Bogner Fund for Student Research
Fund Description
The Earth and Environmental Sciences Department is able to financially support student research thanks to a generous donation from Professor Emerita Jean Bogner. Through the EaES Bogner Fund for Student Research, the department carries forward Professor Bogner’s mission to increase student access to hands-on research, deepen academic engagement, and cultivate creative and critical scientific thinking.
Funds can be used for Independent Research or Travel Support:
1) Independent Research
This award is intended to foster new, independent research, which could be developed in consultation with your faculty research advisor but not be an extension of an existing program. Preference will be given to undergraduate researchers exploring out-of-the-box ideas, though applications from graduate students are welcome if proposing a truly new, novel idea. Students must have found an advisor at the time of the proposal.
2) Travel Support
Research often requires travel, whether to collect data/samples or to present final results, and your advisor may not have funding to support this travel.
Eligibility and Deadline
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All current EaES undergraduate majors and graduate students are eligible and welcome to apply.
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There is a rolling deadline, apply at anytime.
Application Process
Find out all the details to develop your application and submit it.
Proposal
Proposal (3 page maximum), including
- A summary (250 words maximum)
- A description of the project and a justification/rationale
- A justification of the benefit to the applicant and how it would further your career development (less than 500 words)
Work with your faculty research advisor on the structure of your proposal. Proposals for independent research should motivate the problem and the hypothesis to be tested, and provide a discussion of the proposed methods, anticipated results, and a timeline for execution.
The Proposal should be single-spaced, with 12-point font and 1-inch margins.
Budget
Budget, including
- A detailed tabulated budget
- A budget justification (1 page maximum)
This section must include a certification from the advisor that there is no funding specifically intended for the proposed project. Award amounts are capped at $2000. Funds can be used to execute the plan, and can include (but are not limited to) laboratory supplies, software, and travel support. Direct student salary support is excluded.
The budget justification should be single-spaced, with 12-point font and 1-inch margins.
Submit your Application
Deadline: Rolling, applications will be accepted at any time.
Application Submission: Completed applications (Proposal and Budget) can be submitted via email to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), or Department Head.
Review of the proposals will be performed by the DUS, DGS, and Department Head, who will evaluate the merit of the proposal, the benefit to the student, and the reasonableness of the budget (how does the budget reflect the needs of the described project?).
We invite proposers to be creative and see if their needs can be met by the equipment and other elements already available somewhere in the department. We reserve the right to fund at an amount less than proposed.
Proposal Outcomes
At the conclusion of the project, we will require a 1-page (max.) written statement on the outcome of the project and the realized benefit to the student. All publications and presentations resulting from your project should include an acknowledgment to the EaES Bogner Fund for Student Research.
About Dr. Jean Bogner
Jean Bogner is a research professor emerita in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where her work has focused on environmental geoscience and landfill methane emissions. Her research has explored transport and biodegradation processes in soils and sediments, groundwater remediation, and landfill biogas generation and oxidation. Dr. Bogner has also contributed to international field-validated modeling of methane emissions.
Before her academic career, Dr. Bogner spent more than 20 years at Argonne National Laboratory conducting applied research in mined land reclamation, contaminated groundwater, and landfill gas recovery. She also served as the coordinating lead author for the Waste Management chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.