A few updates on the upcoming Polar Radar Science and Technology Conference:

Announcements

After receiving some fantastic feedback to the questionnaire, we have settled on dates/times for the conference based on community feedback. The conference will be held virtually on February 23-25, 2022 from 11am-3pm EST (8 am- 12 pm PST; 4 pm- 8 pm GMT). We plan to host a recap session on Monday, February 28th (11 am-3 pm EST;8 am- 12 pm PST; 4 pm- 8 pm GMT) to follow up on takeaways from the conference. We look forward to seeing many of you there! 

For more information about the goals, schedule, and expected outcomes from this conference, please check out the website or enter: https://climatechange.new.umaine.edu/prstconference/

Conference Grant - eligible expenses 

This ‘travel’ grant provides financial assistance for attendees of this virtual conference and is eligible for U.S.-based participants (Excluding participants from the University of Maine). A grant up to $600 USD will be allocated to reimburse costs associated with attending this conference for 15 participants or more, depending on need. Eligible costs include purchasing or renting equipment (WiFi, laptop, microphones, headphones, software, etc.), transportation costs to access technology, housing to access technology, dependent/child care, unpaid leave/lost wages as well as other associated costs. Upon participation in the conference and a brief report with expense budget, the grant will be disbursed to those awarded. 

Evaluation criteria 

We are following the format of the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) student travel grants to award attendees for the upcoming conference. Grants will be awarded based on the following: applicants from underrepresented backgrounds in the Earth and Climate sciences, applicants who demonstrate financial need, and early-career applicants. Applicants who move through the first round of selection will then be reviewed with the following criteria: 

1. Relevance of radar within your research or field of study 

   1. highly relevant - specifically using radar technology/data 

   2. relevant - relying on partial datasets 

   3. moderately relevant - relating other observations to radar technology/data 

   4. not relevant - no relevant links observed in application

2. Career stage (prioritizing underrepresented early career vs. mid to later stage career)

3. Potential for broader impacts, post-conference (interactions with other community members after the conference is gauged as low, medium, or high) 

Please submit a brief write up addressing the above criteria and include information related to eligible costs to the following email addresses:

scampb64[at]maine.edu

zcourville[at]gmail.com

scott.braddock[at]maine.edu