To be eligible, the applicant must be enrolled as a graduate student, or engaged in post-doctoral or early-stage junior faculty academic research, and demonstrate financial need for continuation or completion of their research. Membership in SDE/GWIS is not required for application for the GWIS Fellowships. More information regarding membership in SDE/GWIS may be found here: membership info
The major component of the research can be either applied or basic. Exact Fellowships amounts will be determined by the SDE/GWIS Fellowships Committee and will range from $5000 to $10,000. All awards will be available for the academic year and will be announced on or before July 1 of each year. Endowment funds, mostly generated from bequests, provide the annual income that supports scientific research done by SDE/GWIS Award winners. For the 2006-2007 funding cycle we awarded a total of $31,000 in the following manner:
SDE Fellowships: Three awards for a total of $10,489
Eloise Gerry Fellowships: Four awards for a total of $14,494
Vessa Notchev Fellowships: Four awards for a total of $14,494
Nell I. Mondy Fellowship: One Award of $3,000
Guidelines
application • questions? (fellowshipsquestions@gwis.org)
Purposes
1. To increase knowledge in the fundamental sciences.
2. To encourage research careers in the sciences by women.
Designation of the Awards
1) 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/SDE Fellowships winner. All other winners shall be known as fellowship winners in accordance with the overall fund supporting the award.
2) Awards will be announced on or before July 1 of each year.
Qualifications of Candidate
1) 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. Postdoctoral fellows can expect to be evaluated more rigorously than student applicants.
2) Awards will be made irrespective of race, religion, nationality, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, or age. Membership in SDE/GWIS is not required for application for the GWIS Fellowships.
3) Awards will be made irrespective of race, religion, nationality, creed, national origin, sexual orientation, or age.
4) Awards will be made as follows:
• For the SDE, Eloise Gerry, and Vessa Notchev Fellowships, awards are for research in all the natural sciences, including: physical, environmental, mathematical, computer, life sciences, anthropology, psychology and statistics.
• For the Nell I. Mondy Fellowships, awards are for research in the same areas as for the other Fellowships, with preference given to applications in the areas of food science, nutrition, and toxicology. The winner of the Nell I. Mondy Fellowship must be a member of SDE/GWIS.
Terms of the Award
1) 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.
2) The period of the award shall be one academic year (July 1st to June 30th). Recipients are not eligible for subsequent awards from the same fund, though they may apply for a different award.
3) 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 the SDE/GWIS Bulletin Editor as soon as the awards are announced. This will be used for publication purposes in the national SDE/GWIS annual Bulletin.
4) The recipient of an 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.
5) 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, administrative overhead or indirect costs, personal computers, living allowances, or equipment of general use. A maximum of $10,000 may be requested.
6) If for any reason the recipient is unable to initiate or complete the project, unexpended funds shall be returned to SDE/GWIS.
7) Acknowledgment of support from an award is requested in pertinent publications, oral presentations, and on the awardees’ curriculum vitae.
8) 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.
9) 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.
10) Research involving cooperation with scientists from other sites/laboratories must include evidence of this collaboration (i.e., a letter from the host scientist).
11) If the research extends beyond one year, submission of an annual progress report acceptable to the Fellowships Committee is required.
12) Membership in SDE/GWIS is not required for Fellowships applications. See (link) for more information on SDE/GWIS membership.
13) An application processing fee of US $20 is required at the time of application. The application fee is required to offset costs associated with application review.
14) At the end of the fellowship, a one-page progress report must be sent to SDE/GWIS Past-President Paddy Wiesenfeld. This progress report must be signed by the Fellowships winner’s supervisor, and Dr. Wiesenfeld must receive it by May 15. Any abstracts or reprints resulting from the proposed work must accompany the progress report. Please send progress reports to progressreports@gwis.org.
The entire application (see application checklist) must be provided electronically as a SINGLE, COMPLETE PDF by 4pm applicant’s time on January 15. The reviewing committee reserves the right to reject any application not electronically submitted by the deadline, any application that does not meet requirements, or is incomplete. Committee decisions are final. The awards will be announced on or before July 1.
Note: You may only apply for one award in a given year.
>> Checklist for all fellowships
>> Application Form for all fellowships
SDE/GWIS Fellowships Coordinator:
Dr. Jennifer Ingram
Dept. of Medicine
Duke University
Box 2641
275 MSRB, Research Drive
Durham, NC 27710
(919) 668-1439
email: fellowshipsquestions@gwis.org
QuestionsPlease direct questions to:
Fellowships Coordinator
Jennifer Ingram
fellowshipsquestions@gwis.org
Or visit our Frequently Asked
Questions page.
