The Western Society of Malacologists (WSM) is proud to offer a financial stipend for students to travel to natural history collections to study fossil or recent malacological specimens to further their research. This award honors the late James H. McLean, Curator of Malacology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County from 1964–2001 and Emeritus Curator until 2013.
Eligibility: Graduate (masters and Ph.D.) students, undergraduates, and exceptional high school students may apply. Collections must not be within a reasonable daily commuting distance of the applicant’s residence, university, or high school. That is, a graduate student living in Los Angeles County may not apply for funds to travel to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, but may apply for funded to travel to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
Research Scope: The applicant’s research project must be collections-based and focus on extant, extinct, or fossil western North American mollusks (freshwater, terrestrial, or marine). That taxon or taxa must be found as native or introduced in western North America (California, Oregon, Washington, Baja California, British Columbia, Western Canada, Alaska) or Hawai’i.
Funding: The maximum award is $1,500 (US dollars) and should be used to support travel and accommodation costs incurred by visiting one or more collections. Collection visits of two or more days are encouraged. Applicants need not apply for the full $1,500 if it is not necessary. Reasonable per diem costs may be included: https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates. Requests of partial funding are acceptable if other funds are secured.
Museum(s): Visits to any University-based or Natural History Museum collection (domestic or international) are eligible. Private collections are ineligible. Student applicants are responsible for confirming their project’s feasibility and arranging visit logistics with the University or Museum’s collections manager and/or curator. Students may apply to visit more than one museum and collection in their proposal. As mentioned above, visits to collections that are within a feasible driving distance away (up to ~1.5 hours) from the home institution of the researcher will not be prioritized for funding.
Deadline: Proposals and recommendations are due March 1st 2025, with announcement and notification of awardees in May or June. Funds are available for use until May 15th of the following year.
Proposal Submission: Proposals are to be sent electronically (as one document) to:
Jann Vendetti at: jannvendetti@yahoo.com or jvendetti@nhm.org, using the subject line: James McLean Student Grant: Name of Applicant
Application: Two pages (single-spaced) with a title, description of the planned research, specific collection(s)/institutions proposed to be visited and why, anticipated visit dates (and length), and a budget justification. Personal information (an abbreviated CV) including the applicant’s name, address, email address, and student enrollment status (where enrolled, major, degree program, anticipated graduation date) should be included.
One recommendation from a graduate, undergraduate, or high school advisor should be sent separately to jannvendetti@yahoo.com with “James McLean Student Grant: Name of Applicant” in the subject line.