Research Grants and Graduate Student Exchange Fellowships
Seed research grants are available for students and young professionals intending to do field-based research, as well as to use the AMNH collections. These include:
- Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grants
- Lerner-Gray Marine Research Grants
- Collection Study Grants
- Sydney Anderson Travel Award
- Maxwell/Hanrahan Travel Grant
- Frank M. Chapman Memorial Grants
Additionally, we have the Kade Fellowship to support graduate student exchanges between AMNH and French or German institutions.
In 2019, AMNH awarded 11 Frank M. Chapman Grants, 28 Lerner-Gray Grants, 34 Theodore Roosevelt Grants, 2 Kade Grants, and 23 Collection Study Grants.
Internship and Student Exchange Programs
Annette Kade Graduate Student Exchange Fellowship Program
The purpose of this program is to partner with French and German institutions to permit an exchange of graduate students (Masters and PhD). This program will allow students to spend 3 months during the year at a selected university in France or Germany or for French and German students to come to AMNH for 3 months. We expect that the students will have the opportunity to explore new cultures and enrich their lives with new contacts and friendships. (*Note: Late applications and applications that do not conform entirely with our specifications will not be considered.)
Read about our Kade Fellows.
Annette Kade Graduate Student Exchange Fellowship Program Application
NOW CLOSED for the 2023-2024 Application Cycle
Anthropology Internship Program
The Anthropology Internship Program offers internships for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in programs in anthropology and related fields to work on projects relating to the collections or to the ongoing research interests of curatorial staff in the museum or in the field.
In addition to Curatorial Research, internships can be considered in collections management, archives, and conservation. Internships are offered for periods ranging from three months to one year depending on the project. Grants provide monthly stipends for periods of two months to one year. The minimum work requirement for a paid internship is two days per week.
See our Internship Program or contact Anita Caltabiano, Director of Internship Program, Division of Anthropology at [email protected]
Grant Programs for Students, Postdoctoral Trainees, and Early Career Research Scientists
The AMNH Grants Program offers modest short term awards to advanced students, postdoctoral trainees, and scientific researchers who are commencing their careers in the fields covered by AMNH. Grants are available from six funds, each having specific missions:
The Frank M. Chapman Grants support and foster research in ornithology, both neontological and paleontological. For information about the ornithology program and applications, please see Ornithology Grants.
Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grants
Early career researchers (including doctoral students) proposing to conduct research in any phase of wildlife conservation or related fields of North American fauna - terrestrial and freshwater (rivers, lakes, streams), extant or fossil - are invited to apply to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grants. North America includes everything north of the Isthmus of Panama, including the Caribbean. Grants made from this program generally range between $500 and $3,500.
Application Exceptions: Applicants submitting research proposals on birds must apply to the Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund Program, not to the Theodore Roosevelt Grants. Applicants submitting research proposals on ocean/sea marine life and environments must apply to the Lerner-Gray Grants, not to the Theodore Roosevelt Grants.
NOW CLOSED for the 2023-2024 Application Cycle
Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research Grants
Open to all early career researchers (including all doctoral students) proposing to conduct research in systematics, evolution, ecology, zoology or paleontology of marine life and environments are invited to apply to the Lerner-Gray Grants for Marine Research. Grants made from this program generally range between $500 and $3,500.
Application Exceptions: Lerner-Gray awards are not made to support research in botany or biochemistry. Applicants proposing to conduct freshwater research in North America must apply to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grants, not the Lerner-Gray Grants.
NOW CLOSED for the 2023-2024 Application Cycle
Collection Study Grants
Enable pre-doctoral, current/recent postdoctoral investigators and other early career research scientists to study the scientific collections at the American Museum of Natural History in in the divisions of Anthropology, Invertebrate Zoology, Physical Sciences, Paleontology, and Vertebrate Zoology. The awards partially support travel and subsistence for scientists on short term AMNH visits. (*Note: Late applications and applications that do not conform entirely with our specifications will not be considered)
NOW OPEN FOR SPRING 2024
2024 Deadline: May 1, 2024; 11:59 PM Eastern Time
Sydney Anderson Travel Award
Made possible by a generous gift from Curator Emeritus Sydney Anderson (1927-2018), this award will support travel costs for two RGGS Comparative Biology Ph.D. students annually during the duration of the gift, for professional development via doctoral program field work or to attend and present at a national or international conference. The Award fosters Dr. Anderson’s wish to provide special assistance to our students for their academic and professional advancement.
