DPS Travel Grants Application

The Hartmann Student Travel Grant aims to increase undergraduate and graduate student participation in the DPS community, including through presentation at the annual DPS meeting. This fund was started with a generous contribution from William K. Hartmann and has since been augmented by member contributions and funds from the DPS Committee. Travel grants are primarily intended for students, but post-doctoral scientists without other means of support will also be considered. Applicants should be the presenting author on an abstract submitted for the DPS meeting, and are or could become a AAS or DPS Student Member (or regular member, if a postdoc). 

Travel grants are typically a few hundred dollars and are intended to provide a supplement that makes the difference on whether or not the person is able to present at the annual meeting (e.g., to cover the meeting registration fee). Applicants do not need to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents; this is open to all nationalities. Preference is given to students who have not received a Hartmann Travel Grant in the past. Typically, 10-15 awards are issued in a year.

The makeup of the planetary science community does not reflect the full diversity of the United States, and in particular Black/African American, Indigenous, and Latinx communities are heavily underrepresented relative to the US labor force population (Rivera-Valentìn et al., 2020). Therefore, in 2020 the DPS began to offer funds to encourage and support participation within planetary science of students, scientists, and other space professionals who are members of these underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. In partnership with the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), member contributions and funds from the DPS Committee enable grants to support attendance at the annual DPS meeting and/or the annual NSBP/NSHP meeting for members of group(s) whose contributions to STEM may have been overlooked, students and professionals hailing from colleges and non-R1 academic or research institutions that have not traditionally benefited from connections to the planetary science community, and/or students and professionals with degrees in broader STEM disciplines (e.g., chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics) who are new to the planetary science community. The fund is intended to support DPS and NSBP involvement, via DPS or NSBP meeting travel (when meetings are in person and not virtual) and registration fees, and/or DPS or NSBP membership fees.

Funds will be awarded in consultation with the DPS Professional Culture and Climate Subcommittee (PCCS) and NSBP Earth and Planetary Systems Sciences (EPSS) leads. Typical awards are up to ~$2000 for in-person travel (higher amounts are possible with justification and funding availability), and an award for virtual attendance covers meeting registration. About 10 grants are awarded each year. Since this program is intended to broaden participation in planetary science, those newer to the planetary science community are given preference, but past awardees may receive another award. Participants at either meeting are not required to submit an abstract to be eligible, although applicants who are presenting will be given preference. Additionally, applicants do not need to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents; this is open to all nationalities.

The evaluation criteria that will be used to determine the allocation of funding are:

• Would the applicant’s meeting attendance advance the goals of AAS DPS to improve participation of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in planetary science?
• Is the applicant’s work and background relevant to the topics covered by the meeting?
• Is the applicant presenting at the meeting?
• Is the applicant’s attendance at the meeting particularly important given their career stage? (e.g., actively looking for jobs)
• Is the URM grant necessary and/or sufficient for the applicant to attend the meeting?