By Ellen Preece and Frank Wilhelm
The continued success of the silent and live auctions at the annual WALPA conference directly benefits our students and our broader community! The board is pleased to announce that WALPA’s two student scholarships (the Nancy Weller and Dave Lamb Memorial Scholarships) will increase to $1,500 each, and now include additional funds to cover registration and two nights’ accommodation for each recipient at the annual meeting. We are also excited to announce a new scholarship that will provide a lake association representative funds for registration and accommodation at the annual conference. Please thank and continue to support our sponsors and donors who make this program so successful — and encourage students and lake associations to apply for these funds.
Student scholarships will be awarded to further our understanding of the limnology, hydrology, ecology, and management or restoration of lakes and watersheds in Washington or Idaho. Students must be part- or full-time undergraduate or graduate students at an accredited college or university in Washington or Idaho. Recipients shall use scholarship funds to cover expenses directly related to their research. Students are expected to attend the annual conference to present their research findings and interact with the WALPA membership.
The lake association scholarship is intended to allow members of a lake association to send a representative to the annual conference to learn from our presenters and sponsors, and network with WALPA members, to take information back to their association. The recipient will be expected to give a short presentation at the conference business lunch on the lake association and its goals and to write a short article for Waterline after the conference summarizing their experience.
All scholarship applications will be reviewed by the Scholarship Committee, composed of individuals from academia, industry and government. Committee members who have a personal or institutional affiliation with the applicant will not judge that applicant. Student scholarship winners will be selected based on the quality of their research topic, its significance to lake science as described above, and its relevance to the applicant’s interests and career goals. Lake association applicants will be chosen based on financial need and the aspirations of the association.
Student applicants must provide a one page statement of personal and research interests. The statement must explain why the proposed research is important to the field of limnology and/or watershed management, include career goals, and explain the intended use of scholarship funds. In addition, students should include a one page resume and recent transcripts of all college/ university course work (transcripts need not be official copies). A recommendation from someone in the applicant’s field of study is encouraged, but not required.
Lake association applicants, please visit www.walpa.org to fill out the lake association scholarship application form and save it to your computer. As part of the application, please also write a one page letter describing your role in the association, its size, annual income from membership, and current activities. Most important, your application must outline the association’s direction and goals. Applicants should also clearly state how attending the conference will help the association and how information obtained at the conference will be shared with their membership. Note that the application form requires a letter of reference as well.
Student Scholarship
All applicants should send materials in a single Adobe Acrobat PDF file clearly identified by the applicant’s last name to Frank M. Wilhelm, chair of the Scholarship Committee, at fwilhelm@uidaho.edu. Reference letters should be sent as PDF files directly to the committee chair. Applications are due by 17:00 PDT on April 17, 2015. The Scholarship Committee will contact applicants in mid to late May to let them know their application’s status. See https://www.walpa.org/student-scholarships/ for more information on student scholarships.
Lake Association Scholarship
A qualified applicant must be an active member of a lake association organization or community group who is willing to attend the 2015 WALPA conference in Walla Walla. All applicants should send materials as described above in a single Adobe Acrobat PDF file clearly identified by the applicant’s last name to Frank M. Wilhelm, chair of the scholarship committee, at fwilhelm@uidaho.edu. Applications are due by 17:00 PDT on June 5, 2015. The Scholarship Committee will contact applicants in mid to late July to let them know the status of their application. More information on the new lake association scholarship is available with the application form at: https://www.walpa.org/lake-association-scholarships/
