Graduate Student Awards Fund / Undergraduate Student Awards Fund
Students are invited to apply for the SERG International annual Graduate Student Award or Undergraduate Student Award
Background
To honour the hard work and dedication of practitioners of forest pest management, SERG International (SERG-I) has established an annual Graduate Student Awards Fund (GSAF) and an annual Undergraduate Student Awards Fund (USAF) to support students who are doing research directly related to SERG-I’s areas of interest (http://www.serginternational.org/ on the “Student Awards Application” page). The main purpose of these Funds is to support students early in their careers by providing an opportunity to attend the annual SERG-I Workshop where they can present their own research and interact with many key researchers and managers responsible for forest pest management in Canada and the United States. The Annual Workshop is typically scheduled for early February with each SERG-I member agency serving has host on a rotating basis.
Submission Deadline
- A Call for candidates and exact due dates for applications will be sent out to our email distribution list. For more information, contact the SERG-I Program Lead, Kevin Porter kbporter61@gmail.com.
- Application deadline is typically mid-to-late November each year.
Award Value
- Annual awards will be made available for up to 5 graduate students and up to 2 undergraduate students.
- The award consists of $500 cash, waiver of SERG-I Workshop Registration Fee and reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred for attending the Workshop including: economy return air fare; hotel; taxi; and per diems (at federal rates).
Award Conditions
- Each successful Award winner is required to attend the SERG-I Workshop and make an oral presentation of his/her research work. An associated abstract and summary report are required for inclusion in the Workshop Proceedings and may be posted on the SERG-I website.
- Awards will be presented at the SERG-I Annual Workshop.
Award Restrictions
- A candidate can only receive a Graduate Student Award once during each graduate degree.
- A candidate can only receive an Undergraduate Student Award once during each undergraduate degree.
- A candidate receiving funding as PI for a SERG-I project cannot apply for a Graduate Student Award.
Application Process
- Graduate Student Awards are open to Masters or Doctoral students and Undergraduate Student Awards are open to undergraduate students who are engaged in research in one or more of the four areas of research specified below.
- The major supervisor of the student applying for an award must provide a Letter of Support outlining the merits of the nominee and degree being pursued.
- The applicant must enclose a Student Summary Statement in which he/she discusses, in no more than two pages, his/her research program, enthusiasm and interest for attending and presenting at the SERG-I Workshop, and how the project adheres to one or more of the SERG-I research areas.
- Completed applications, including the Letter of Support and the Student Summary Statement, must be submitted by email to the Program Lead of SERG-I (kbporter61@gmail.com). The Program Lead will forward applications to the Selection Committee in advance of the SERG-I Annual General Meeting held in conjunction with the annual Forest Pest Management Forum (late November or early December). Successful GSAF/USAF winners will be notified by the SERG-I Program Lead shortly thereafter.
- Incomplete applications will not be considered.
SERG International co-ordinates research in the following areas:
- Forest Pest Management Products:
Product efficacy - including conventionally applied products as well as the development of alternative products such as viruses, nematodes, pheromones and biological herbicides, etc. Also, how to measure success of biological control approaches.
- Improvement of Technologies and Techniques:
This research includes, but not exclusively, application technology - including aerial and ground-based application techniques which provide improvements in environmental and efficiency goals. This area includes advances in surveillance and information gathering technology (including remote sensing) for application to improve ability to monitor or mitigate impacts on forest health disturbances and resiliency.
- Environmental Impact and Benefit to Forest Pest Management:
Fate of applied products in terms of deposit, drift, impact and behaviour in the environment including impacts on biodiversity and ecological processes.
- Developing Strategies and Technologies to monitor and detect Forest disturbances:
Develop working tools and strategies for the detection, monitoring and management of forest disturbances. This might include Decision Support Systems; Remote and airborne surveillance technologies, systems and methods; Genomics.
- Investigate the effects of climate change on pest ecology, population dynamics, and local and landscape-level processes.
