CBS Undergraduate Research Travel Award

The CBS Undergraduate Research Travel Award is meant to support travel costs for individual students who are participating in a research conference as part of their University of Minnesota research lab experience.


Award Overview

CBS Undergraduate Research Travel Awards are available to undergraduate students to cover travel expenses to present at a scientific conference. Travel expenses include airfare, personal or rental car, taxi fare, etc. If travel is shared for a rental car / mileage with another lab member, those costs are not eligible for funding. The award does not cover any additional expenses, such as conference registration, lodging, or food.

To qualify for a travel award, the applicant must be a current CBS student who is working under the direction of a University of Minnesota faculty member in a research lab. The maximum award is $500 and will be issued as a reimbursement after the student has attended the conference. Priority is given to individual students who are not receiving funding from other sources. The intent of these funds is to support student travel to the conferences of professional scientific organizations. CBS Travel Award cannot be used to fund travel to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Guidelines for Award Eligibility​
  1. College of Biological Sciences undergraduate students who are participating in an independent research project at the University of Minnesota with a lab group supervised by a University of Minnesota faculty member.

  2. CBS undergraduate students must have a minimum cumulative 2.5 GPA to be eligible for the award. Applicants must be degree-seeking students and registered for at least 13 undergraduate credits in the semester that they will attend the research conference. Eligibility for college financial aid is not required in order to receive this award.

  3. The student must be presenting her or his research at the conference as a poster, an oral presentation, or other appropriate format for the specific conference.

  4. Students who have previously received the CBS Undergraduate Research Travel Award are not eligible to apply.

  5. Students are not eligible if travel is to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

  6. Applications submitted after the completion of the conference will not be considered.

  7. The student or the lab will be reimbursed for the travel expenses incurred by the undergraduate attending the conference. The reimbursement will not exceed $500.

Deadline for application
  • Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.
  • Applications need to be completed prior to the student attending the conference.
  • Applications will not be considered if the student has already attended the conference.
Steps To Apply
  1. Submit an Application. This application requires you to submit an abstract of the research you will be presenting, as well as an estimate of travel expenses.

  2. Send Letter of Recommendation. A letter of recommendation from the principal investigator/advisor must be submitted with the travel award application. The letter of recommendation should be emailed to cbsrsrch@umn.edu directly from the faculty member. The letter should address the scientific merit of the undergraduate's work, how the meeting attendance will benefit the undergraduate, and the undergraduate's need for financial assistance to attend the meeting.

Notification

Students and Principal Investigators will be notified of the application status via email within four weeks of receiving the completed application. Questions should be directed to cbsrsrch@umn.edu.