San Diego Shell Club Molluscan Research Grant
This Grant is now open for applications
The San Diego Shell Club is proud to offer a financial stipend through the Western Society of Malacologists (WSM) to graduate students and postdoctoral staff in the study of malacology.
Deadline: Proposals and recommendations are due March 1 with announcement and notification of awardees in May or June. Funds are available for use until May 15th of the following year.
Eligibility: Graduate students (master’s or Ph.D.) currently enrolled, and/or post-doctoral staff.
Research Scope: The Applicant’s research project must be field and/or laboratory associated research that focused on western North American mollusks (freshwater, terrestrial, marine, or fossil material). The taxon or taxa may be native or introduced in western North America (Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Baja California, or Hawai’i).
Research Scope Limitations: Major permanent equipment is not an allowable expense. However, time using a piece of permanent equipment (e.g., SEM beam time) is allowable. Funding for genomic analysis is not available. Institutional overhead is not permitted. For travel expense limitations see “Museum(s)” below.
Stipend: The maximum award is up to three-thousand dollars ($3,000 U.S. dollars) and may be used for supplies and travel if requested in your submitted budget. 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): Formal research 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. Visits to collections that are within a feasible driving distance (up to ~1.5 hours) from the home institution of the researcher will not be prioritized for funding.
Proposal Submission: Proposals are to be sent electronically (as one document) to: Jann Vendettiat: jannvendetti@yahoo.com or jvendetti@nhm.org, the subject line should state the “San Diego Shell Club Grant” followed by the name of the Applicant.
Application: The application should contain: (1) two pages (single-space) with a title, description of the planned research, goals, and budget justification. (2) personal information (e.g., an abbreviated CV) including the applicant’s name, address, email address, and student enrollment status (i.e., where enrolled, major, degree program, anticipated graduation date) and (3) a reference from your Major Professor regarding your proposal (for Masters and Ph.D. students).
Send to jannvendetti@yahoo.com or jvendetti@nhm.org with a subject line stating “San Diego Shell Club Grant” followed by the name of the Applicant.
All applications are evaluated by the Academic Grants Committee composed of three professional malacologists appointed by the Chair of the WSM Academic Grants program. The decisions of the Committee are final.
Expectations: (1) All recipients are expected to submit a summary of their work to The Western Society of Malacologists WSM as a presentation or poster session at the Annual Meeting of the WSM, and (2) a summary of their study, similar to that presented to the WSM, will be provided to the San Diego Shell Club (SDSC) for publication in The Festivus as a non-peer reviewed general interest article or as a peer reviewed paper. There are no publication costs associated with either option selected.
All application materials must be emailed to:
Jann Elizabeth Vendetti, Ph.D. Associate Curator & Twila Bratcher Chair in Malacology Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Email: jannvendetti@yahoo.com or jvendetti@nhm.org
Phone: (213) 763-3380