Prizes & Awards

DPOLY Undergraduate Travel Award

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). This award is intended to provide opportunities to increase the representation of undergraduate research in the discipline of polymer physics.

Students doing research in all areas of polymer physics and adjacent fields are welcome to apply. Individuals from underserved institutions or those facing resource constraints 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 Global Physics Summit 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 during the Global Physics Summit week.

The awardee will be notified one week prior to the Global Physics Summit abstract submission deadline.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

• 1^st time attendees at the APS Global Physics Summit

• studying for a Bachelor’s degree at a U.S. Institution.

• members of the APS (first time student membership is free)

Application

DPOLY will begin accepting applications beginning September 8, 2025.

Deadline: October 10, 2025

Applicants should submit a single PDF file with filename “lastname_UTA.pdf” to Vivek Sharma (viveks@uic.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 Global Physics Summit 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 Global Physics Summit (previously March Meeting)

• 1 paragraph (less than 1/2 page) describing how attending the APS Global Physics Summit will contribute to your professional and academic development. Feel free to discuss how you got interested in polymers and how you plan to share your research and inspire other undergraduates to become involved in the field.

Note: 

The awardee will be notified approximately 1 week prior to the Global Physics Summit 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.