Starting this semester, Oberlin’s Office of Undergraduate Research introduced a new Student Conference Funding award designed to make academic opportunities more accessible to undergraduate researchers. It offers up to $300 for students attending academic conferences.
This fund was established as a pilot program with the aim to provide financial support for students attending or presenting research at conferences across the country, according to Undergraduate Research Program Manager Emily Spezia-Schwiff.
The application is submitted via a Google Form due on the 15th of every month, and asks for students to provide information about their research experience, the conference they plan to attend, a budget, and a reference. The applications are reviewed by Spezia-Schwiff and Abby Aresty, director of Inclusive Excellence in Undergraduate Research and STEM Education. Aresty said the grant was applicable for all students attending conferences, not just those presenting.
“It is a competitive process because this is a pilot project,” Aresty said. “It’s a smaller pocket of money that we’ve reallocated to try to support this, so at the moment we review internally with a small rubric. … We are encouraging students to talk to their departments and try to get as much support from different places as possible because … it’s only $300.”
Spezia-Schwiff also noted the program’s limited budget as it gets off the ground.
“We hope to continue this funding in the future and, if we are able to acquire more funding, fund more students,” she wrote in an email to the Review. “Currently, this funding is limited and competitive.”
College fourth-year Molly Davis used this opportunity to attend the Society for Ethnomusicology conference in Atlanta, where she was able to connect with experts in the field, explore graduate programs, and learn from scholars.
“I am incredibly grateful for the OUR conference funding that I received. I would not have been able to travel to Atlanta without it,” Davis wrote in an email to the Review. “Abby Aresty and Emily Spezia-Shwiff were incredibly helpful, and I recommend the program/grant to any student interested in attending a conference. I met interesting academics in my field and got a better understanding of academic ethnomusicology in general.”
For students presenting at conferences, there is additional funding available through the Dean’s Office Student Conference Funding, which has an award of up to $500. Other funding resources could be departmental gift funds and some faculty grants.
Aresty emphasized that students should reach out to the Dean’s Office Conference Fund before continuing with the OUR Conference Fund to make sure all resources are being explored and utilized to meet student needs.
“I think, again, we’re just excited to be able to start the process of seeing how we can meet this need,” she said. “We know conferences are critical resources in supporting undergraduate research, so we’re really eager to see how it goes and continue the conversations. … We’re looking at some of the faculty feedback, and other types of ways to ensure that students are getting the most out of the conference as possible.”
