Career Development Speakers Travel Grant

The APS Committee on Careers and Professional Development is pleased to sponsor a Career Development Speaker Travel Grant. This grant will reimburse travel expenses for one of two speakers giving presentations at colleges or universities on topics concerning careers in physics. The purpose is to provide assistance to physics departments that are trying to increase the career development activities and career awareness of students seeking undergraduate and graduate physics degrees.

Grant Scope

The Committee on Careers and Professional Development (CCPD) will provide up to four travel reimbursement grants per year to assist in bringing professionals holding degrees in physics to campus to give presentations on topics concerning careers in physics and career development. The maximum travel reimbursement is $600. The grant will reimburse a physics department at a US college or university for the travel expenses associated with bringing one of two speakers invited within an academic year.

Qualifications & Eligibility

All colleges and universities in the United States which grant undergraduate or graduate physics degrees are encouraged to apply. In order to qualify for the travel reimbursement grant, two speakers must be invited to campus to speak on physics career related issues. Travel reimbursement will cover one speaker only. Speakers must hold an undergraduate or graduate degree in physics. Speakers may be from any field, profession, or career level, but preference will be given to speakers who are not associated with teaching or doing research in a university environment. Neither of the speakers may be employed by the host institution. The CCPD reserves the right to disqualify an application for any reason. The CCPD may ask permission to place electronic copies of the presentations on the APS web site.

Guidelines

• Institutions must apply for the travel grants before the presentation is given.
  
  
• Reimbursement is for travel and lodging expenses only. Honoraria, meals or extraneous expenses at the colloquium itself, such as refreshments, will not be reimbursed.
  
  
• After the institution is notified of the award of a travel grant, reimbursement will be given only after both of the talks have taken place and the institution has submitted the follow-up materials, namely an electronic copy of the presentation material and a brief description of the department career activities, as outlined in the Application Procedure.
  
  
• The CCPD will review applications within one month of receiving all of the application materials.

Application Procedure – Rolling Submissions Accepted - First Funded Talks in Fall 2008

• Choose two speakers, obtain the topic of their presentation, and confirm that they will speak at your institution.
  
  
• Complete and submit the application on the APS web site. Note that this will include a title of the talk and an abstract or brief description of the career development need that is being addressed by both of the speakers. An abbreviated CV of the speaker is also requested as part of the application process.
  
  
• Institutions whose applications have been approved will receive a Travel and Expense Report Form to submit for reimbursement.
  
  
• After both of the speakers have visited the institution, the preparer of the Travel Grant Application should fill out and submit the Travel and Expense Report Form along with original receipts or copies of the receipts (and an explanation as to why original receipts are not available) to the postal address below. In addition, an electronic copy of the presentation materials (such as Power Point slides) must be submitted, an account of how many undergraduate and graduate students that attended the talk (and the total number of undergraduate and graduate physics majors in the department), as well as a brief (1 page) description of other on-going or planned career development activities in the department.
  
  We collect this information because we wish to remain informed about what departments are doing, what the perceived needs are, and what people are interested in seeing from speakers. An electronic copy of the presentation is only required from the speaker that is to be funded, although the CCPD will gladly accept presentations from both speakers. The CCPD may request permission to make the presentations available on the APS web site.  The presentation will be posted as a PDF document.
  

Further Information

For further information, please contact us:

Career Development Speaker Travel Grant
Committee on Careers and Professional Development (CCPD)
Arlene Modeste Knowles
Outreach Programs Administrator
American Physical Society
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740-3844

Email: travelgrant@aps.org
Tel:(301) 209-3232
Fax:(301) 209-0865