Student Funding for Professional Conferences
Each year, the School of Information Sciences (The iSchool) is able to provide a limited amount of funding to support student attendance at professional and academic conferences. Students' expenses are partially underwritten by the iSchool. No student will receive funding to cover all expenses. All graduate students are eligible for this funding one time per fiscal year (for example: July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015). Therefore, please consider your applications carefully, and prioritize your requests.
Funding for a given year is limited; it is granted on a competitive basis.
Please take the following steps in order to be considered for this funding.
1. You may apply for funding on this schedule:
If conference occurs between: |
You may apply between: |
You will be notified between: |
Jul 1 - Aug 31 |
May 1 - Jun 1 |
May 15 – Jul 1 |
Sep 1 - Oct 31 |
Jul 1 - Aug 1 |
Jul 15 – Sep 1 |
Nov 1 - Dec 31 |
Sep 1 - Oct 1 |
Sep 15 – Nov 1 |
Jan 1 - Feb 29 |
Nov 1 - Dec 1 |
Nov 15 – Jan 1 |
Mar 1 - Apr 30 |
Jan 1 - Feb 1 |
Jan 15 – Mar 1 |
May 1 - Jun 30 |
Mar 1 - Apr 1 |
Mar 15 –May 1 |
2. Submit an application form by these deadlines.
3. Provide proof of either holding membership in the association which is hosting the conference or that you have a paper/poster accepted for presentation at the conference.
4. Ask your advisor to send an e-mail to stravel@pitt.edu, endorsing your application for funding.
Priority is given to students who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Are invited to participate in a conference (e.g. present a paper or poster, serve as a speaker, moderator, panelist, etc.);
- Hold committee assignments within the association;
- Hold “Active Student Status” at the time of application
- Have maintained a high GPA;
- Are active members of student, local, regional, or national professional organizations (e.g. SISGO; Doctoral Guild; Diversity Student Organization; or the student chapters of related professional or academic organizations).
If funding is granted, the students must do the following in order to receive the award:
- Abide by the Travel Award Guidelines and the University's expense reimbursement policies -- The University has very stringent policies about reimbursement for travel expenses; information regarding your reimbursement will be emailed before the conference. Awardees are expected to respond to any email requests in a timely manner.
- Complete an online "Summary of travel survey" upon your return (this will be e-mailed by Student Services to awardees). Student responses to the "Summary of travel survey" can and will be used in recruitment and marketing materials.
- Present original receipts for expenses, including proof of travel.
Additional funding opportunities for graduate student conference travel
- may be combined with the iSchool Student Travel Award
For PhD students - your advisor may petition the Dean's Office for supplemental conference funding if you are presenting research and/or representing the School of Information Sciences in a significant way. All petitions for supplemental conference funding should be directed to Sandra Brandon.
For all students - Graduate and Professional Student Government
MER, Cohasset Associates Scholarship (selected by lead Archives and Information Science faculty)