Awards, Prizes, Grants

Travel Grants

The Society for the History of Technology normally awards some grants to support travel to its annual meeting. The program is focused on graduate students, independent scholars, and young professionals just beginning their careers, as well as SHOT International Scholars. Eligible members residing outside the US, Canada, and Western Europe are especially encouraged to apply.

The travel fund was initiated by Hugh Aitken in 1988 and has been supported by individual SHOT members, royalties from two anthologies of articles from Technology and Culture, and generous contributions from the Dibner Fund. Additional funds come from the National Science Foundation.

Travel grant funds may be used only for travel expenses and basic conference registration. Grant funds may not be used for tours, the awards banquet, lodging, or meals. SHOT grants are not meant to cover the full cost of attending meetings; they are intended as encouragement, not a complete subsidy. Reimbursement normally will be made upon submission of travel receipts to the SHOT secretary after the meeting; in exceptional circumstances reimbursement may be made in advance of the meeting.

Grants may range up to $750 for travel on the same continent (for example, to Pittsburgh, from within elsewhere in North America) and up to $1,000 for travel from a different continent. Under special circumstances, which should be explained in the application, the committee may make a larger grant for international travel. Amounts depend in part on the number of applications, and the committee may make partial awards.

Please note that HSS and 4S also award NSF grants and that you may not receive more than one travel grant in a calendar year. We regularly receive more grant requests than we can fulfill. Submitting this application does not guarantee that we will be able to reimburse your travel costs.

Eligibility

SHOT's travel grants are intended to assist younger members of the field who face the most severe constraints in finding travel support. The committee considers applicants in this order of priority:
  1. Current SHOT International Scholars
  2. Graduate students
  3. Scholars from outside the United States and Canada and Western Europe who are part of the annual meeting, without regard to their academic rank or position
  4. Postdocs, independent scholars, temporary faculty, adjunct faculty, and part-time faculty (in all cases not more than five years past their terminal degree)
  5. Members of the field who are currently unemployed
  6. Retired members of the society
  7. Assistant professors not more than six years past their Ph.D.

All travel grant recipients must be participating in the meeting program in some capacity. In order of descending priority, the committee will consider whether an applicant is:

  1. Giving a paper and conducting society business, including organizing a session
  2. Giving a paper, including at a "Works-in-Progress" session
  3. Commenting at a session and doing society business
  4. Commenting at a session
  5. Moderating a session and doing society business
  6. Doing society business (serving on a committee, etc.) or moderating a session

Current SHOT International Scholars are strongly encouraged to apply for travel support even if they are not on the program.

Only current SHOT members may apply. If you are not currently a SHOT member, click here to join the society or renew an expired membership. If you are unsure of your current membership status, call the Johns Hopkins University Press Journal Division at 1-800-548-1784 (U.S. and Canada only) or (410) 516-6987 (all others) or e-mail jrnlcirc@jhupress.jhu.edu

Preference will be given to those who have not received a SHOT travel grant in the past.

Application

Application forms are available in PDF or MS Word. E-mail applications are encouraged. Send applications to each member of the selection committee and to the SHOT office at shot@virginia.edu.

Graduate students must have their adviser send a letter or e-mail to the members of the committee and to the SHOT secretary, certifying that the student is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program.

Deadline for 2009 applications is June 1. The Secretary will notify recipients by about August 1.

2009 Committee on Young Scholars Travel Fund

Martina Blum
Münchner Zentrum für Wissenschafts- und Technikgeschichte
c/o Deutsches Museum
80306 München, Germany
t7911ai@mail.lrz-muenchen.de
Barbara Hahn
Texas Tech University
Department of History
PO Box 41013
Lubbock, Texas 79409-1013
b.hahn@alumni.unc.edu
Hugh Gorman
Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and History
Department of Social Sciences
220 Academic Offices
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931
hsgorman@mtu.edu
Vincent Lagendijk
School of Innovative Sciences
Eindhoven University of Technology
IPO 1.15
P.O. Box 513
5600mb Eindhoven
The Netherlands
v.c.lagendijk@tue.nl

For more information, please contact the committee chair or, in the SHOT Secretary's office, Bernie Carlson, 434.975.2190, shot@virginia.edu.