Karin Grunebaum Career Catalyst Awards RFA

Overview
The Cancer Biology training program at Harvard Medical School announces the pilot phase of the Karin Grunebaum Career Catalyst Awards (KGCCA) for graduate students. The Karin Grunebaum Career Catalyst Awards are designed to support student professional development training by providing opportunities to enhance and expand the scope of their research through new collaborations, skills and knowledge.

The KGCCA pilot phase aims to fund student-conceived proposals that complement, and directly impact their ongoing thesis research, or bring new approaches to the research questions through establishing collaborations. With funds provided by a generous gift from the Karin Grunebaum Cancer Research Foundation, the KGCCA pilot phase will fund proposals of up to $2,000 for professional development training opportunity. Note that we encourage all applications that request any amount of funding that is up to $2,000.

The professional development training opportunity (e.g., a conference or a course that is beneficial for the thesis research) should

  • Directly complement the ongoing thesis project
  • Bring new approaches to the research questions by facilitating interactions and/or collaborations with individuals outside of one’s field of research, or
  • Allow students to learn new research skills

Eligibility
To be eligible, students must be current graduate student in one of the GSAS programs with the research focus in the area of cancer biology.  The graduate student thesis advisor(s) for the submitting applicant will be asked to confirm that the proposed professional development training opportunity will specifically benefit the applicant's research. International students are eligible to apply.  

Application materials and instructions

  • Curriculum vitae
  • One-page proposal describing briefly the professional development opportunity you want to participate in, and what is its purpose, for example:
    • How will this opportunity complement your current research? Or, 
    • How will this opportunity allow you to explore additional questions and pursue collaborations outside of your field? 
  • Itemized list of proposed spending of the award (estimate is acceptable)
  • Letter of support from applicant’s thesis advisor (submitted separately by the advisor)

Application materials and advisor’s support letter should be submitted via email by the deadline end of the day Sunday December 5 to Jelena_Patrnogic@hms.harvard.edu with the subject line: Karin Grunebaum Career Catalyst Awards pilot phase application.

Review and Funding Timeline
Following the application submission deadline, applications will be reviewed for qualification and ranked by members of review committee. Announcement of award receipt will occur on or by Monday December 20. The funds will be available after the announcement, and are to be used during the 2021/2022 academic year.

Post-Award/Expectations
The awardees are expected to participate and present their work during the Karin Grunebaum Research Competition that is being held annually.

Contact
If you have any questions, contact Jelena_Patrnogic@hms.harvard.edu.
 

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