Tulane's Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (OGPS), in cooperation with the Graduate Studies Student Association (GSSA), awards a limited number of travel grants for graduate students to present at a professional conference. These awards are for all students represented by GSSA (students in the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science and Engineering) as well as PhD students from other schools who are presenting their research.
Requests for funds must be received before travel is initiated, by the due dates below. Funds may be requested before receiving a formal acceptance to present, in which case a conditional award is made. Eligible travel costs include airfare, conference registration, and transportation (parking, taxi, rental car, train pass etc.). Lodging and food are not covered by this fund. Travel funds are also available through some Dean's Offices as well as other student government groups like the Biomedical Sciences Student Association (BMSSA).
Students are eligible for awards of up to $500 per academic year. The following grant options are available.
- $500 once per year or $250 twice per year for presenting at a conference.
- $200 once per year for attending a conference. You can use one $200 attending award and one $250 presenting award in a year.
Funds will be proportionally distributed each semester among all applicants; award amounts may very each semester; the amount listed above is the maximum amount that may be received, but does not guarantee that funding amount. Awards are not competitive and funding is allocated based on the number of applications received and the funds available.
Application materials are available on the GSSA website.
Applications are accepted three times per year:
- August 15 for travel in the fall (September through December)
- December 15 for travel in the spring (January through April)
- April 15 for travel in the summer (May through August)
Note: an application should be submitted by the appropriate deadline even if acceptance notification is pending. In these cases, OGPS and GSSA can make conditional grants contingent upon receipt of notification. If the paper/poster is not accepted, the grant will be withdrawn.
Applications should be submitted via the GSSA website by 5:00 p.m. on the due date. Awards will be announced via e-mail approximately two weeks after the deadline.
The travel grants are awarded on a reimbursement basis to the awardee. The GSSA/OGPS Travel Award only reimburses transportation and registration costs. Keep all ORIGINAL receipts from your trip and submit them to OGPS by email within 14 days of completing travel; failure to do so may result in a forfeiture of your travel award.
Airfare must be booked by students through Concur. If you are seeking reimbursement for your airfare, you will need to submit your boarding passes and flight itinerary from Concur including pricing.
Please assemble your reimbursement packet as indicated on the Travel Reimbursement Checklist. The Travel Itemization Form should be filled out according to the example. Please do not put your SSN on forms. Submit your assembled reimbursement packet to your GSSA Representative, who will approve and forward it to OGPS. Students who are not represented by GSSA should email their completed packets directly to OGPS.
It takes approximately 2-4 weeks for the Accounting Office to process reimbursements after they have been submitted. Checks will be mailed to the address listed on the reimbursement form unless otherwise stated.
