees are eligible to apply for Ecology Center funds for the following types of support (All these offerings depend on availability of discretionary funds and the worthiness of the application.):
1. Partial support for travel to regional or national professional meetings in which you are presenting a paper or poster (for which you are the first or sole author). Application for this travel is made by your major professor and should include the nature of the meeting, the title of the presentation, and authorship, and that you are pursuing an ecology degree. This is best done by e-mail. Support will depend on availability of funds, the nature of the meeting, and other meetings in the current year for which the Ecology Center is supporting you. Very occasionally, the Ecology Center may contribute to an international meeting participation for graduate students.
2. Supplemental research support (currently up to $5,000 per year). To assist you in your thesis or dissertation research, these are offered competitively once each year (announced in the spring) and you may apply in two consecutive years. This requires a proposal. The details of this proposal are announced each year and are also available in the Ecology Center office. The major professor also endorses this proposal.
3. In the last three years, the Ecology Center was able to award a few graduate student assistantships for PhD students up to $12,000. Whether this will be possible in future years will depend on availability of our discretionary funds. This award competition is also announced in the spring and requires a proposal.
4. Finishing-up funds. If you have no other sources of support, are in residence at USU working on completion of your MS or PhD degree, and are within three months of defending your thesis or dissertation, you may apply for this one-time award up to $1,500. A one-page proposal, endorsed by your major professor, indicating your progress, work yet to be accomplished, and anticipated defense date should be submitted.