Awards & Scholarships

Scholarships & Grants

The following scholarships and grants are intended to help support the cost of travel and participation in non-SSR reproductive sciences meetings. For fellowships, grants, and awards specific to the SSR Annual Meeting, please see the Annual Meeting Grants and Awards page.

Anita Payne Scholarship

The Anita Payne Scholarship was established in 2012 to help support the cost of travel and participation in the Frontiers in Reproduction (FIR) program. Supported by a grant from the Anita Payne Endowment Fund, the award has a value of $5,000 to help support the cost of travel and participation in the FIR program.

FIR is an intensive, six-week laboratory and lecture course for scientists-in-training who seek to improve their knowledge and experimental skills in order to pursue a career in the Reproductive Sciences. FIR is held each summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, a world-famous training ground for Experimental Biologists. Twenty participants are selected each year from a competitive admissions pool that includes graduate students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, and junior faculty.

Qualifications

To be a qualified applicant, you must be:

  1. a current Trainee Member of SSR (dues are paid and mentor's signature is on file in the SSR Business Office by the deadline for FIR applications—for 2017: 11 January), and
  2. accepted to participate in the FIR program.

Award Criteria

The Anita Payne Scholarship is awarded to the highest-ranking applicant admitted to FIR who is also an SSR Trainee Member.

Apply

No separate application is required for the Anita Payne Scholarship. Trainees can indicate their interest in applying for this award while completing the required supporting information for the FIR application.

Questions concerning this award may be directed to SSR President Janice Bailey.

Past Recipients

2016: Sophea Heng. Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
2015: Alisa A. Suen. NIEHS, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
2014: Rasmani Hazra. University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
2013: Raquel Gonzalez-Herrero, D.V.M., Ph.D. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
2012: Yosi Aizen, Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin, Port Aransas, Texas, USA.

Burroughs Wellcome Travel Fellowships for Underrepresented Minority Trainees and Junior Faculty

For more than 20 years, grants from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund have provided travel fellowships for underrepresented minority trainees and junior faculty from the U.S. and Canada to enable their participation in the SSR Annual Meetings. The fellowships include reimbursement of meeting registration, up to USD $1,200 for housing, food, and travel expenses; and complimentary SSR Membership through the next calendar year. Recipients traditionally also receive a meeting T-shirt and a ticket to a social function.

Fellowships are awarded competitively on the basis of applications submitted to and evaluated by the SSR Diversity Committee. Between six and nine fellowships for individuals with a background in reproductive biology are anticipated this year (up to six trainees and up to three junior, non-tenured, faculty). 

Qualifications
Membership in the Society is not a requirement, nor is submission of an abstract for presentation. To be a qualified applicant, you must be:

  1. a member of an underrepresented minority,
  2. a resident of the U.S. or Canada, and
  3. enrolled as a student in or teaching at an accredited, degree-granting institution in the U.S. or Canada.

This award provides full support to attend the Meeting; therefore, recipients may not accept additional travel awards (i.e., Trainee Travel Award, FASEB DREAM, USDA–NIFA–AFRI, or Lalor Awards).

Apply
Please download the 2019 Burroughs Wellcome Travel Fellowship Application. The deadline for applications is 15 May 2019.

Jump to...

Trainee Grants and Awards