Student Opportunity: Vembu Subramanian Ocean Scholars Award

About the Opportunity

SECOORA is continuing Vembu’s legacy by sponsoring the annual Ocean Scholars Award. SECOORA will support 2-3 recipients to participate in an in-person regional or national meeting or conference. The maximum individual award value is $1,500 to cover travel and conference/meeting costs within the United States. We anticipate supporting at least one applicant in each funding category. Proposals are due Monday, October 28, 5:00 PM ET.

Eligibility

Applicants that reside within the SECOORA region (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) and who meet the following criteria are eligible to apply:

• Category 1: Undergraduate Students – Students currently enrolled at a university, college or community college located within the SECOORA region.
• Category 2: Graduate Students or Early Career Professionals – Graduate students who attend an academic institution OR early career professionals who have graduated within the past five years and are pursuing a career in the marine field in the SECOORA region.

SECOORA is committed to building inclusive research, extension, communication, and education programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives, and ways of thinking. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply for this competitive opportunity.

Request for Applications/Proposals

Proposals must follow the required format and be relevant to a SECOORA focus area.  The conference/meeting must be held within one year of the award start date.

Maximum page length is four pages (does not include appendices). Text should be 12-point font, one-inch margins, and must include the following components:

•   Title Page
  • Proposal title
  • Applicant’s name and complete contact information (email, phone number,  mailing address)
  • Indication of Category 1 or Category 2 status
  • Advisor name and contact information (i.e., professor supervising work)
  • Proposal summary (one paragraph)
• Description of the purpose of attending the meeting or conference
  • Category 1 (undergraduate students)
    • Description of career goals and research interests (relevant to the conference you wish to attend)
    • Identification of the SECOORA focus area that is relevant to your goals/interests
  • Category 2 (graduate students and early career professionals): Description of research to be presented at the meeting or conference
    • Statement of the issue being addressed in your research
    • Project description including research goals, objectives, and location of research sites. At least a portion of the research must be conducted within the SECOORA region.
    • Identification of SECOORA focus area addressed and how the project supports a user/stakeholder need.
•   Description of the conference you wish to attend
  • Identify the in-person conference you plan to attend, including a web address for the conference and the conference dates.
    • Category 1 (undergraduate students): Describe why attending this conference would be impactful to your career path and/or research interests.
    • Category 2 (graduate students and early career professionals): Describe the reasoning for presenting your work at the selected conference, and indicate whether your presentation will be an oral presentation or a poster session. 
  • NOTE: The conference must be held within the United States. We will not award funding for international travel.
• Provide a budget and budget justification
  • Funds may be used for any purpose related to conference attendance and travel. The budget should include items such as conference registration fees, transportation costs (e.g., airfare, mileage), lodging rate, per diem, etc. 
  • Please note, university overhead charges are not permitted, nor is any support for the faculty sponsor. Matching funds and in-kind support are not required.

The following are proposal appendices that do NOT count toward the four-page limit:

• Literature cited
• Applicants must include a one-page curriculum vitae (CV) or resume
• For undergraduate and graduate students, a signed letter of support from their major professor, transcript, and a completed SECOORA endorsement form by the College/University sponsored programs office is required.
• For the early career applicants, a signed letter of support from their mentor or supervisor is required.

Submission

Please submit the entire application package electronically in PDF format through egrants.secoora.org. The submission deadline is 5:00 PM ET, October 28, 2024. You must complete the registration process in order to upload a proposal to egrants.secoora.org. This is a two-part verification system (phone and email confirmations are required). Once you have registered, please select the RFP to which you are applying, complete the required fields, and upload your proposal as a PDF.

Questions

For any questions related to this fellowship, please contact communications@secoora.org. Good-faith efforts will be made to answer as many questions as possible, but an answer is not guaranteed for every question.