ENSO Travel Grants
ENSO awards semesterly travel grants for students who need assistance funding their travel to conferences or professional development opportunities. The current grant schedule for 2025-2026 is as follows:
- Fall 2025 - 2 grants of $400 each
- Spring 2026 - 1 grant of $400, 4 grants of $400 (entomology games team)
- Summer 2026 - 1 grant of $400
More information on how to apply, evaluation criteria, and how to participate in entomology games can be found below.
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How to apply
Applications can be submitted using the following Qualtrics form: https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ehpPi6xbEK0F1kO
If you have any questions about the application form or the review process, please email Miranda Barnes.
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Evaluation criteria
Applications will be evaluated based on four criteria:
- Previous receipt of funding from departmental travel grants. Students who have not previously received travel grants through the ENSO application process or through the Entomology Games Team will be given priority over students who have previously applied for and received money, regardless of the quantity/quality of other application materials.
- Entomology and Nematology Student Organization (ENSO) General Body Meeting attendance over the previous two semesters. For Fall 2025 applications, this would apply to attendance in Spring 2025 and Summer 2025. Every meeting attended (on Zoom or in person) adds one point to your overall application score. We will verify your attendance with organizational records.
- Participation in departmental outreach events (both Gainesville and REC) over the previous two semesters. For Fall 2025 applications, this would apply to attendance in Spring 2025 and Summer 2025. Every outreach event attended adds one point to your overall application score. We will verify your attendance with departmental records.
- Short application essay and budget. All applications should include a short essay (1-2 paragraphs) describing the purpose of the conference, workshop, etc. and how it would contribute to your professional development and/or research, as well as a budget breaking down travel expenses for the trip. The quality of these materials (i.e., ability to describe the activity free of technical jargon, justification of how the travel grant is important to your professional development, detail and quality of budget submitted) will be scored in the event of a tie to decide between applicants based on a modified version of the Graduate Student Council travel grant application rubric.
You will also be asked to provide basic information on graduation year, type of degree, Gainesville or REC, etc. to help us evaluate whether this system fairly serves different segments of our graduate student population. These questions will not be used to score your application.
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Entomology Games
In addition to awarding general travel grants for which all graduate students are eligible, ENSO also partially funds travel for students who are part of the UF Entomology Games team. The Entomology Games are a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams. Students compete yearly at their local branch conference (ESA Southeastern Branch) for an opportunity to compete at the national ESA conference. For more information on Entomology Games, please see the ESA Website.
If you're interested in joining the UF Entomology Games team, please reach out to the team coaches Dr. Estelle Martin and Dr. Amanda Hodges