Awards

Application Instructions

Project Requirements: The research must advance our knowledge of plants that occur in the New England flora. Studies with research taking place primarily at New England study sites and/or using plant material from New England populations or herbaria will be favored. Projects that include opportunities for mentoring undergraduate or graduate students will also be viewed favorably. Notably, while the project proposed might represent the first stage of longer-term efforts in a study system, the proposed work should result in a complete project, experiment, or study within one year of the award.

Types of Expenses Eligible for Support: Costs associated with conducting field, lab, greenhouse, and/or herbarium-based research are eligible for funding. Travel and lodging expenses associated with the research are also eligible, as are supplies and equipment associated with the proposed work. Modest stipends to support student involvement in projects will also be considered.

Eligibility: The Junior Faculty Award is open to early career faculty members within the first five years of their employment at the college or university where they are based in the New England region. Applicants should have completed graduate training (typically Ph.D.) in a plant-related field of biology and have a record of academic achievement (e.g., peer-reviewed publication).

Amount of Award: Applicants may request up to $5,000, but a full budget for a project must be included. If total costs exceed $5,000, indicate other sources of funding available to or being sought by the applicant to ensure project launch and feasibility in the coming year.

How to Apply: Please submit a proposal describing the research to be conducted, which includes:

• Title page with proposal title, applicant’s name, academic address, phone, and e-mail address.
• Body of the proposal of no more than three pages text (For a proposal to be successful, the topic and research questions must be clearly described, the methods justified, and the results achievable within defined time limits.)
• List of literature citations relevant to the project
• Itemized budget, including brief justification for each item
• Timeline for completion of the proposed work (typically 1 year, although research hinging on growing season access to study sites or focal species will be considered for ~1.5 year timeline over two summers)
• Deliverables including plans for disseminating results more broadly
• Curriculum vitae

The application period opens on December 1 and closes on February 1. Applicants will be notified as to the success of their proposals by March 1.

Upon accepting the award, recipients are required to submit an abstract describing the planned research in MS Word format for posting on the NEBS website. A final report, including an updated abstract, is required at the completion of the project on the date specified in the award letter.

Please submit your complete proposal via email to the Junior Faculty Award committee at: JuniorFacultyAward@rhodora.org. The complete application should be sent as an email attachment, preferably in PDF format.

If you have questions regarding eligibility, budget, and scope, please email JuniorFacultyAward@rhodora.org.

PLEASE NOTE: Winners of awards amounting to $600 or more will be required to submit IRS Form W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number (provided by our treasurer) before award checks will be issued. In these cases a Form 1099 will be issued the following January to the recipient reporting the amount as an award (as required by law). Awards will ONLY be paid to the award recipients and NOT to any third party (such as colleges, universities, research institutions, employers, family members, etc.). For winners who are not United States residents, nonrefundable tax withholding of 30% will generally apply unless reduced or exempted by tax treaty.

Application Instructions PDF

Application Instructions

Project Requirements: The research must advance our knowledge of plants that occur in northeastern North America, especially the New England region. Work of a broader scope that is pertinent to New England will also be considered. For purposes of the award, “plants” include vascular plants, nonvascular plants, algae, fungi, and lichens.

Types of Expenses Eligible for Support: Field, herbarium, library, and lab work are eligible for funding. Travel and living expenses associated with the research are eligible, as are supplies and equipment associated with field or lab work. Moderate stipends to help cover time spent on projects will be considered.

Eligibility: The award is open to anyone with background and experience sufficient to accomplish the proposed work. A central theme of the award is to encourage researchers to pursue lines of inquiry that might not otherwise be undertaken. Thus, awards may not be used to augment budgets of established research projects. Projects for which funding is difficult to secure from traditional sources are favored. Graduate students are eligible for projects outside the scope of their primary research (or prior to deciding on a project); more advanced graduate students are encouraged to apply for the NEBS Graduate Student Research Award. Advanced undergraduates are also eligible with a letter of support from their faculty advisor.

Amount of Award: Applicants may request up to $2,000 in an itemized and justified budget.

