The Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution is pleased to announce up to 10 travel grant and mentorship awards for undergraduate students to attend the annual SMBE meeting.
The selected students will participate in a Mentoring and Diversity Program, where by each student will be paired with a mentor to assist them throughout the SMBE meeting. Selection will take into account merit, geographic and other representation. Half of these awards will also be aimed at increasing geographic representation at the SMBE annual meeting.
The goals of this program are:
- to provide students with the opportunity to experience the excitement of attending and presenting at an international scientific conference,
- to foster enthusiasm for molecular biology and evolution as well as a possible career in the field,
- to promote diversity at the SMBE annual meeting.
Eligibility
Applicants must be undergraduate students at the time of application. Masters students under a 3+2 system are also eligible.
Application
Applications are made through the abstract submission system for the annual meeting for which the award applies.
Application Requirements
- an abstract describing your research (<250 words)
- a short explanation of why you want to attend this meeting, including mention of whether you fall into a group traditionally underrepresented at SMBE, such as enrolling in university later in life or being the first in your family to attend university (<250 words)
- a short letter of support from your academic supervisor, confirming that you are undergraduate or a Masters student under 3+2, and that the research is your own (~250 words)
Grant recipients will prepare and present a poster describing their work at the meeting. Instructions for preparing posters along with mentoring will be available for help with poster preparation.
2026 SMBE Undergraduate and Mentoring Award Winners
- Justin A. Chan (University of British Columbia)
- Alejandra Jimenez (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
- Nandini Manepalli (University of Arizona)
- Abril Beltrán Castro (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Mexico)
- Nikol Polakova (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
- Alyssa Cenzano (Arizona State University)
- Mattéo Todaro (Université de Montpellier)
- Alicia Bierly (University of Oregon)
- Alina Fomin (Uppsala University)