THE HERPETOLOGISTS’ LEAGUE GRADUATE RESEARCH AWARDS

Call for Competitors

The Herpetologists’ League is pleased to announce the 2022 competition for The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award (HLGRA). If you are a M.S. or Ph.D. student who has a completed/nearly completed thesis or dissertation (vs. preliminary results or a side project), then the HLGRA selection committee invites you to consider competing for this prestigious award. To participate, you must (1) be a member of The Herpetologists’ League, (2) be a current graduate student or have completed your graduate degree within 14 months of your presentation, (3) submit an abstract (as the first author and having done the majority of the work) for the 2022 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) indicating your desire to compete for the Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award, (4) submit a brief press release geared to a general audience that highlights the broader relevance of your work to the committee (detailed below), and (5) give the oral presentation at the meeting. Your presentation should be well-organized, set within a broader conceptual framework, and well-rehearsed (i.e., honed by practice and critical feedback from your advisor and others). The student with the top-ranked presentation will receive $750, two years of membership in the Herpetologists’ League, and an invitation to submit a manuscript based on the work presented to Herpetologica or Herpetological Monographs. The Herpetologists’ League will commit to publishing this manuscript (following a successful peer-review process) as the lead paper in an issue and will identify the first author as the winner of the Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award. The committee may also be able to award $250 to the second-ranked presentation. All competitors will receive evaluations and constructive feedback from the judges after the meeting.

Press Release: Potential competitors must submit a brief press release that their department or university might write about their study to promote it for the general public. Thus, your press release should convey the significance and relevance of your work in layperson terms. If selected, your submission may be shared on social media by HL to promote your presentation in advance of the 2022 meeting. Your press release should be written in 12-point font and should not exceed one-half of a single-spaced page (2.5 cm margins). You are more than welcome to reformat statements and/or content directly from your JMIH abstract for use in your press release (no need to reinvent the wheel here!). Submit your completed press release as a PDF (please title the document: ‘Last name HLGRA.pdf”) via email to the chair of the HLGRA committee (contact information below) by the competition entry deadline (tentative deadline: one week after abstracts are due, by end-of-day EST). A maximum of 10 submissions that meet all competition requirements and are considered among the most competitive (based on review of their press release and submitted abstract) will be selected for inclusion in the 2022 competition. Those selected for the competition will be notified via email.

For further information or questions concerning The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award, contact Matt Lattanzio, Department of Organismal and Environmental Biology, Christopher Newport University, 1 Avenue of the Arts, Newport News, Virginia, 23606; (757)-594-7044; matthew.lattanzio@cnu.edu.

The Herpetologists’ League is pleased to announce competitive grants for graduate student research for 2021. These awards are named in honor of the late Ernest E. Williams, the first Distinguished Herpetologist of The Herpetologists’ League.

Overview 

1. An award ($1000.00 maximum amount) will be presented to one winner in each category:   Behavior, Conservation Ecology, Physiology/Functional, Morphology, Diversity/Evolution
2. The application form and rules are also available on the HL web site at https:// org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/eewilliamsgrant2022.pdf
3. Entries must be received by 5 PM Central Time on 15 December 2021.
4. Send complete application (cover page, proposal, budget, CV,) as a single PDF electronically to: Ann Paterson at apaterson@williamsbu.edu. Please put “EE Williams Research Grant” in subject Check if you do not receive a confirmation e-mail within 24 hours
5. One letter of support should be sent, preferably by e-mail, directly by the
6. Proposals will be reviewed by at least two professional scientists, who will provide written feedback by April 2022.
7. Funding dispersed in April 2022 and winners announced at the Herpetologists’League Business Meeting in 2022.

Rules – please read carefully

1. The applicant must be a member in good standing of The Herpetologists’
2. The applicant must be registered and in good standing in a degree-granting program (MS and PhD students are eligible).
3. One proposal per applicant per applicant per year
4. Project must be original work, authored and conducted by the applicant
5. Projects that are already fully supported by other sources are not eligible
6. The proposal category must be clearly designated. However, HL reserves the right to judge proposals under a category different from that requested based on evaluation of the subject matter and the number of proposals received in each
7. Previous winners are NOT eligible for the award in subsequent years
8. A short report (2 pg) summarizing the results of the project and a reprint or .pdf of any publication arising from the project is due to secretary of HL when available

Preparation guidelines (see website for more details)

1. Word limit: 1200 words not including citations, budget, cover page or CV
2. Double spaced, 12 font.
3. Margins: 1 inch.
4. Name the file with your name and category (e.g., “Jane Smith Ecology”).
5. Include the cover page provided at the HL
6. Include a detailed budget, as well as sources and amounts of current and pending support.
7. Clearly designate the proposal category on the cover page (one category only).
8. Arrange in advance for one letter of support to be sent separately by the supporter
9. Include a two-page CV that includes telephone, e-mail, and mailing addresses.

Overview

1. An award ($1000°°) will be presented to one student who is studying the amphibians or

reptiles of the North American Southwest, including the southwestern United States or northwestern Mexico. This research can focus on any aspect of amphibian or reptile biology, including behavior, conservation, ecology, physiology, morphology or systematics.

2. See the HL web site for application form, complete rules and details, along with the cover

page at: https://herpetologistsleague.org/awards/

3. Entries must be received by 1700 h PST (5 pm) on the first Friday of December.

4. Send complete application (cover page, proposal, budget, CV,) as a single PDF electronically

to: Carol Spencer (atrox@berkeley.edu). Please put “Jones-Lovich Research Grant” in the subject line.

5. One letter of support should be sent, preferably by e-mail, directly from the supporter to Carol

Spencer (atrox@berkeley.edu). Usually the letter writer is the student’s main advisor.

6. Proposals will be reviewed by 3-4 professional scientists from the Jones-Lovich Grant Committee, and written feedback via e-mail will be provided to the students by May.

7. Funding will be dispersed in May or earlier in the next year and winners announced at the next Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists.

Rules

1. The applicant must be a member in good standing of The Herpetologists’ League.

2. Both M.S. and Ph.D. graduate students are eligible. The applicant must be registered and in good standing in a degree-granting program.

3. One proposal is allowed per applicant per year (and previous winners may not reapply).

4. The project must be original work that is authored and conducted by the applicant.

5. Projects that are already fully supported by other sources are not eligible.

6. The research must involve amphibians or reptiles that occur in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The animals’ distribution must include at least one of the following states: Arizona, Baja California, Baja California Sur, California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nevada, Nuevo Leon, Oklahoma, New Mexico, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Texas, Utah, or Zacatecas. Desert-living amphibians and reptiles are preferred.

Preparation Guidelines

1. Word limit: 1200 words, not including references, budget, cover page or CV.

2. One-inch margins, with double-spaced, 12-pt font.

3. Include the cover page provided at the HL website.

4. Include a detailed budget for how the money will be used, as well as sources and amounts of current and pending support.

5. Include a reference section.

6. Include a two-page CV that includes applicant’s telephone number, and e-mail and mailing

address.

7. Arrange in advance for one letter of support to be sent separately by the supporter to Carol Spencer (atrox@berkeley.edu).

DOWNLOAD APPLICATION

DOWNLOAD COVER SHEET