How to Apply: Please submit a proposal describing the research to be conducted, which includes:

• Title page with proposal title, applicant’s name, address, phone, and e-mail address
• Body of the proposal of no more than three pages (For a proposal to be successful, the topic must be clearly described, the methods justified, and the results achievable within defined time limits)
• Timeline for completion of the project
• Deliverables including progress reports, if applicable, and plans for disseminating results
• List of literature citations relevant to the project
• Itemized budget, including brief justification for each item
• Curriculum vitae or equivalent statement establishing the applicant’s background and qualifications relative to the proposed project. For collaborative efforts, please include names, contact information and synopses of qualifications for all who will contribute to the project.

The application period opens on December 1 and closes on February 1. Applicants will be notified as to the success of their proposals by March 1. Recipients of funds are required to submit a short Final Report of the project outcome (in MS Word format) for posting on the NEBS website by December 1 in the year of the award.

Please submit your complete proposal via email to the Mehrhoff Award Committee: Mehrhoff@Rhodora.org. The complete application should be sent as an email attachment, preferably in PDF format.

If you have questions regarding eligibility, budget, and scope, please email the Mehrhoff Award Committee at Mehrhoff@Rhodora.org.

PLEASE NOTE: Winners of awards amounting to $600 or more will be required to submit IRS Form W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number (provided by our treasurer) before award checks will be issued. In these cases, a Form 1099 will be issued the following January to the recipient reporting the amount as an award (as required by law). Awards will ONLY be paid to the award recipients and NOT to any third party (such as colleges, universities, research institutions, employers, family members, etc.). For winners who are not United States residents, nonrefundable tax withholding of 30% will generally apply unless reduced or exempted by tax treaty.

Application Instructions PDF

Application Instructions

The application period opens on December 1 and closes on February 1. Applicants will be notified as to the success of their proposals by March 1.

Students may submit their portion of the application (Part A) by emailing to the Committee Chair OR through this Google Form.

Letters of reference and support from the applicant’s sponsors (Part B) must be sent separately and directly to the Graduate Student Research Awards Committee Chair, preferably as a PDF. Letters must be signed and should be on official letterhead.

Part A – May be emailed as individual PDFs in a single email OR submitted as PDFs via Google Form.

• Cover Sheet listing the applicant’s Name, Email, Institution, City, State, Title of the Research Proposal, and the names and email addresses of the two reference letter writers. (Note: On the Google Form these are short answer questions and not a PDF.)
• Proposal of no more than 3 double-spaced pages, written in a scientific format and with a clear hypothesis or research question. Include the Literature Cited with the proposal, but Literature Cited is not included in the 3-page count.
• Budget with brief justification, on a single page. Requests up to $3000 will be considered. In your budget, please describe what funding and support you currently have for the proposed research. This information may be used to address whether there are sufficient funds to complete the proposed research, and it may also be used to assess financial need. The NEBS acknowledges that some research project proposals include non-traditional and/or intellectually higher-risk methodologies and/or ideas that may be challenging to obtain support for from other funding sources.
• Permits & Permissions: Proposed list of field sites and evidence of permissions or permits received or pending. If appropriate, please fill out this form.
• Curriculum vitae (CV)

Part B – Two reference letters in support of the proposed research. These reference letters should be sent via email directly by the writers to the Graduate Student Research Awards Committee Chair.

Electronic submission to the GSRA Committee Chair is required.

Dr. Caitlin McDonough MacKenzie

Email: GSRA@rhodora.org

If you have questions regarding eligibility, budget, and scope, please email the Committee Chair at GSRA@rhodora.org

PLEASE NOTE: Winners of awards amounting to $600 or more will be required to submit IRS Form W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number (provided by our treasurer) before award checks will be issued. In these cases, a Form 1099 will be issued the following January to the recipient reporting the amount as an award (as required by law). Awards will ONLY be paid to the award recipients and NOT to any third party (such as colleges, universities, research institutions, employers, family members, etc.). For winners who are not United States residents, nonrefundable tax withholding of 30% will generally apply unless reduced or exempted by tax treaty.

Application Instructions PDF