Guidelines to Establish a Student Travel Fund

• Contact the APS Foundation Chair​ and APS Vice President of Finance of your interest in establishing a fund and for the fund contract​. 
• Collect $5,000 for the fund to create an APS Foundation account.
• The following will be​ submitted to APS Foundation​: ​
  
• APS Foundation ​Student Travel Fund Contract​ 
  
• One-page biography and colored headshot high resolution photo of the individual(s) for which the fund is being named. (high resolution photo to be sent as a separate file saved as eps, tif or jpg format) 
• $5,000 initial fund contribution
• An acknowledgement of the receipt of these funds will be made to the donor by the APS Foundation. All such donations are tax deductible since the APS Foundation is a 501c3 organization.
• The receipt of $5,000 and the contract confirms a fund account with the APS Foundation, however a total of $20,000 needs to be in the account to be fully funded. Once fully funded, it will be distributed each year to a qualified APS Student Member to support their travel to an APS annual meeting.
  
• To encourage donations to the fund, the APS Foundation will publicize the new fund in APS member communication avenues such as the member newsletter Phytopathology News and other promotions. 
  

Student Travel Fund Selection Process

The APS Graduate Student Committee along with members from the Foundation Board will review applications and select qualified APS Student members to receive funding. Matching students to a specific travel fund area (e.g. Forest Pathology) is done when possible based upon the eligible applicants. 

During the APS annual meeting, students receiving travel funding are acknowledged and celebrated. Each recipient is also provided with a biography of the person for whom their specific travel fund is named, and are encouraged to acknowledge​ the honoree or the fund organizer to show their appreciation for receiving travel support.