Emerging GER Scholars Award

The Emerging GER Scholars Award was created to support graduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This award was combined with the Early Career Award in 2023, for which graduate students are also now eligible. This statement was posted on March 31, 2023.

The Geoscience Education Research Division of NAGT is now accepting applications for the 2022 Emerging GER Scholars Award. This award is intended to recognize promising graduate students pursing a Master's or Ph.D. in the field of geoscience education research, and to provide financial support for personal and professional expenses to broaden the set of opportunities available to those scholars. The division particularly invites applications from scholars from a wide range of backgrounds and from identity groups that have been historically marginalized in geoscience education research.

We anticipate making 1-3 awards on the order of $500-1000 each, depending on incoming donations to the scholarship fund. We are not accepting applications for 2022.

To apply, applicants should use this application form to address the following questions. You may want to compose your responses in Word and copy and paste into the form to keep within the word limit requirements:

1. Please describe your intended doctoral research project. Be sure to discuss the project's background, research questions, proposed methods, and relevance. (500 words)
2. Please explain the reason you are applying for these funds and how receiving these funds will provide opportunities to you that would not otherwise be available. (500 words)
3. The GER Division seeks to support diverse individuals and diversity allies. How do you define diversity? How has your experience with diversity (i.e., situations outside your norm) impacted your personal and professional growth? In what ways will you contribute to increasing diversity in the geosciences and geoscience education?

Applicants must request one letter of support from a mentor or doctoral supervisor, which can be submitted using this letter of support submission form.

• Applications will be reviewed by the scholarship committee, chaired by the Secretary according to the following criteria:
• Relevance of the proposed doctoral research project to the field of geoscience education research.
• Appropriate alignment between research background, questions, methods, and relevance.
• Transformative potential of the award for the individual, based on the intended use and availability of other funds.
• Potential for the award to support scholars from communities that have been historically marginalized in the GER community or scholars who might not otherwise have the financial resources to persist in the field.

All applicants must be current NAGT and GER Division members at the time of application.

For questions about the application process, please contact GER Division secretary, Peggy McNeal.