Student Programs

Graduate Student & Postdoctoral Travel Grant Program

STCs were conceived by NSF to execute large-scale scientific research. Large awards, lengthened funding periods, extensive partner networks, and shared instrumentation facilities enable research to be accomplished on a scale inaccessible to individual investigators.

To succeed, STCs must collaborate effectively across multiple institutions. CMDITR encourages its graduate students and postdocs to take advantage of unique opportunities within our Center to build these collaborations and strengthen our research capabilities. The Center recognizes the importance of new introductions and networking to students and postdocs in fostering creativity and career development.

Eligibility: All graduate students and postdoctoral researchers classified as “participants” in the CMDITR database (defined as spending 160 hrs or more per year on STC activities) and proposing to perform STC-related work are eligible. If members who are currently designated as “affiliate’ can justify “participant” status, they should discuss this with their advisors and change their status. Applicants must be in good standing with respect to “Responsible Conduct of Research” training.

Awards: The CMDITR will fund two types of grants for travel and subsistence costs in going from one STC partner institution to another (including seed grant institutions). Travel to non-STC facilities is possible where justified (e.g. for access to very unique instrumentation).

Short-term Grant (typically 1-week or less): Maximum award amount is $1,000; no advisor match required but costs exceeding this amount must be borne by the faculty advisor (or the applicant’s own resources). Applicants wishing to travel together (2 max.) should submit their applications together. “Piggy-back” awards are encouraged. These are defined as cases where students and postdocs are already traveling for meeting purposes (national conference, STC retreat, etc.) but wish to take advantage of another few days in a partner lab nearby or en route.

Long-term Grant (typically 3-weeks or longer): This type of grant requires a 1:1 match from the advisor and has an upper limit of $3,000. This category of exchange is to enable students to develop a more intimate feel for life at a partner campus and lasting bonds with a peer research group.

The CMDITR travel grant fund is reset annually, depending on availability of finances. It is possible that requests received late in the fiscal year will need to be postponed if resources are depleted.

Procedure: Interested applicants should log onto the internal website and complete a simple 1-page application. Upon submission, your advisor will receive an e-mail notification and request for approval, which must be received by the Managing Director before proceeding further. There is no fixed due date; applications are reviewed continuously. Preferred deadline is no later than one month before requested travel. Successful applications will be forwarded to host faculty and local administration to confirm that funding was approved and that a visit should be expected.

*** STC Administration will attempt to minimize students' out-of-pocket expenses for travel. In situations where travel advances are not possible, it may take up to 3 weeks for UW to process reimbursement checks.

Sample travel objectives:

For more information and to apply, log in to the Members Only STC Intranet, and click the Travel Grant link.