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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 for a maximum grant of $2000, constrained of course by funding made available by the AAPG Foundation.
The 2005 application class completes the 49th year of the AAPG Foundation Grants in Aid program. In that time, over 2.4 million dollars has been granted to fund 2,162 high quality Masters and PhD student research projects throughout the world. An AAPG Grants in Aid Grant is one of the most competitively earned and prestigious funding programs in the earth sciences.
This year marks the first year which both the student submissions as well as Committee review were completed online. International student access to the internet has not been a significant problem, which was an initial concern in the transition from paper to online. For the Committee, the online review process has significantly increased the Committee members’ participation and allows for the continued broadening of the Committee 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 three hundred three (303) applications from schools in twenty-seven (27) countries for review this year, total applications down slightly, but within ten percent of the previous year.
Eighty-eight (88) monetary awards, twenty-nine percent (29%) of the all applicants, were made to the top scoring eligible applicants, in sum, $154,975. Restricted and Named Grants were again awarded this year to the top scoring, eligible applicants. The average grant was $1,781, a slight increase from the previous year. In each of the past four years, grants have consistently averaged between $1,700 and $1,800.
One hundred and fifty-one (151) doctoral candidates and one hundred and fifty-two (152) master's candidates applied for grant funds. The final grant award population was thirty-nine percent (39%) doctoral candidates and sixty-one (61%) master's candidates. This does not reflect the competitive ranking, rather This forced split is in an effort to comply with the Committee mission statement mandate of one-third doctoral and two-thirds masters, a directive to address a perceived lack of institutional funding at the masters level, the traditional working degree for a petroleum geologist.
Half the applications received were from non-U.S. citizens. Two-thirds (66%) of the applicants are attending schools within the US. Grant awards generally mirror this distribution, as they have in recent previous years. Twenty-six (26) of the eighty-eight (88), or twenty-nine percent (29%) of the grant awards were made to non-us schools; Australia (5), Canada (8), China (2), France (1), Germany (1), Nigeria (3), Poland (1), Saudi Arabia (1), South Africa (1), United Kingdom (3), United States (62).
Of the total $154,975 amount awarded, $80,325 was provided by the Foundation Grants-in-Aid Fund and $74,650 was from AAPG Foundation "Named Grants" honoring institutions and distinguished AAPG members. Two (2) new named permanently funded grants were established within the AAPG Foundation and made available for the 2005 award year, the J. Ben Carsey, Sr. Memorial
Grant and the Wallace E. Pratt Memorial Grant.
The Grants in Aid program continues to seek avenues to reach out to students and AAPG members. Specific growth areas of attention are to increase coordination with other student related committees, principally through the SFCC monthly phone conference and 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 to facilitate recognition, communication and collaboration between the membership and the future membership, AAPG community growth.
The list of the year 2005 award recipients was announced at the AAPG Annual Convention in Calgary and made available on the AAPG Web site at http://foundation.aapg.org/gia/current_recipients.cfm. Abstracts of funded research of students who received financial grants in 2005 will be published in electronic form in 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 2004-05 program year, the Committee comprised 49 members with geographic representation from the Australia (3), Bulgaria (1), Canada (1), United Kingdom (3), Netherlands (1), Nigeria (1), Saudi Arabia (2), Thailand (2), Ukraine (1), and U.S. (32, of which 10 have strong affiliation with International Regions).
Many people deserve recognition for their role in making the Grants in Aid Program a success in 2005: 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. 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.
Respectfully,
Peter MacKenzie, Chair and
Anne Fix, Vice Chair
Kevin S. Meyer, Vice Chair
Committee Members: Nadeem Ahmad, George K. Ajdanlijsky, Adebayo O. Akinpelu, Aus Al-Tawil, George Ardies, Cesar A. Ardiles, Ralph W. Baird, Laura Beall, Ted Beaumont, Monika Cogoini, Denise M. Cox, Anita E. Csoma, Andrew Cullen, Stephen C. Edwards, Amanda Ellison, Lee Hamlin Fairchild, Roy Fitzsimmons, N.J. (Anne) Fix, Bret J. Fossum, Thomas H. Fraser, Anthony J. Grindrod, George Grover, Edgar Guevara-Sanchez, Alexander Gumen, Denise N. Hodder, Jean Hsieh, Gary H. Isaksen, Kenneth G. Johnson, Brian D. Keith, Alexander Kitchka, Andy Klein, Larry M Knox, Henry A. Legarre, Peter MacKenzie, Kevin S. Meyer, Amy Osborn, Eric C. Potter, Surawit Pradidtan, Mihaela S. Ryer, Kenneth M. Schwartz, David J. Sivils, Neil S. Summer, James Turner, Mike Unger, Johnnie P. Wanger, Julia Wellner, Beth Witton-Barnes, Christoper K. Zahm, and Laura C. Zahm
