Annual Report 2012: FY July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012
Grants In Aid Committee
The purpose of the AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid program is to foster research in the geosciences by providing support to graduate students in the earth sciences whose research has application to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-minerals resources, and to related environmental geology issues. A comprehensive and rigorous application and review process identifies the most deserving applicants who are eligible. This year the maximum grant was $3,000. The number and total dollar amount of grants is constrained by funding made available by the AAPG Foundation in the form of Restricted and Named Grants, and regular funding.
The 2012 application class completes the 56th year of the AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid program. The program is one of the most competitive and prestigious funding programs in the earth sciences.
Awards Summary
2012 was the 8th year that student submissions and Committee reviews were completed online. We have continued to make adjustments and improvements to the online application process. The overall quality of student applications has steadily improved. For the Committee, the online review process has facilitated greater input and continued broadening of the Committee’s demographics. It is simple, accessible, and convenient. The online review process is an extremely valuable tool for the efficient and effective implementation of the Grants-in-Aid Program.
The Committee received 308 applications, down from the 414 applications received in 2011. Applicants from 38 countries were represented this year, down from 40 in 2011. Although the number of countries is down slightly we have been successful in increasing demographic diversity of applications Restricted and Named Grants were again awarded this year to the top scoring, eligible applicants. A total of $175,000 was granted, down from $179,000 awarded last year. The 84 monetary awards, or 30% of the application pool, were made to the top scoring eligible applicants, and is on par with 82 awards in 2011. However, the average grant was $2,083, down slightly from $2,183 in 2011,
Out of the 308 applications 133 doctoral candidates and 144 masters candidates were considered for grant funds. The final grant award population for 2012 was 48% doctoral candidates and 52% masters candidates.
Forty percent of the applications received in 2012 were non-U.S. citizens, down from 45% in 2011. Seventy-four percent of the applicants are attending schools within the United States. However, 83% of this year's awards were made to applicants attending U.S. schools and only 17% to non-US schools. While we are pleased to see an overall increasing number of international applications over the past several years, we will continue to pursue avenues to increase the international visibility of the program.
Funding
Of the total $179,000 funds available for awards in 2012, $64,750 was provided by the Foundation Grants-in-Aid Fund and $112,250 was from AAPG Foundation "Named Grants" honoring institutions and distinguished AAPG members. Two new named permanently funded grants were established within the AAPG Foundation and made available for the 2012 award year: Harry and Joy Jamison Named Grant - A student at Oregon State University, and the Meckel Family Named Grant - Any student from Rice University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Montana at Missoula, University of Texas at Austin, OR ETH at Zurich - studying depositional environments/process in clastics or carbonates (modern or ancient).
The Grants-in-Aid program continues to seek avenues to connect students and AAPG members. Ongoing coordination with other student related committees will be promoted, in part through the facilitation of the Committee Manager for Student Focus Programs. We also hope to increase awareness of the Grants-in-Aid program among the AAPG members, sections, associated societies and affiliated societies. By identifying awardees to their home societies we hope to facilitate recognition, communication and collaboration between the membership and the future membership of AAPG, building upon the AAPG community.
The 2012 grant awards were announced at the AAPG Annual Convention in Long Beach, California and are available on the AAPG Foundation website at http://foundation.aapg.org/gia/current.cfm. Abstracts of the funded research of students who received grants in 2012 will be published in electronic form on AAPG Search and Discovery. Publication of the abstracts increases the visibility of the Grants-in-Aid Program, provides prestige and publicity to award recipients, and informs the membership of student research being supported by the Foundation.
Committee
For the 2011-2012 program year, the Committee was comprised of over 50 members with representation from around the world. We continue to broaden the demographics of the Committee through international recruiting.
Many people deserve recognition for their role in making the Grants-in-Aid Program a success in 2012: the AAPG Foundation and individual donors for their generous financial contributions; Committee members, for thoughtful review of applications and their suggestions for improving the program; and the AAPG Foundation staff who are responsible for administration of the Grants-in-Aid Program. Natalie Adams, Jane Terry, and Tamra Campbell have proven to be a valuable member of the AAPG Foundation to the Grants-in-Aid team. We wish to thank you all for your contributions, and your dedication continues to uphold the excellence of the AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid program.
David J. Sivils, Chair
Andy Klein, Vice Chair
Committee members: Denise Hodder, Josh Hickman, Larry Knox, Johnnie P. Wanger, Andy Klein, Mary A. Parke, Roy Fitzsimmons, Peter MacKenzie, Eric C Potter, Kevin Barnes, Jean C. Hsieh, Ian Cross, Mihaela Ryer, Denise M. Cox, Nancy J. Fix, Raymond A. Garber, George A. Grover, Jr., Michael Nix, Matthew Buoniconti, Kevin Keogh, Mike Unger, Lee Fairchild, Kenneth Schwartz, Andrew Cullen, Anthony Grindrod, James W. Turner, Cesar Ardiles, Raul Cabrera-Garzon, Julia Wellner, George Ardies, Alexander M. Gumen, Loic Bazalgette, Richard W.W. Lovell, Victoria L. French, Andrei Panaiotu, April Parsons, Henry Legarre, Ralph Baird, Christopher Zahm, Amy L. Osborn, John Steinmetz, Jesse White, Nadeem Ahmad, Adebayo Oladele Akinpeluo, Robert Corwin, Ameera Al Mustafa,Aus A. Al-Tawil, Edgar H Guevara, Kevin Meyer, Robert Corwin, Ben Kilhams, Neil Barnes, and Alexander Kitchka