How to Start a New Student Travel Award Fund

Student Travel Award Funds

Student travel funds in the APS Foundation are established by either friends or relatives of a specific person, or sometimes by the person themselves. The funds donated to the Foundation for this purpose are invested as an endowment fund and the interest is then used to actually fund the travel award. 

Guidelines to Establish a Student Travel Award Fund

• Notify APS Foundation Chair Ray Martyn (rmartyn@purdue.edu) or +1.315.787.2374) of your interest in establishing a fund. 
• Collect $2,500 for the fund to create an APS Foundation account.
• Complete the APS Foundation Student Travel Award Contract and return to APS Foundation, Attn: Kim Flanegan, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121 with the $2,500 initial fund contribution.
• Also send a copy of the contract along with a one-page biography and photo of the individual the award is being named for to Ray Martyn. Send electronically if possible (rmartyn@purdue.edu), but hard copy can be sent to Ray Martyn, Purdue University, Botany & Plant Pathology Dept, 915 W State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2054 USA.
• An acknowledgement of the receipt of these funds will be made to the donor by the APS Foundation. All such donations are tax deductible since the APS Foundation is a 501c3 organization.
• The receipt of $2,500 and the contract confirms a fund account with the APS Foundation, however a total of $10,000 needs to be in the account to fully establish the fund for a travel award to be given every year (currently $500 award).
• The fund coordinator may contact APS headquarters Michelle Bjerkness (mbjerkness@scisoc.org) for opportunities to encourage donations by the APS membership to this fund through the APS e-mail News Capsules or Phytopathology News.
• Upon reaching a total of $10,000 in the fund, the APS Foundation will publicize the establishment of the fund in the APS member newsletter Phytopathology News and include reference to the fund on all APS Foundation solicitation materials. The first travel award will be made at the first available APS Annual Meeting following the fund reaching $10,000.

Travel Awardee Process

The Foundation has a student travel award committee composed of students and other members of APS which solicits applications for travel awards every year, and they make a recommendation to the Foundation board of directors as to which students should actually receive the awards. The final decision rests with the board of directors. Student travel awards are made to qualified students, but if there is a preference to reward students in a specific area, then we try to honor this preference as best we can. 

At the annual APS meeting we recognize the student travel awardees. With their award, each student is provided with a biography of the person for whom their specific travel award is named. We also request that the student correspond with the honoree or the fund organizer to show their appreciation for receiving the award.