Monsanto Research Grant Award

As of 2015 this award is not being offered again by Monsanto.

Established in 2013, the purpose of the grant is to provide research funds to students that are ESA members and are undertaking a research project.  The applicant must be a candidate for a Master's or doctoral degree at an accredited university and must be an ESA member (this award is not offered to post-doctorals.)  This grant may be used for salaries, equipment, supplies, or travel to initiate, accelerate, augment, or expand a research project.  Five awardees will receive a $5,425 grant and will be presented with the cash prize at the ESA Annual Meeting.  The recipients are encouraged to present the research results at an ESA meeting.  

Please select below to find out more on the award:

Eligibility

Submit a Nominee

Nomination Requirements

Evaluation Criteria

Deadline

Renomination

Notification

Previous Winners
 

Eligibility -
The applicant must be a candidate for a Master's or doctoral degree at an accredited university and must be an ESA member.   The recipient is encouraged to present the research results at an ESA meeting and is required to acknowledge the grant award in any publications resulting from these funds.  This award is not offered to post-doctoral individuals.

Submit a Nominee -
All nomination packages must be submitted electronically to the Monsanto Research Grant Award Award Submission Site according to the following specifications:

  • Page Limits - The entire nomination package must not exceed 20 pages total. This includes letters of nomination or recommendation and publication lists.

  • Letters of nomination and recommendation must be included in the electronic package. Printed letters sent in lieu of electronic versions will not be accepted.

  • Only the following file formats will be accepted: PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format), RTF (Rich Text Format), TIF graphic files, or JPG graphic files. Files created on either PC or MAC platforms will be accepted. Please make sure scanned images can be clearly read on a computer screen.

  • Font size for text may not be smaller than 10 point.

Nomination Requirements-
Nominations may be made by anyone. Please note there is a maximum of two self-nominations allowed per year. Nomination packages for this award must include:

  1. CV-Related Items - Nominators must provide a CV which includes the below sections.  For a full listing of what should be included in each of the sections click here.
  • Section 1 - Background Information
  • Section 2 - Research

    2.  Other Items - 

  • Letter of nomination
  • Title, duration, and background information concerning the significance of the proposed research to the field (one-page)
  • Materials and budget (one-page)
  • Up to three letters of recommendation*

*New This Year - Anonymous support letters are now available.  Follow the below instructions to submit an anonymous letter.

  1. Once the award application has been initiated, contact awards@entsoc.org with the Award ID # , Nominee name, and the letter in PDF format.
  2. Once the letter has been uploaded by the ESA Awards Administrator, the nominator will receive an email notification.
  3. Please note, ESA is not responsible for individuals that do not contact the awards administration by the deadline date. It is up to the nominator to make sure that the individuals email the letter(s) by the deadline date. If an anonymous letter is not received by the deadline this will impact the score of the nominee.

Evaluation Criteria -
Nominees/candidates will be judged using the following criteria for a total of 80 points:

  1. Candidate(40 points total)
    1. Honors, awards, achievements and recognition (10)
    2. Recommendation from professors, advisors, etc. (10)
    3. Grantsmanship (10)
    4. Publications (10)
  2. Proposed Research(40 points total)
    1. Feasibility (10)
    2. Contribution (10)
    3. Creativity and innovation (10)
    4. National impact (10)

Deadline -
Nomination packages must be received by ESA headquarters by July 1. This deadline refers to receipt by the awards administrator of a complete package in a readable format. Therefore, early submission is highly recommended. All nomination packets will not be able to be changed after July 1.

Renomination-
Any candidate nominated, but not selected, may be renominated no more than two times within the two-year period after his/her initial submission. Nomination packages will be retained for two years by the awards administrator. Nominators must send a letter of renomination to the awards administrator by the nomination deadline above. Previously submitted documentation will be used for the evaluation process unless the nominator submits new or updated documents. The renomination e-mail must contain this additional documentation. New or updated documents must follow the electronic submission requirements noted above.

Notification -
The awards administrator will notify all candidates and their nominators with the results of their nomination approximately two months after the nomination submission deadline. 

 

For questions about this award, please click here.

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