Student Travel Funding

Updated 02/12/25

The Science Center has limited endowment funds to support travel expenses to professional conferences for Smith undergraduates and post-baccs. Students  must present research in a STEM field at the conference. The maximum award is $1200 per student per academic year. Funding can be used to attend more than one professional conference, but the student has to present at all conferences they are attending. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, year-round.

If you are presenting research from an REU that you participated in somewhere other than Smith, please check with your program administrator. Travel funding may be available through your REU.

Please be safe and comfortable during your trip, but also frugal! Funds that are not used go back into the pool of funds and to be awarded to other students, and can roll over to the next fiscal year.
Expenses covered as per college policy and at college rates:

  • Transportation to conference location: airfare, train tickets, bus tickets, boat, or by personal or rented car
  • Ground transportation to and from transportation, lodging and conference venue: shuttle, local bus/subway, uber/lyft, mileage on personal car, parking
  • Conference registration fees and related expenses such as organization membership fees
  • Lodging (room, tax and parking fees only, NO movies, mini-bar, spa treatments, etc)
  • Food (not to exceed $90 per day, per person in major US cities. Most conferences have opportunities for attendees to eat for free or at low cost. Please take advantage of this.)

Science Center funds can be used in combination with the Universal Conference fund when funds are available.
The Universal Conference Fund has no funds available for the remainder of AY 24-25.

Student applications for travel funds are accepted on a rolling basis. Funds are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. PLEASE APPLY BEFORE YOU TRAVEL TO YOUR CONFERENCE.  We suggest you apply at least two weeks before your conference, but the earlier the better.  Funds are distributed as reimbursement for expenses. We can submit your reimbursement as soon as you’ve purchased any portion of your travel. You can also contact Heather McQueen to make an appointment to book portions of your travel on a college credit card.

Things we cannot reimburse ahead of time:

  • mileage reimbursement for driving your personal car
  • parking
  • food
  • ground transport that is not prepaid
  • lodging that is not prepaid

We cannot book lodging on a college credit card if the venue requires the credit card used for booking to be physically present during check-in. We can hold the lodging reservation with a college credit card. We can make a deposit with a college card on the reservation if the venue allows. We can submit a credit card authorization form to use the card for room and tax if the venue allows it.

It is okay to share expenses with fellow travelers, but the shared expenses need to be explained. For example, “the total check for dinner was $90, but we each of the three of us (Liz, Glenn, and Beth) paid $30 each including the tip”.

Are you planning a group trip to a conference with many students in your lab who are presenting?
Contact Heather McQueen at least one month in advance to discuss possibly combining expenses to be shared and help simplify the process and reduce the number of expenses that need to be reimbursed.

Have a travel award from the Science Center and need to get reimbursed?

Please submit an AP Voucher form to be reimbursed. 

The AP Voucher form can be found here.
A sample of the completed AP voucher form can be found here. The fields students need to fill out are highlighted in purple. You don’t need to itemize the expenses, just enter the total amount.

Please email the completed AP Voucher form and legible electronic copies of receipts to Heather McQueen.
Please send your receipts as ONE PDF file.

  • Fill out the form as best you can. It’s the top portion above the line “coding of expenses” that we need and the total dollar amount to be reimbursed. Be sure to save a copy so you can attach it to an email.
  • You need only include receipts and the form for the total dollar amount of your award. For example, if the Science Center awards you $500 and your registration is $200 and your transportation is $300, you can submit just those items from reimbursement from the Science Center. We do not need all of the expenses from your trip if they are not covered by this award.
  • Please save all of your receipts whenever you can. If you are making a purchase under $20, say from a food truck where there are no receipts, you can also note your expenses in an expense diary, following this example: “1/15/18, Lunch, Joe’s Taco Truck, $6.00”. Please include copies of your expense diary when applicable.
  • Again, email the completed form and scanned copies of receipts in one separate PDF file to Heather McQueen
  • Reimbursement payments take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks after Heather submits it for payment (she will confirm submission via email). Payments are deposited weekly on Thursdays overnight with funds usually available on the following day.

 

Please take the time to fill out a trip report about your experience. Answering these questions about your conference experience helps us report to funders. You will automatically receive a copy of your trip report via email upon submission.

Don’t forget to credit the grant-making organization where appropriate with a statement like “Travel supported by the Schultz Foundation”. Our alumna Marilyn Schultz Blackwell ’69, whose father, George L. Schultz, ran the family foundation, provided us with a grant in 1992 to create an endowed fund in support of student research opportunities, including travel to professional conferences.  Not to be confused with the Schultz Family Foundation, created by Starbucks founder, Howard Schultz.

Graduating Seniors: We cannot reimburse you after you graduate. However we can help support a trip within one month of your graduation date. We can reimburse you prior to graduation and prepay for anything we can ahead of time.

Questions? Contact Heather McQueen.
413-585-3950, Burton 115