Prizes & Awards

DPOLY Undergraduate Travel Award

In 2022, DPOLY established an Undergraduate Travel Award to provide funding for undergraduate students doing research in the area of polymer physics to attend and present their research findings during the APS March Meeting (poster or oral presentations) for the first time. This award is intended to improve the visibility of diversity in the discipline of polymer physics.

Applicants belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented in physics, including women, LGBTQ+ scientists, scientists who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), disabled scientists, and scientists from institutions with limited resources are especially encouraged to apply.

Award

The Awardee will receive up to $2000 to be applied to reasonable costs associated with registration, travel, and accommodations for the APS March Meeting at which they are presenting their work for the first time. The Awardee will also be recognized at the Annual DPOLY Business Meeting, which is held on Tuesday evening during the March Meeting week.

The awardee will be notified one week prior to the March Meeting abstract submission deadline.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

• 1^st time attendees at the APS March Meeting
• studying for a Bachelor’s degree at a U.S. Institution.
• members of the APS (first time student membership is free)

Application

By October 6, 2023 at 5pm Eastern Time, applicants should submit a single PDF file with filename “lastname_UTA.pdf” to rrig@seas.upenn.edu. 

The PDF application file should include:

• A resume, including mailing address, undergraduate GPA, and any publications or prior conference presentations (if applicable)
• An abstract conforming to the APS March Meeting Abstract submission guidelines comprising:
1. Brief title with less than 305 characters including spaces
2. Abstract text that is less than 1300 characters including spaces
3. Three (3) keywords
4. Category type: Computational, Experimental, Experimental/Theoretical, Theoretical 
• DPOLY Sorting category (topical session) to which the abstract will be submitted
• An affirmation that this is the first time they are presenting your work at the APS March Meeting
• 1 paragraph (less than 1/2 page) describing how they will help to improve the visibility of diversity in polymer physics.

Note: 

The awardee will be notified approximately 1 week prior to the March Meeting abstract submission deadline.

Although the award is focused on increasing participation of undergraduates, students in terminal MS degree programs who otherwise meet the eligibility criteria are welcome to apply; they should briefly address in their statement how they feel their application is consistent with the spirit of the award described above.