RC4 Undergraduate Travel Award
Deadline: October 17
Purpose:
To provide undergraduate student(s) a travel grant that enables them to attend the SOT Annual Meeting and present a poster of a toxicology-related project. This award is funded by the Regional Chapter Communication and Collaboration Committee (RC4).
Eligibility:
All applicants must:
- • Be a current member or have applied for membership to an SOT Regional Chapter
- • Have a high school diploma and be enrolled in an undergraduate program at the time of travel to the SOT Annual Meeting (March 2023)
- • Have completed research in the laboratory of a mentor who is a member of an SOT Regional Chapter
Award recipient(s) must:
- • Have an abstract accepted for the 2023 SOT Annual Meeting (applicants for this award will receive early review since this deadline is prior to the SOT Abstract deadline.)
- • Attend the 2023 SOT Annual Meeting, present a poster of their project at the meeting (if accepted by the Scientific Program Committee for presentation), and provide the RC4 with an evaluation of the value of the award to the recipient’s experience at the meeting.
Application Packet:
Each application will include the following:
• A project abstract
- Abstract should be the same or a near-final draft of the abstract submitted for presentation at the SOT Annual Meeting and should include hypothesis studied, brief methods of study, findings, and conclusion.
- Abstract should follow SOT guidelines for submitting an abstract.
• A personal statement (not to exceed one page)
- Statement should clearly state: (1) student’s academic accomplishments to date, (2) career interest in toxicology, (3) the impact they hope to have on toxicology, (4) how this award will allow student to attend the SOT Annual Meeting, and (5) how participating in the project and attending the SOT Annual Meeting has/will benefit the student’s career goals.
- Any applications that do not include this information in the personal statement section will automatically receive the minimum score for this portion of the scoring matrix.
•A letter of support from the mentor
- Letter should include mentor’s assessment of: (1) the student’s contributions to the project that resulted in the submitted abstract, including the student’s participation in research activities and abstract preparation, (2) the student as a researcher, and (3) the student’s potential in the field.
• A letter from the Regional Chapter (RC) —
submitted by RC on applicant’s behalf for each RC’s chosen candidate
- Assessment of student’s engagement in RC activities and the potential of the student in the field (based on RC interactions)
- Regional Chapter Officers: please complete and submit the Regional Chapter Recommendation Form.
Review Process:
All applicants’ submissions will be reviewed by their Regional Chapter and one selected candidate from each region will be selected to be scored by the RC4 Award Committee (RC4 chair, co-chair, and 3 other committee members). The committee will not review applications from sources other than Regional Chapter leadership.
The selection criteria will include:
- • Quality of abstract (hypothesis, methods, toxicological relevance, novelty of research): 15 pts
- • Personal statement: 10 pts
- • Mentor letter: 15 pts
- • Regional Chapter letter: 10 pts
Up to three award recipients will be chosen to receive an $1100 award to cover travel costs for the SOT 2023 Annual Meeting. Award recipients are ineligible to receive other undergraduate awards provided by the Faculty United for Toxicology Undergraduate Recruitment and Education (FUTURE) Committee or the Committee for Diversity Initiatives (CDI).
Deadlines:
10/01/2022: Submission of RC4 Application to Regional Chapter (suggested)
10/17/2022: Student Submission of Abstract to SOT Annual Meeting, Regional Chapter to submit their one finalist to the RC4 Committee
December 2022/January 2023: Notification of award decision to applicant and applicant’s Regional Chapter
April 2023: Evaluation of the award and meeting experience due from recipients to RC4 Award Committee
Award Group: SOT
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