Undergraduate Travel Awards

LS UROP provides support for MU undergraduates who present their research at regional, national, and international scientific meetings. Participation in scientific conferences is an important opportunity for you to communicate your research to others in your field, network with scientists, and expand your understanding of the scope and nature of scientific research. To be eligible for funding, you must present your research (talk or poster), your name must appear on the conference abstract, and the University of Missouri must appear as an author's address. Your faculty mentor is not required to attend the conference. LS UROP need not have supported the research presented, but it is expected to be in the area of life sciences. Applications may be picked up in and should be returned to the LS UROP Office in 150 Life Sciences Center.

You must submit the following no later than six weeks before the conference:

• Undergraduate travel award application (PDF)
• A letter outlining why you wish to attend THIS meeting, including what you expect to get from attending and how attending will impact your future plans.
• A letter of support from your faculty mentor explaining the nature of the meeting and why it is appropriate for you to attend THIS meeting.
• If you conducted your research off campus, then you must include a letter of support from your research mentor.
• An itemized budget of what the money will be used for.
• A copy of your abstract, including the title and authors.

Allowable expenses

• Registration fee
• Airfare and ground transportation
• Gas, if a personal car is used for travel
• Your share of hotel expenses (lodging, taxes)

Expenses not covered by the Undergraduate Travel Award

• Meal expenses except for special banquets
• Airline tickets not purchased through an authorized MU travel agent
• Transportation expenses from travel in a van/car with others from your lab

Notes

Travel Awards will only be made for one meeting per academic year per student; therefore it is important that students and mentors decide WHICH meeting is the most appropriate. Typically the amount of the Travel Awards will cover only a portion of the expenses requested. Students who are granted a Travel Award must acknowledge LS UROP in their abstract and on their poster/in their talk (“Travel partially supported by the MU Life Sciences Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program”). Abstracts MUST acknowledge the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Registration fees may be prepaid by the Life Sciences UROP if the registration form is completed and brought to Linda Blockus at least one month before the conference. Many conferences waive registration fees for students and this option must be exercised if available. Late registration fees will not be paid.

Airline tickets may only be purchased after your budget is submitted and approved. Tickets funded by the Life Sciences UROP Undergraduate Travel Award must be purchased through an MU travel agent (see Linda Blockus) and processed through the campus accounting system. Individuals will not be reimbursed for airline tickets. Ground transportation to/from the conference site is an allowable expense.

The Undergraduate Travel Award will reimburse for gas expenses, if a personal car is used, if the meeting (or airport) is more than an hour away from Columbia, and if you are traveling alone (no one else from your lab is going). You must keep gas receipts. We will not reimburse for mileage.

We expect that you will stay in the same hotel as other members of your lab and that you will share a room with another member of your lab. We assume that you will stay in an economical and safe hotel. You must include the list of available lodging options provided by the conference organizers with your request for an Undergraduate Travel Award.

Expenses must be submitted on the appropriate MU Travel Expense form (with receipts) after you have returned from the conference. A copy of the meeting proceedings (or photo copy of the title page and abstract) is required before reimbursement will be approved.

For further information contact: Linda Blockus, LS UROP Program Director, 150 Life Sciences Center, phone: 882-5979, e-mail: BlockusL@missouri.edu