2012 National Fellowships Program

Application Guidelines

The SDE/GWIS National Fellowships Program is proud to offer fellowships in 2012 to help increase knowledge in the fundamental sciences and to encourage research careers in the sciences by women. Endowment funds, mostly generated from bequests, provide the annual income that supports scientific research done by SDE/GWIS award winners.  For the 2011-2012 academic year, we distributed just under $60,000 in fellowship funds to ten deserving women scientists.

This year’s application deadline is January 15, 2012 with awards being announced on or before July 1, 2012 for funding in the 2012-2013 academic year.  The SDE/GWIS National Council will determine exact fellowship amounts with the maximum allowable award being $10,000.

Expected Qualifications of the Candidate:

• Awards will be made to women holding a degree from a recognized institution of higher learning, of outstanding ability and promise in research, who are performing research at any institution in the U.S. or abroad. 
• Career level (e.g. graduate student vs. assistant professor) of the candidate will be taken into consideration when reviewing the proposals.
• Awards will be made irrespective of race, religion, nationality, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, or age. 
• Active SDE/GWIS membership (http://gwis.org/application.html) is encouraged at the time of and throughout the duration of funding.  Membership must include both chapter and National dues.

Award Designations:

• The Fellowships are to be known as the Sigma Delta Epsilon (SDE), Eloise Gerry, Vessa Notchev and Nell I. Mondy Fellowships.  The highest scoring SDE Fellowships designee shall be known as the Adele Lewis Grant/SDE Fellowships winner and the second-best scoring designee shall be known as the Hartley Corporation/SDE Fellowships Winner.
• The funds available in any one year shall be the income from and contributions to the endowment accounts.  The amount thus varies from year to year.  The Fellowships Committee reserves the right to make no awards if no satisfactory applicants present themselves.

Terms of the Award:

• All recipients are encouraged to hold membership in SDE/GWIS.  Click on the following link for more information on how to become a member http://www.gwis.org/application.html The application processing fee is waived for GWIS members at the time of application (submitted by 11:59 pm, Eastern Standard Time, Jan. 15th, 2012). For non-members, the application fee is $50 at the time of submission.  Click the following link to be taken to the Fellowship Applicant Fee process.http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=224101 This is required to offset costs associated with the application review.
• The period of the award shall be one academic year (July 1st to June 30th).  Recipients are not eligible for awards in subsequent years from the same fund, though they may apply for a different award.

The recipient of an award will submit an abstract of 100 words or less along with a recent wallet-sized black-and-white photo of themselves or digital .jpg file to SDE/GWIS Bulletin editor (mlmcew2@email.uky.edu) as soon as the awards are announced.  This will be used for publication purposes in the national SDE/GWIS quarterly publication The Bulletin and on the GWIS website, www.gwis.org.

• The recipient of the award will be expected to follow the main outline of the original proposal.  If a major deviation from it is essential, approval must be obtained from the Fellowships Committee.
• All of the work in the proposal must be conducted by the PI of the grant.  The fellowship applicant will be the one conducting the work, rather than using the award to support someone conducting work for them (e.g. the funds may not be used by a professor to support a graduate student).
• Fellowships funds may be used for such things as expendable supplies, small equipment to be used by the recipient (not for general use), publication of research findings, travel and subsistence while performing field studies, or travel to another laboratory for collaborative research.  These costs must be clearly justified in the proposal and integral to the research design.  Funds cannot be used for the following: tuition, child care, travel to professional meetings or to begin a new appointment, travel to another institution for coursework, living allowances or equipment of general use. 
• A maximum of $10,000 may be requested – any proposals requesting over $10,000 will be disqualified.
• Supplementary Documentation may be required:
• If human or animal subjects are used, an in-house animal subjects committee must evaluate the work, and an approval from the committee must be included in the application.  If approval is pending at the time of application, documentation of approval must be provided to the Fellowships Committee before an award will be made.
• Research involving field collections must show evidence of the proper collecting permits.  If approval is pending at the time of application, documentation of approval must be provided to the Fellowships Committee before an award will be made.
• Research involving cooperation with scientists from other sites/laboratories must include evidence of this collaboration (i.e. a letter from the host scientist).
• If for any reason the recipient is unable to initiate or complete the project, unexpended funds shall be returned to SDE/GWIS.
• At the end of the Fellowship, a one-page progress report, plus the annual expense report must be sent to SDE/GWIS Past-President Dr. Jennifer Ingram.  The Fellowship winner’s supervisor must sign both documents, and Dr. Ingram must receive it by May 15th, 2012.  Any abstracts or reprints resulting from the proposed work must accompany the progress report.  Please send both documents to progressreports@gwis.org.  If the research extends beyond one year, submission of an annual progress report acceptable to the Fellowships Committee is required.
• Acknowledgement of support from an award is requested in pertinent publications, oral presentations and on the awardees’ curriculum vitae.

