Cellular Biology Students are Supported Students are guided by experienced investigators serving as mentors, thesis committee members, and colleagues. The goal of our training program is your development into a highly skilled and intellectually independent scientist. The Department provides competitive financial support through a variety of assistantships and tuition is usually waived. Marcus Fechheimer and Ruth Furukawa Award for Excellence by Students in Cellular Biology Inaugural Year: 2023-2024 What is the origin of the award?The Fechheimer and Furukawa Award was established to honor emeritus professor Dr. Marcus Fechheimer and emeritus research scientist Dr. Ruth Furukawa. Marcus and Ruth were well known at UGA for their outstanding research mentoring. What does the award recognize?The purpose of the award is to recognize excellence in undergraduate and graduate students in the department with funding to support their scholarly endeavors. The trust that funds the award states that “awards may acknowledge unusual curiosity and accomplishment in scholarship in a single course, or in the major, or an outstanding research presentation or publication.” What can the award be used for?The trust that funds the award that can “support expenses that further students' intellectual growth, including, but not limited to, support for travel to research conferences and for research training not available at UGA.” Other examples include conference registration fees, fees for research methods courses (e.g., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course fees), or part of the publication charges for papers if the awardee is a co-author. This list is not exhaustive; other scholarly endeavors will be considered. How can an students apply for the award?To apply, Cellular Biology undergraduate or graduate students must:1) Answer questions in a short survey to assess their relationship to Cellular Biology, their contributions to the department, and their existing financial support from their lab. https://ugeorgia.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_esWEzTf17fFiuqO2) Write a brief summary of their research or other work in Cellular Biology and the scholarly endeavor they hope to apply the award to (maximum 500 words)3) Request a 1-page letter from a Cellular Biology faculty mentor (or other faculty mentor) that explains how the student meets criteria of demonstrating “unusual curiosity and accomplishment in scholarship in a single course, or in the major, or an outstanding research presentation or publication.” The letter will be an important factor in selecting the award recipient. Application materials must be sent as PDF files to committee chair Dr. Julie Stanton at stantonj@uga.edu When are the application deadlines? For funding needed between: Deadline for all three items listed above: January 1 and June 30 December 1 July 1 and December 31 June 1 At each deadline, the committee will have approximately $700 to award. Based on the quality of the applications, a single award of $700 may be given, or two $350 awards may be given. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be considered together in one pool of applicants. How will the awardees be decided? In 2023-2024 the Fechheimer and Furukawa Award committee will score applications using the rubric on page 3, which aligns with the requirements of the trust that funds the award. After the first year the awards are given out, Cellular Biology students and faculty will be invited to give feedback to the committee to improve the award process. Restrictions The trust that funds the award requires that “awards may not be used for purchase of equipment, supplies, health insurance, or fees. If used for travel, students must still be enrolled at the University at the time of travel.” A student who has received a Fechheimer and Furukawa Award must wait a minimum of 24 months before applying for the same award again.
