The 2024-2025 REA Graduate Student Travel Grant Program
The Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) has established a graduate student travel grant program. The focus of
this program is to support engineering graduate students who are attending conferences or
professional meetings to present their research work. The key requirement for receiving the grant is
that the graduate student is presenting a paper or a poster at the conference or meeting. Grant funding
must be used to support travel to the conference and may not be used to supplement a general
operating fund for the research group. The travel grant request will be selected for funding based on the
following criteria:
Demonstrated need for financial support
Educational impact for the involved students
Impact/significance of research in the field
The maximum grant amount is $1,500, however, historically most winners have received partial grants against their total ask. The REA will award the travel grants during the Fall and Spring Grant Cycles.
Grant winners will be required to provide a follow up report and/or a 10-minute presentation at an REA
event. In addition, grant winners will be recognized at the annual REA Student Awards Celebration in April
2025.
Yearly Schedule for Travel Grant Program
2024-2025 Graduate Student Travel Grant Schedule:
September 22, 2024 – Applications for Fall 2024 grants due via email by 11:59 PM CT (reascholarships@gmail.com)
First week of October, 2024 – REA intends to announce grant winners, who will be recognized at the REA Student Awards Celebration in April 2025
Applications for Spring 2025 travel grant awards are due Friday, January 17, 2025, by 11:59 PM CST, and must be submitted via email to reascholarships@gmail.com. The REA expects to announce grant winners by the last week of January.
Application Process
Applications are to be delivered by email to the REA Grants and Awards Chair prior to the announced
application deadline (reascholarships@gmail.com). Applications shall be in the form of an MS Word
document. The application is limited to five pages, single spaced, Times New Roman or Arial 12 point
fonts, with standard 1 inch margins. The application must include the following information:
Name, date, description, and URL of conference or meeting for travel support
Description of research work to be presented at the conference or meeting and faculty advisor
Whether or not the research has been accepted for presentation at the conference and, if it has, as a paper or poster
Detailed travel cost estimate for the conference - conference registration fee, air travel, ground transportation, hotel (including days you plan to be in attendance), meals not provided as part of the conference registration
Description of educational and professional impact of attending the conference or meeting
Other sources of travel support and amount, including pending requests
Contact information (email, phone) for graduate student and faculty advisor(s)
A statement from the student’s faculty advisor(s) of the amount of financial support for the travel that can be provided from grants or other sources, to be sent via email directly to reascholarships@gmail.com.
Grant Selection & Award Process
The REA Student Awards Committee shall select award winners based on the following criteria:
Demonstrated need for financial support
Educational and professional impact for the involved students
Impact/significance of research in the field
Should a funded travel plan be cancelled after receiving the grant, all grant monies must be returned to the REA.
Questions?
Questions regarding the REA Graduate Student Travel Grant Program should be directed to the REA Grants and Awards Chair:
reascholarships@gmail.com