Student Handbook

Grants & Awards

The Fuertes Memorial Prize, sponsored by the Cornell Chapter of Sigma Xi, is awarded for a 10-15 page essay on a scientific or technical topic presented in a popular manner that will be comprehensible to the nonscientific reader ($350 first prize, $150 second prize; deadline is usually in February — watch for announcements).

Graduate Women in Science Award for Excellence. Sponsored by the Cornell Chapter of GWIS, it is for scientific research by female graduate students at Cornell. Abstract deadlines are in early Spring. The winner is chosen from 5 finalists after they present short talks on their research at a meeting in late April. Watch for posted announcements.

The Liu Memorial Award and The Hsien Wu and Daisy Yen Wu Scholarship Endowment Fund are open to students in any field who have completed at least three semesters of graduate study. Preference will be given to graduate students beyond the second year of study who are of Chinese descent irrespective of citizenship. Previous awardees are ineligible. Awards are based on demonstrated academic ability and performance with some consideration given to character and financial need. The Director of Graduate Studies submits a nominating letter, several supporting letters from other faculty members familiar with the student, and any other information which would be helpful to the selection committee in evaluating the student. A student may be asked to compose a brief statement summarizing her/his graduate progress, career plans, etc. Only one nomination per field will be accepted. These nominations are due April 1 and awarded May 1 each year. Although the final dollar amount is decided by a selection committee, past awards have ranged from $1,000 to $3,000.

Both the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Department of MBG each make one award annually to a BMCB graduate student for excellence in teaching. The DGS solicits nominations from faculty of their top teaching assistant of the past year.
The LPS Award was established by Frank Melecca, founder of the LPS company, which sells a variety of products to research labs like those in BMCB. This award is given each year to a BMCB student (and a similar award to a G&D student) who is first author on what is judged to be the “best” paper published in the previous calendar year. All BMCB grad students are eligible, including those who have finished their PhD and left Cornell. The award is $500 in cash, and the winner has his/her name engraved on a plaque in the front office. Next to the plaque is a framed list of all papers first-authored by BMCB students in that year.