Student Workshop Attendance Support

One of the hallmarks of the CEDAR program has been the ability to support a significant number of undergraduate and graduate students to attend the annual workshop. This support from the National Science Foundation has been critical in engaging and training the next generation of CEDAR scientists and preparing them for their careers as scientists. However, it may not always be possible to support all students interested in attending the CEDAR workshop, necessitating a selection process to determine which students will receive support.

Selection Guidelines

In order to have a well-defined selection process that is equitable and provides for the fulfillment of the CEDAR program goals of engagement and education, the CEDAR Science Steering Committee (CSSC) has developed the following guidelines for the selection of students for receiving financial support from the CEDAR program to attend the annual CEDAR workshop:

1. For students enrolled in a US institution and traveling from a location within the United States, financial support will consist of registration fee, roundtrip travel to the CEDAR workshop venue, and shared housing. In most cases, roundtrip travel will be by air. For students enrolled in an institution outside the US, financial support will consist of registration and shared housing.
   • Up to 7.5% of the total student travel funding amount will be made available to support students enrolled in an institution outside the United States.
   • The remaining funding will be used to support students enrolled in US institution and traveling from within the United States.
2. Only students who are presenting a poster at the workshop are eligible for receiving financial support.
3. Selection of financial support is conducted via a random draw. Separate draws will be conducted for students enrolled in an institution inside and outside the United States. Each draw will be based upon the following criteria:
   • Up to 10% of available funding will support undergraduate students;
   • Up to 35% of available funding will support graduate students who have not received financial assistance from the CEDAR program as a graduate student in the past;
   • Up to 25% of available funding will support graduate students who have received financial assistance from the CEDAR program one previous time as a graduate student;
   • Up to 15% of available funding will support graduate students who have received financial assistance from the CEDAR program for at least two previous times as a graduate student;
   • The remaining 15%, plus any funds not used in steps a-d, will be used to support students who have requested funding but were not selected in the prior steps. Selection is random, but is weighted so that funds are more evenly distributed amongst students’ advisors in the CEDAR community. Selection in this step would constitute a year of support, as considered in the selection process for the following year’s CEDAR workshop.

Support to attend workshops before this policy was put in place (2017 and before) would not be counted. This selection process was chosen as it balances the desire to bring new students into the community while continuing to support students as they progress towards completion of their advanced degrees. It is our hope that advisors will take this selection process into consideration and support students out of their existing grants when possible.