Pioneer Hi-Bred International Graduate Student Fellowship

Sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a DuPont Company

 

NOTE: The deadline for this award has been extended to August 1, 2008.
 

This Entomological Foundation fellowship recognizes and encourages innovative research and graduate education in the area of entomology with a focus on key insects or complexes of insects that effect corn, soybeans, canola, alfalfa, or other significant commodity crops. The areas of research and study may include one or more of these crops. The amount of the fellowship (stipend) will be $12,500 per year until completion of the graduate degree up to a limit of four years. The fellowship winner will be presented with the first installment of the stipend at the Entomological Foundation’s awards ceremony held in conjunction with the ESA Annual Meeting. 

Eligibility

Each nominee must be either a graduate student at the time the fellowship is awarded or should be accepted into an accredited graduate program at the time the award is made. He/she must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher, and must attend a college or university in the United States and must have demonstrated excellence in the study of entomology or a related discipline. The proposed research program must address a key insect or complex of insects that affects corn, soybean, canola or other significant commodity crop. An individual may receive this award only once.

Previous Winner

Please click here to see a list of those who have previously received this award.

Electronic Submission Requirements

All nomination packages must be submitted electronically according to the following specifications (paper nominations will not be accepted):

Page Limits

• The entire nomination package must not exceed 20 pages total. This includes letters of nomination or recommendation and publication lists.

• Letters of nomination and recommendation must be included in the electronic package. Printed letters sent in lieu of electronic versions will not be accepted.

File Specifications

• Only the following file formats will be accepted: PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format), RTF (Rich Text Format), TIF graphic files, or JPG graphic files. Files created on either PC or MAC platforms will be accepted. Please make sure scanned images can be clearly read on a computer screen.

• Font size for text may not be smaller than 10 point.

• A nomination package may contain no more than 6 separate files, and the size of each file must not exceed 3 MB.

Submission Methods

Nomination packages may be submitted by either of two methods:

• PREFERRED METHOD: Submit online via the Nomination Submission Website. This method eliminates problems associated with e-mailing large files. Nominators are strongly encouraged to use this method.
  OR

• E-mail the nomination package as attached files to the awards administrator. In the submission e-mail, please include the title of the award in the subject of the e-mail. In the body of the e-mail, provide the name of the nominee, the nominator's contact information, and a list of the attached files.

Nomination Requirements

Nominations may be made by anyone. Nomination packages for this award must include:

CV-Related Items

Nominators must provide the information called for in the CV template, either in the template's format or in their own format. To view the CV-related nomination requirements for this award, as well as the CV template, please click here.

Other Items

1. Application (which can be downloaded as an MS Word document; click on link for file)

2. Current official transcript of college grades (mail to: Entomological Foundation, 9332 Annapolis Road, Suite 210, Lanham, MD 20706)

3. Three letters of recommendation (Each recommendation letter should address the student’s competence in a scientific discipline and associated occupational skills including creative thinking, decision-making, problem-solving, communication, leadership, and team-building skills.)

4. Description of the student’s completed and proposed program of academic studies including a brief statement of the goals, rationale and justification for the proposed research project (A description of research methodology is not necessary.)

5. Short essay on why the student is interested in the study of insects impacting crops including corn, soybeans, canola, other significant commodity crops.

6. Statement of long-range career goals and a description of how the graduate program will help the student to attain those goals.

7. Up to three letters of endorsement from professional colleagues and clientele

Evaluation Criteria

Applicants' research proposals will be judged using the following criteria for a total of 80 points:

1. Demonstrates excellence in the study of entomology or a related discipline (10)

2. Shows leadership skills and professionalism (10)

3. Demonstrates effectiveness in verbal and written communication (10)

4. Ability to effectively build collaborative research teams (10)

5. Successfully applies problem-solving skills, generating new ideas, techniques and knowledge, which could lead to scientific discoveries and solutions to practical problems (10)

6. Achieved investigative and research skills in the management of insects impacting production of commodity crops including corn, soybeans, and canola (10)

7. Increased ability to grasp the broader vision while maintaining the high-level of attention to detail that scientific research requires (10)

8. Attain proficiency in advancing technologies that, when applied to the generation of and communication of scientific knowledge, provide new avenues of discovery (10)

Deadline

Application/nomination packages must be received by the awards administrator by July 1. This deadline refers to receipt of a complete package in a readable format. Therefore, early submission is highly recommended. The awards administrator will confirm receipt of nomination packages within two business days, and also notify nominators of any problems with nomination package files within that time.

Renomination

Previous fellowship winners may not apply.

Notification

The awards administrator will notify all candidates and their nominators, where applicable, with the results of their application approximately two months after the application/nomination submission deadline.

For questions about this award, please click here.