Recipients of RGGS Sydney Anderson Travel Award funds must provide a short but compelling report (1-2 pages) on how the funds were spent and what was achieved. They may also be asked to provide a brief note to the donors, describing accomplishments made possible by the award, at the completion of their project. All awardees must acknowledge support from “the Richard Gilder Graduate School Sydney Anderson Travel Award” on their conference presentation(s), publication(s) dissertation, and/or CV, or any other projects or products arising from this Award.
Travel Award
Each award provides up to $2,500, to supplement the student RGGS research budget, and may be used to support the following expenses:
- Transportation (airfare, train, bus, or car mileage)
- Rented Vehicles
- Lodging & Meals
- Registration/Conference Fees
FY2023 Cycle: All travel must take place between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. Awardees currently in their 4th year must complete their travel by August 31, 2023.
Application
- Sydney Anderson Travel Award Cover Page
- Proposal (250 words max)
- Proposed dates of travel
- Budget Form and Justification
- Curriculum vitae
Maxwell/Hanrahan Travel Award
Made possible by a generous gift from The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, this award will support travel costs for biology fieldwork conducted by RGGS Comparative Biology Ph.D. students and RGGS postdoctoral researchers.
The award fosters the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation’s mission to support individual scientists, teachers, conservationists and creators whose diverse perspectives enable us to discover new things about ourselves and our world.
After completing their travel, recipients of Maxwell/Hanrahan Travel Award funds will be asked to provide a brief synopsis of goals and accomplishments, and a personal statement of how they felt that this field experience helped advance their research and career. All awardees must acknowledge support from “the Richard Gilder Graduate School Maxwell/Hanrahan Grant” on their conference presentation(s), publication(s) dissertation, and/or CV, or any other projects or products arising from this Award.
Travel Award
Each award provides up to $2,500 to support fieldwork expenses, including but not limited to transportation to and within the field location, lodging and meals, and research supplies. Note that lab costs, museum collections visits, and conferences will not be funded.
All travel must take place between July 1 and June 30 of the year in which the grant is awarded. Awardees currently in their 4th year must complete their travel by August 31 of that year.
To apply: Please reach out to RGGS at [email protected] for instructions.
Past Award Recipients
2022
Joseph Arguelles
Collection trip to Australia
Title: Pirates of New South Wales: Pirate Spider (Mimetidae) Collection for Genomic, Transcriptomic and Silk Fiber Analysis
Dylan DeBaun
Collection trip to Madagascar
Title: Genomic Consequences of Ancient Hybridization in Malagasy gemsnakes
Jesse Delia
Collection trip to Madagascar
Title: Convergent evolution of biological transparency in ‘glass’ frogs.
Brianna Mims
Field collection trip to Brazil and Belize
Title: Genomic and Morphological Evolution of Arboreality in Imantodini.
Leroy Nunez
Field Collection in Colorado, Maine, and the Midwestern United States
Title: Influence of Landscape Features on the Nerodia sipedon Species Complex
2021
Joseph Arguelles
Field collection trip to Gainesville, Florida
Title: Specimen collection for silk gland and venom gland transcriptomics of Trichonephila clavipes, Hogna lenta and Phidippus regius spiders.
Nayeli Gutierrez
Longhorn beetle collection in Central and Western Mexico
Title: Collecting longhorn beetles to unravel how they are able to eat highly toxic plants
Tobit Liyandja
Field expedition to Upper Lualaba, Mweru-Bangweulu, Sudanic Congo, Upper & Lower Congo Rapids ecoregions
Title: Cryptic diversity, phylogeographic patterns, and adaptive radiation in herbivorous fishes endemic to the Congo Basin.
Johanna Harvey
Latitudinal sampling of birds and avian parasites in Northeast USA and Canada
Title: Chasing down climate change hitchhikers: Declining high latitude birds and associations with their novel malaria parasites.
*International students who have received a grant from AMNH may require a visa to travel to the United States.
For visits of less than 6 months that do not entail salaried employment (honoraria and reimbursements for travel and research expenses are permitted), short-term visas may be appropriate.
Information about short-term visas is available at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html. Citizens or nationals of certain countries may be able to travel without a visa through the Visa Waiver Program. Information is available here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html.