New this Year!   Legends Research Scholarship Award

We are now accepting applications for the Legends Research Scholarship Award through March 16th, 2020. 

The Midwest Chapter Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Legends Research Scholarship is an award given to a student in honor of a member of our Chapter that has demonstrated significant leadership in environmental toxicology or chemistry research or service.  The honoree is selected each year by the Chapter members.  This first Legends Research Scholarship Award is in memory of Dr. Tom Custer.   The student receiving the award will have demonstrated an ability to perform original research in the field of either environmental toxicology or chemistry and be recognized by the Chapter as a potential future leader in the field of environmental toxicology or chemistry.    

Format of the Scholarship Award

The scholarship award is $500 (funded by the Chapter). It will be provided on a yearly basis at the annual Chapter meeting if there is at least one student applicant who meets eligibility requirements and is deserving of the award based on the Award Criteria Guidelines.  Along with the monetary award, a plaque will be presented to the scholarship recipient which will include the name of the award, the award recipient’s name, and the name of the honoree for that calendar year.

Students Eligible to Apply for Scholarship

An undergraduate or graduate student enrolled either full time or part time at a college or university.
A cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or greater.
Must have conducted research in the field of environmental toxicology or chemistry.
Planning to pursue a career in environmental sciences with an emphasis on either environmental toxicology or chemistry.

How to Apply for Research Scholarship:   

Each student applicant should e-mail a pdf version of their Legends Research Scholarship application to Michael Kierski (mkierski@exponent.com) and Tham Hong (thoang@luc.edu).   The application should contain the following information.

Applicant Information (Name, address, email)
Degree in progress (BA / BSc / MSc / PhD)
Major/minor (if undergraduate student)
Institution & Department
Research start date (month/year); Research completion date (month/year) if applicable
Student Research Statement (Briefly summarize the objectives of your research, the experiments that you yourself have conducted, and the results/conclusions of your work. 350 words)
Personal Statement (What are your future plans and goals once you complete your current degree? 200 words)
Letter of Recommendation from research mentor (Specifically comment on the student’s demonstrated interest in and potential to become a future leader in the fields of environmental toxicology or chemistry.)

How Will the Scholarship Recipient be Selected?

To be considered for the Award, students must first meet the eligibility criteria. The award recipient will be selected based on the result of the review of the application package. Each application will be reviewed by three members of the BOD of the Midwest SETAC that represent academia, government, and industry sectors. Professors are not allowed to review his or her student’s applications. The review process will be based on the following four criteria. Points will be given to each criterion (1= lowest, 5= highest).  Each reviewer will use the same rubric to score each applicant’s application.  The total final points will be calculated based on the formula below. The application that has the highest total final points will be awarded the scholarship.

1.           Research relevance to the field of environmental toxicology and chemistry (R)

2.           Significant finding and great contribution to advance knowledge and science of the field (based on resume,    work, presentation) (S)

3.           Student’s time/effort toward the research (based on letters of recommendation, CV) (E)

4.           Future career in environmental toxicology and chemistry (based on the letter of application and recommendation) (C)

Total final points = R + S + E + C  

Where, R, S, E, and C are the total points given by three reviewers for each of the four criteria presented above.

Images created by Andrew Lehoullier