Application Instructions

The entire application (see application checklist) must be provided electronically as a SINGLE, COMPLETE .PDF by 11:59 pm, Eastern Standard Time on January 15, 2012.  The reviewing committee reserves the right to reject any application not electronically submitted by the deadline (including processing fee AND letters of recommendation), any application that does not meet requirements, or is incomplete.  These applications will be disqualified and will not be sent out for review.  Committee decisions are final.  The awards will be announced on or before July 1, 2012.

Note: You may only apply for one award in a given year.
SDE/GWIS Fellowships Coordinator:
Laurie B. Cook, Ph.D.
Biology Department, 217 Lennon Hall
The College at Brockport, State University of New York
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420
(585) 395-5757
Email: fellowshipsquestions@gwis.org

Frequently Asked Questions

Send questions to fellowshipsquestions@gwis.org

1. Are residents or citizens of countries other than the United States eligible for application for SDE/GWIS Fellowships?

Yes, all women scientists that are conducting research in the natural sciences regardless of nationality are eligible for application for any of the SDE/GWIS Fellowships. We simply require that all non-SDE/GWIS member applicants pay an application fee in US dollars at the time of application. If the applicant is a GWIS member, there is no application fee. (http://gwis.org/application.html) Application Payment Fee-click here

2. May the funds awarded by the SDE/GWIS Fellowships be used for research conducted outside of the United States or by a non-U.S. institution?

Yes, all funds awarded by SDE/GWIS Fellowships are made to the institution and the research should be conducted in locations proposed in the application, and any location is eligible for scientific research.

3. Does SDE/GWIS offer funding for travel to professional or scientific conferences?

No, the SDE/GWIS Fellowships may only be used to fund travel for field or collaborative research expenses. Travel for other purposes is an ineligible expense. SDE/GWIS no longer offers specific Fellowships for travel to professional conferences.

4. When will I be notified of the awards of the SDE/GWIS Fellowships?

Approval of recommendations of the awards winners is made annually during the June SDE/GWIS National meeting. Applicants for SDE/GWIS Fellowships can expect to be notified of their award status no later than July 1, 2012 following the SDE/GWIS National meeting.

5. When is the deadline for SDE/GWIS Fellowships applications?

The application deadline for all SDE/GWIS Fellowships applications is 11:59 pm, Eastern Standard Time, January 15, 2012.

6. May I use the funds from SDE/GWIS Fellowships retroactively?

No, the Fellowship Funds may not be used to reimburse research project expenses retroactively.

7. Are social science researchers eligible for SDE/GWIS Fellowships?

SDE/GWIS Fellowships are intended to provide supplemental funding to women scientists conducting research in the natural sciences. Fields of social science that use the scientific method are eligible to apply. To be eligible, your research must use the scientific method as described below:

            Scientific Method

1. Make Observations – Identify a Problem(s)/question(s)
2. Formulate a Hypothesis
3. Design an Experimental Protocol
4. Collect Data
5. Evaluate Data – Draw Conclusions

***Only hypothesis-driven research is eligible for SDE/GWIS Fellowships.

8. What are the requirements for SDE/GWIS Fellowships applications?

First, all applicants must be women scientists who have already completed a bachelor’s degree, and are conducting research in the natural sciences. Second, all applicants are encouraged to be SDE/GWIS members at the time of the application.  For those that are not members, there is a $50 application fee that must be paid in US dollars prior to submission of the application. All applications must be completed and received by the deadline along with the application fee if appropriate.  (Deadline: 11:59 pm, Eastern Standard Time, Jan. 15, 2012).

