Graduate Research Grants

CALL FOR PROPOSALS
McGEE, LEVORSEN, CHEVRON RESEARCH GRANTS and SPEER PRIZE IN EARTH SCIENCES
FOR 2010

This is the annual call for proposals for funds to support graduate student research. This Call for Proposals is funded by four sources that support graduate student research.  For 2010, we’re pleased to be able to include two new sources of research funding, thanks to a gift from the Chevron Corporation and the Michael Carr Speer Prize.

A McGee grant should ideally be used as seed money for research that may lead to continuing support from other sources or as matching funds to help attract new grants. However, proposals to supplement support from ongoing research programs will also be considered. Preference will be given to innovative research directions and to research projects that would not be feasible without McGee funds.

The A.I. Levorsen Research Fellowship is named to recognize the founding dean of the School of Earth Sciences (then called School of Mineral Sciences) and supports the research, field work, or other educational expenses of graduate students with a preference for projects or courses of study in petroleum geology or other energy-related areas.

The Speer Prize in Applied Earth Sciences is intended to support an outstanding doctoral student pursuing research in the area of Earth resources including ores, minerals, oil, gas and water.

The Chevron grant is intended to support for graduate students in the areas of petroleum geology, petroleum geophysics and petroleum engineering.

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Who may submit: These funds will be used to support graduate student research and will be directed to graduate students who are engaged in research to meet the requirements of a Ph.D. or MS/Ph.D. (where the MS is intended to continue directly to a Ph.D.).

Form and length of proposal:  Proposals must be limited to no more than five double-spaced pages; the inclusion of lengthy appendices is discouraged. The proposals should include:

1. an abstract;
2. a narrative in which the following points are addressed
   • definition of the research question,
   • importance and relation to past or on-going research,
   • work plan, and
   • expected results and expectations for future funding
   • illustrations are permitted but not required
3. a budget.

Completed proposals should be uploaded as Word or PDF documents to the McGee/Levorsen/Chevron/Speer application website. The faculty member who has agreed to serve as research advisor will be contacted online with a request to provide a short endorsement your proposal.

Allowable expense:  Supplies, scientific equipment, services, travel, and field expenses are allowable. Computer equipment is not an allowable expense. Salaries will be considered only in unusual circumstances. Awards will be dispersed as student aid in the form of a stipend check.

Previous award:  There is a two-time limit on these awards, as well as a lifetime limit of $6,000. If you have had previous McGee or Levorsen funding, please add no more than one page of explanation of results of that project, how budgeted funds were spent, and how the current proposal relates to it.

Award amounts:  No individual grants will exceed $5,000; because of the demand, most may be smaller.

Deadline: Monday, May 3, 2010.   For questions, please contact Roni Holeton, Asst. Dean, roni@stanford.edu.

Selection process:  Reviewers are Associate Dean Steve Graham and Assistant Dean Roni Holeton.  Proposals will be considered competitively. Students should view this as an opportunity to develop new and exciting research ideas, and to present these ideas in a concise and convincing proposal. Requests to extend or to supplement support from ongoing, funded projects will be given lower priority. Such proposals must present a strong case for the importance of continued support for the student’s research, as well as for the scientific significance of the project.

Notification:  Funding decisions will be announced the week of May 17, 2010.