In order to support graduate student research, the Dean's Office in the Division of Social Sciences has established a small fund to help graduate students with professional travel. The Dean's funds are available to all graduate students in good standing within the division. Awards will cover, at most, only the equivalent of coach airfare. Funds may be awarded retroactively for travel from July 2011, but all travel must be completed by October 2012. No one may receive more than one award in any academic year.
Awards may be given for presenting research papers or posters at meetings organized by professional societies, universities, institutes, or other academic organizations. Higher priority is normally given to advanced Ph.D. students presenting papers at high visibility or major professional conferences. Students attending conferences but not presenting papers or posters are not eligible to apply.
Awards are also available for field research at the pre-dissertation and dissertation stages. Higher priority is given to applicants for preliminary field research necessary to prepare proposals for extramural funding, who have applied for extramural funding, or who have been awarded extramural funding but need a final follow-up trip to complete the research.
The application deadline has been extended to February 6th at 12:00 PM. All applications require either the abstract of the paper to be presented at the conference or a one-page description of the field research, a quote for the lowest available airfare, IRB application or approval (if applicable), and a letter of recommendation from a faculty advisor.
Decisions will be announced by mid March of 2012. If you have questions not addressed on the online application page or the FAQ page, please contact ssdean@ucsd.edu or call (858) 534-6073.
Reimbursements will be processed through your home department. In the case of conference travel, proof of your paper's acceptance for presentation must be submitted. In all cases, documentation of your actual expense incurred (e.g., e-ticket or credit card bill) should be provided to your department's fiscal manager.