9. How many applications were received last year and how many awards were made?

For the 2010-2011 funding cycle, 202 complete applications were received. Ten fellowships were awarded for just under a total of $60,000.  To see a list of the Fellowships awardees, go to click here.

      10. Is SDE/GWIS membership a requirement for application to the GWIS Fellowships?

No. GWIS Fellowships applicants are not required to be SDE/GWIS members, but we encourage membership with no application fee for members. For non-members, the application fee is $50.  For information on SDE/GWIS membership, which includes both the national and local levels, see click here and for the payment of the Application fee, see http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=224101

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Awardees

2009-2010 SDE/GWIS Fellowship Awardees Overview

In 1935 Sigma Delta Epsilon-Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) established a Fellowship Fund that consisted up $2200 in cash and $500 in securities, plus the stated goal of 50 cents per chapter per member per year to begin to grow the fund. Activities like selling books, plants and baked goods brought in the money needed to expand the fund. By1941, the first $1500 fellowship was awarded and today, thanks to the bequests of numerous members, we are now able to award 10-14 fellowships, each from $1000 to $10,000 and since 1941, we have awarded over $500,000 to 350 young women studying in either applied or basic science!

Today we annually receive between 250-300 applications electronically through the National Website and then they are submitted to subject experts for review. Each application gets reviewed three times and points are determined for scientific merit and financial need. Winners (with the highest points) are then announced at our National meeting in June.

Adele Lewis Grant Fellowship (highest scoring)
$3500.00	Cyd Hamilton Cornell University 126 Plant Sciences Ithaca, NY, 14853 ceh233@cornell.edu Title: Fungal endophyte utilization on host plant drought mitigation in an important woody host

Hartley Corporation Fellowship (2nd highest scoring)
$2500.00	Colleen Gault Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Department of Primatology Deutscher Platz No 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany (unknown email address; old address: cgault@emory.edu) Title: Social Support and Stress in Female White-faced Capuchins

SDE Fellowship (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
	Courtney Coon University of South Florida 4202 E Fowler Avenue SCA 110 Tampa, Florida 33620 ccoon@mail.usf.edu Title: Are invasive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) released from their natural parasites?

Eloise Gerry Fellowship (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
$2500.00	Satsuki Takahashi 920 Bloom Walk Way SSC 504 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-0483 satsukit@usc.edu Title: Titanium Indiffused Lithium Niobate Waveguide Fabry-Perot Resonant Modulator
$2500.00	Nathalie Lefebvre Geology Department University of Otago 360 Leith Walk PO Box 56 Dunedin Otago 9016 New Zealand lefna448@student.otago.ac.nz Title: How do maar-diatreme volcanic eruptions excavate kilometers of rock?

Ethel K. Allen (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
$3000.00	Breda Zimkus Museum of Comparative Zoology 26 Oxford Street Harvard University Cambridge, MA, 02138 bzimkus@oeb.harvard.edu Title: Evolutionary patterns and processes leading to diversification of sub-Saharan vertebrates: molecular systematics and biogeography of rocket frogs (Anura: Ptychadenidae)

Vessa Notchev Fellowship (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
$3000.00	Tanya Cheeke Portland State University Department of Biology SB2 Room 246 1719 SW 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97201 cheeket@pdx.edu Title: Effects of genetically modified Bt maize on symbiotic fungi in the soil ecosystem

