Industry foundation offers grants, scholarships

The Pest Management Foundation, affiliated with the National Pest Management Association, is offering student scholarships and grants for pest management industry-related research.

The foundation’s scholarship program will award up to five $2,000 scholarships to outstanding students at accredited entomology programs at U.S. colleges or universities. In return, scholarship recipients will be asked to provide a letter explaining how the scholarship has helped the in their academic and research endeavors.

Currently enrolled undergraduate (junior or senior year) or graduate students majoring in entomology and focused on urban pest management are eligible. Students must have completed at least two semesters of study with at least one year remaining before graduation. Applicants must be full-time students in good academic standing (3.0 GPA or better on 4.0 scale). Only one scholarship will be awarded per college or university each year.

Application process:

• Submit resume or curriculum vitae.
• Submit current academic transcript.
• Submit a one-page (minimum) essay describing applicant’s professional goals and aspirations and how he/she plans to use their studies to contribute to a field in urban pest management.
• A letter of recommendation from student’s faculty advisor addressing the applicant’s progress in students and/or research, its potential contribution to urban pest management, and his or her work ethic.
• Other supporting documents (research papers and proposals, faculty research participation, related industry internship participation, fellowship projects, industry work experience, etc.) can also be submitted.
• The deadline for the application is Nov. 1, 2021.

For more information and to submit application materials, contact Jim Fredericks via email at jfredericks@pestworld.org.

Research proposal grants

The Pest Management Foundation also plans to award up to $30,000 for pest management industry-related research.

The foundation may choose to fund one or more projects. However, the foundation reserves the right to decline to fund any of the propose submissions.

Each submission should include a one- to two-page preliminary written proposal. Applicability to professional pest control and specific benefits to the pest management industry should be clearly articulated in the proposal. Formatting of the submission is flexible, except that the submissions should not exceed two pages.

Each preliminary proposal must include:

• Name and affiliation of principal investigator.
• An executive summary, succinctly explaining the proposed project.
• A brief explanation of the problem, hypotheses and description of methods and materials.
• A statement of the objectives/goals of the research.
• A brief timetable outlining project milestones. Proposed projects must reach completion within 18 months of being awarded the grants, although no-cost extensions may be available on a case-by-case basis.
• Total grant award requested. Note: 75 percent of the grant total wll be dispersed at the onset of the project; the remaining 25 percent will be paid upon completion of the final research report to the foundation.
• Note: Funds will be distributed by the foundation will be allocated specifically for direct costs associated with conducting, analyzing and reporting data and conclusions. Administrative fees proposed shall be used for direct administrative support on the project. Funding allocated for indirect costs, such as non-project administrative fees or general university fees shall not exceed five percent. All funding shall be subject to audit by the foundation or assigned third parties.

The deadline for submitting preliminary proposals is Nov. 1, 2021. Proposals should be submitted to Jim Fredricks via email at jfredericks@pestworld.org.