Conference poster funding for students

The Center for Social Science Scholarship provides funding for poster printing for students presenting their research at off-campus conferences.

Students who are pursuing a B.A./B.S., M.A./M.S., or PhD in the social sciences at UMBC are eligible.  Students must have already exhausted all other relevant/available university support—including but not limited to such sources as departmental funding and undergraduate research awards—or must provide an explanation as to why existing sources of funding are not available to them.

An individual student may apply for one poster per calendar year.  Awards will be made on a rolling basis and will be offered until the Center’s available funding for this program has been exhausted. Preference will be given to students who have not recently received (within the past 6 semesters) funding from CS3.

***Please note that Fall 2024 funding has been exhausted.***

CS3 will pay for posters from CommonVision directly, or will reimburse students who’ve had posters printed by another approved vendor.  Those details will be discussed after an award has been made.

To be considered, students should submit an email (subject line “Student Poster request”) containing the materials listed below to Amy Barnes, CS3’s coordinator:

  1. Name and date of conference
  2. Acceptance letter from conference
  3. Title of research project
  4. Brief explanation of the precise amount of the request, vendor being used for printing, and why this support would make a difference in the scholarly goals of the applicant. Reference should also be made to which funds the applicant has already used and why no other support is available/sufficient for this need.
  5. Name of advisor or mentor
  6. Additionally, a separate email is required from either the student’s Department Chair, Program Director, or advisor/mentor, affirming that the department is aware of the student’s conference presentation and that all other relevant/available funds have already been tapped. This email must be received before the application can be considered.

Once completed applications are received, materials will be reviewed as soon as possible, and the coordinator will respond with a determination on the request. All efforts will be made to provide a decision to the applicant within two weeks.