Nell I. Mondy Fellowships (food science and nutrition)
$4333.00	Ashley Linton Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523 ashley.linton@colostate.edu Title: Intestinal macroparasite and mercury (Hg): the chemical ecology within the alimentary tract of piscivore host
$4333.00	Rachael Bryan UNC Chapel Hill 135 Dauer Drive Michael Hooker Research Building Room 2213 Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599 rpbryan@email.unc.edu Title: The Role of TOA in the Regulation of Hepatic Gluconeogenesis
$4333.00	Xinyin Jiang Nutritional Sciences 210 Savage Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 xj37@cornell.edu Title: Effects of varied maternal choline intake on placental gen

2008-2009 SDE/GWIS Fellowships Awardees
Adele Lewis Grant Fellowship (highest scoring)
	$3000.00 Jane Turner Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research University of Colorado                                                                                         Campus Box 450 Boulder, CO 80309-0450 jane.turner@colorado.edu Title: Biogeochemical controls on nitrate uptake in an Alpine lake
Hartley Corporation Fellowship (2nd highest scoring)
	$3000.00 Kristen Alexander Department of Physics and Astronomy University of North Carolina B04 Chapman Hall Chapel Hill, NC 27599 krisalex@physics.unc.edu Title: Nanoparticle array antennas for single molecule sensors
SDE Fellowships (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
	$4000.00 Julie Rushmore Odum School of Ecology 140 E. Green St. University of Georgia Athens, GA 30605 Rushmore@uga.edu Title: Behavioral determinants of pathogen transmission in wild African apes
Eloise Gerry Fellowships (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
	$3000.00 Carolyn Freiwald Department of Anthropology 1180 Observatory Drive University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706-1393 crfreiwa@wisc.edu Title: Classic Maya mobility: Population movement and migration in the upper Belize River valley and the Maya lowlands
	$3000.00 Ye Kang Ko Center for Global Metropolitan Studies 412 Wurster Hall #1839 University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA, 94720-1839 yekangko@berkeley.edu Title: Off the grid 2050: Sustainable urban form assessment model integrating solar energy potential
Ethel K. Allen (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
	$3000.00 Veronica Brown Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 569 Dabney Hall University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN  37996 vabrown@utk.edu Title: The impact of bats on insect crop pests over organic pecan orchards
Vessa Notchev Fellowship (natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics)
	$3000.00 Sara Ruane Department of Biology 6S-143 2800 Victory Blvd. City University of New York Graduate Center/College of Staten Island Staten Island, NY 10314 sruane@gc.cuny.edu Title: Phylogeography of Lampropeltis triangulum
Nell I. Mondy Fellowships (food science and nutrition)
	$8333.00 Stephanie Miller Department of Zoology 203 Natural Science Building Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824 mill1571@msu.edu Title: Connecting environmental change to the emergence of a tropical infectious disease: steps towards linking Buruli ulcer to inorganic nutrient loading
	$8333.00 Shirin Hooshmand Florida State University Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Science 442 Sandels Building Florida State University Tallahassee, FL, 32306-1493 sh06c@fsu.edu Title: To elucidate the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis
	$8333.00 Mandeep K. Virk G005 Volker Hall University Blvd. University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL 35294 Mandeep@uab.edu Title: Equol producing status and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal Caucasian women

Application Checklist

SDE/GWIS Fellowships Checklist

The entire application (except letters of recommendation) must be submitted electronically as a SINGLE, COMPLETE document to fellowshipsapplications@gwis.orgwith “SDE/GWIS Fellowship Application” and applicant’s name in the subject line no later than 11:59 pm, Eastern Standard Time on January 15, 2012.  Please name the .pdf application file as lastname_firstinitialapp.pdf (for example: smith_kapp.pdf). Also, please tell your reviewers to name their .pdf file in a similar fashion, with ‘rec’ instead of ‘app’ at the end (for example: smith_krec.pdf).  All names for application recommendations should adhere to this file naming procedure or the application will be rejected!

Checklist here.

2011-2012 Application Form
Download and fill out the application form (.doc - Microsoft Word):

SDE/GWIS Fellowships Coordinator:

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