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Graduate Student Awards
Arthur R. Menendez Memorial Fund for Graduate Student
The award will be provided to a graduate student interested in a research career and can be used for research support such as expenditures for conferences, journals, papers, equipment, etc. Funds are awarded to the Physiology Department in odd numbered fiscal years and to the Psychology Department in even numbered fiscal years.
Selection of Recipient
The Physiology Graduate Program Committee will select the award recipient from among all current graduate students in good academic standing, based on outstanding research performance. The award will be given to a Physiology graduate student in odd numbered fiscal years. During January of even number years, the Graduate Program Committee will solicit curriculum vitae from all Physiology graduate students. The curriculum vitae should include a paragraph containing a description of the student’s research and progress the student has made towards accomplishing research goals. The deadline for receipt of application materials will be February 1 or the following weekday if February 1 falls on a weekend or holiday. The Graduate Program Committee will select the recipient of the award for that year. The order of preference for selection will be Ph.D. student performing vision research > M.S. student performing vision research > Ph.D. student in any area of Physiology, particularly one interested in a research career > M.S. student in any area of Physiology. A graduate student may receive the award only once during his/her graduate training at SIU.
Recent Recipients
2020 - Purab Pal
2018 - Caitlin Stallings
2016 - Chelsea Griffith
2015 - Genna Prather
2013 - Jyoti Kapali
Dr. Varadaraj Chandrashekar Memorial Assitant Supplement Endowment and Fund
This award will provide outstanding graduate or undergraduate students with travel assistantships. Travel may be to a national or international meeting to present data, in which case the student must be first and presenting author on a poster or oral presentation. Funds may also be used for travel for professional development of a student, such as travel to a site for learning a tool relevant to research activities. It is anticipated that travel awards will be < $1,000.
Selection of Recipients
The Physiology Awards Committee (see details in operating document) will select award recipient(s) from submitted applications. Graduate students and undergraduate students, who are in academic good standing and are performing research within the Physiology department at SIU will be eligible to submit an application. The application deadlines will be January 15 and June 15 or the following weekday date. The application will consist of five components: 1) checklist page, 2) a description (< 500 words) of the research to be included in the abstract or a copy of the submitted abstract, 3) details on expected travel costs, 4) a statement (≤ 1page) written exclusively by the student describing his/her involvement in the research project and detailing the impact the award would have on the student’s career development and 5) a letter from the Physiology faculty serving as research mentor commenting on the student’s contribution to the project, level of input to the design and execution of the experiments, overall aptitude for research and rank of the applicant student relative to brightest/strongest students and weakest students in the mentor’s experience. Award will not exceed travel costs. If funds are requested for travel to learn a research tool, the description of research must include information on how this tool will enhance the ability to perform research. A student will be eligible to receive this award two times.
Recent Recipients
2023 - Pratyusa Das, Rupak Thapa
2021 - Pratyusa Das, Natalee Hite
2020 - Purab Pal
2019 - Caitlin Stallings, William Weston
2018 - Mingxin Shi, Nikola Sekulovski, Purab Pal, Deepak Hiremath
2017 - Jyoti Kapali, Mingxin Shi
2016 - Caitlin Stallings
2015 - Anushka Dikshit, Lan Hai
2014 - Anir Ghosh, Anushka Dikshit
2013 - Mallory Lindberg
2012 - Lan Hai
2011 - Jake Jasurda, Daniel Kanak
Chandreshekar Application Form
Florence M. Foote Physiology Scholarship Fund
This scholarship recognizes Florence Foote’s years of commitment to and service in the Physiology Dept. of SIU and is awarded to outstanding graduate or undergraduate students doing research in the Physiology department at SIU. The scholarship award may be used for tuition and/or fees associated with their academic enrollment at SIU. Funds will be deposited into the recipient student’s bursar account. It is anticipated that each award will be $3,000.
Selection of Recipients
The Physiology Awards Committee shall select the recipient of the Florence M. Foote Scholarship from submitted applications. It is anticipated that two awards will be given per year. Graduate students and undergraduate students, who are in academic good standing and are performing research within the Physiology department at SIU will be eligible to submit an application. The application deadline will be February 1 or the following weekday date, if February 1 falls on a weekend or holiday. The application will consist of the following components: 1) application checklist page, 2) a curriculum vitae containing information on research presentations, abstracts, publications and teaching activities (if applicable), 3) unofficial SIU transcript which contains information on classes and grades, 4) a statement (1 page) written exclusively by the student describing his/her research activities in the Physiology department, the applicant’s involvement in the research project and how this scholarship and the research experience will benefit future career plans, 5) a letter from the Physiology faculty member serving as research mentor commenting on the student’s contribution to the project, level of input to the design and execution of the experiments, overall aptitude for research and rank of the applicant student relative to other students in the mentor’s experience. The criteria for review will include research achievements, academic accomplishments and potential impact of award on the student’s career. Preferential consideration will be given to students who have not previously received the Florence M. Foote Physiology Scholarship.
Recent Recipients
2023 - Pratyusa Das, Elana Qasem, Oluwatosin Falayi
2021 - Rupak Thapa
2020 - Natalee Hite
2019 - Purab Pal, Deepak Hiremath
2018 - Nikola Sekulovski, Anna Feliciano
2017 - Caitlin Stallings, Mingxin Shi
2016 - Anushka Dikshit, Genna Prather
Laura L. Murphy Outstanding Physiology Graduate Student Award
This award is to acknowledge a graduate student deemed outstanding in Physiology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. The award will be based on scholarly and research excellence and will be awarded to one student per annum. Any faculty member in the department may nominate a graduate student(s) in the Department of Physiology. The selected student may choose to receive either $1500 for the purchase of supplies, educational materials, and/or equipment to further their research studies, OR they may receive up to $2500 for travel to present their research at a national/international scientific meeting or to attend another venue for research-related training. Travel costs can include abstract submission fee, poster/presentation costs, meeting/ course registration, accommodations, per diem costs and travel. The student will have one year in which to spend their award from July 1 of the year they received the award until June 30 of the following year. During their award year, the student must decide between ‘supplies’ OR travel and cannot receive award money for both. Lastly, the student’s name will be engraved on a plaque located in the Physiology main office.
Selection of Recipients
The Graduate Program Committee will send a request to faculty in the first week of January for nominations. The deadline for receipt of application materials will be February 1 or the following weekday if February 1 falls on a weekend or holiday. The Graduate Program Committee will review nomination packets and will select an outstanding student based on scholarly and research excellence. The nomination letter and CV should include information regarding scholarly activity (i.e. current GPA, success of preliminary exams, quality of seminar presentations, teaching excellence, committee membership, other awards) and research potential, productivity and excellence (i.e. national/international presentations, quality and numbers of publications, research grant submission/awards). This award is not to be political or a popularity contest; it has been established to reward a truly outstanding student. A student can only receive the award once. If an outstanding student cannot be identified, an award does not need to be given that year. The Chair of the Graduate Program Committee will notify the selected student.
Recent Recipients
2019 - Nikola Sekulovski
2018 - Mingxin Shi
2017 - Chelsea Griffith
2016 - Lan Hai