GRAC Research & Travel Funds

The Department has limited funds available to reimburse student research and travel expenses. Apply here (applications are due on the last Monday of each month). GRAC Travel Awards can only be applied for before the meeting and travel takes place.

These funds may not be sufficient to provide all students with an award each year.

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Eligibility/Requirements:

  • A current Annual Review on file is required to be eligible for a GRAC.
  • The student must be in good standing with the department.
  • In general, students in their sixth year of the program will be given lower priority than students in their first 5 years of graduate study.
  • Students beyond their sixth year are not eligible for support.
  • Receipts are required after approval of GRAC application.

GRAC will evaluate applications in terms of:

  • student need
  • significance of the award to the student's career
  • alternative funding sources available
  • number of years in the program

All applications should be signed by the student's faculty mentor and then submitted to Monica Albe, the Graduate Student Services Advisor. GRAC applications and reimbursement requests must be received by June 30th of the academic year you are applying for (eg: due June 30, 2022 for 2021-2022 funds).

Contact the Monica Albe for questions regarding the application process or eligibility criteria.

Graduate Student Research Funds

Students may request up to $300 per fiscal year (1 July - 30 June) to support dissertation research. The purpose for which funds will be used should be integral to the dissertation research - “side” projects will not be supported.

Appropriate expenses include:

  • supplies
  • small items of equipment
  • costs associated with field research

Applications should include:

  • a brief description of the proposed research
  • a budget
  • justification for the proposed use of Departmental funds

Graduate Student Travel Funds

Students may request up to $250 per fiscal year (1 July - 30 June) to help defray travel and lodging costs while attending meetings. These funds are intended only for travel to scientific meetings at which the student will present a poster or paper. 

Applications need:

  • to be submitted PRIOR TO the meetings for which funds are requested.
  • to include an official confirmation (copy of page from program book, written or email confirmation from meeting organizers) that the poster or paper has been accepted for presentation.
  • once approved by the IB department, the reimbursement can only be processed AFTER the conference
     

Once a GRAC application is approved:


GRAC Reimbursement 

This information is for students who have received notification from the IB Department that their GRAC application has been approved. Be sure to save all your materials for the reimbursement process. For travel, you cannot be reimbursed for any travel-related purchases until after the event is over. For research supplies, you can either set it up as a purchase in BearBuy (group all associated items for purchase into one cart, assign the cart to Monica Albe for approval), or purchase the items yourself and submit for reimbursement.

For all GRAC reimbursements:

  1. Once your GRAC has been approved, Monica will send you a link to an online submission form (for your reimbursement).
  2. All materials to be submitted need to be saved as PDFs.
  3. If your GRAC was for travel, you will need the appropriate campus reimbursement form to submit with the form:
    1. Domestic Travel Form
    2. International Travel Form
    3. Entertainment Form (for groceries/food purchases)
  4. Have any associated receipts
  5. Have your original GRAC application that had been approved by the department 

During the Fall and Spring semesters, GRACs are reviewed after the last Monday of each month. (In the summer months, faculty availability for review of applications is less predictable due to travel/field work schedules). Approved GRAC recipients will then be notified and be sent a reimbursement/purchasing submission link. Once the materials have been submitted into the Berkeley systems you will then have a reimbursement tracking code, so you can check to make sure it went through. If you don't receive your money within 1-2 weeks after receiving a tracking number from the reimbursements submission please check in with her for a status update.