MCSD Student Travel Award Programs

The MCS Division Student Travel Award program supports undergraduate and graduate students in their research endeavors by providing funds to attend the Midwinter or annual AEJMC conferences. Midwinter travel in the amount of $500 is awarded to two graduate students. AEJMC annual conference travel awards of $1,000 each are awarded to four graduate students. These grants are intended to offset a portion of the travel costs associated with each conference.

Applicants must be undergraduate or graduate student members of MCSD who are presenting research in the MCS Division and are enrolled as full-time students. Preference will be given to doctoral students, with additional priority afforded to those serving as first authors on their submitted research.

Winners of the Midwinter Graduate Travel Awards will be chosen by the MCSD Division Head, the Midwinter Committee and the Awards Committee. Winners of the AEJMC Graduate Travel Awards will be chosen by the MCSD Vice Head-Elect and Awards Committee.

Submission Details:

Submit the following information electronically as ONE PDF and include the applicant’s name in the title of the file. Include the following information in your submission packet in the order listed below:

  • A letter of application from the student applicant (no more than two pages) that includes the following information:
    • A narrative about how the travel funding would help your research agenda
    • Your anticipated graduation date
    • Your GPA
    • Details related to whether you are presenting a poster or making an oral presentation (if unknown, please state as such)
    • The amount of travel support provided by any other party (department, school, major professor, etc.).
  • A copy of the abstract of the work being presented, with the list of authors, in order of contribution, included
  • Letter of recommendation from your faculty adviser
  • Current curriculum vitae of applicant (no more than 5 pages)

Submission Guidelines: All materials should be emailed in PDF format to the Awards Chair by 11:59 p.m. (EDT) by the date listed below. 

Midwinter Conference: January 30th

AEJMC Annual Conference: May 30th

Award: $500 for the Midwinter Conference; $1,000 for the AEJMC Annual Conference

Disbursement of Funds: Notification of the award status will be made within 2-3 weeks after the deadline. The award is contingent upon the applicant's attendance and presentation at the midwinter/annual national conference. Students must provide travel item confirmation (e.g., paid airfare, hotel, car mileage, ground transportation fees, conference registration fees, etc.) prior to or after the conference they attended to receive the travel grant funds. 

› Past Grant Winners
  • 2026: Md. Ragib Rahman, Missouri State University
  • 2025: No winners selected. 
  • 2024: No winners selected. 
  • 2022: Tania Nachrin, University of Louisiana at Lafayette; Ali Zain, University of South Carolina
  • 2021: Online conference. No winner.
  • 2020: Online conference. No winner.
  • 2019: Joshua A. Dunn, Texas Tech University; Nadia Alhashimi, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
  • 2018: Jiawei Liu, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 2017: Jiyoung Lee, Syracuse University
  • 2016: Jordan Morehouse, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill