Sea-Bird and WET Labs
Student Equipment Loan Program
September 2010

Print version          Poster with general information

This document describes a Student Equipment Loan Program that is offered jointly by Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc. and WET Labs, Inc. The purpose of this program is to grant a loan of equipment free of charge to qualified graduate students studying in the United States for original research projects either suggested by the student investigator or in response to a periodic ‘Request For Proposal’ (RFP) on a particular subject posted by Sea-Bird and WET Labs.

1. This program is limited to graduate students studying at a university in the United States. Grants will be made for the study of environmental variables in oceans, estuaries, rivers, lakes, and laboratory settings. Proposals may request equipment for study periods up to one year in length. It is expected that a minimum of four awards will be made in each calendar year.
    
2. Proposals can be submitted in two ways:

1. By 31 December of each year in response to the annual grant program for a field of study chosen by the student. Awards of grants under the annual grant program will be made by 15 February.
2. In response to RFP issued by the manufacturers for a specific field of study. A RFP will contain details of the research being requested and proposal submission and award timelines.

3. Proposals will be judged on:

1. Scientific Merit,
2. Innovative Spirit,
3. Demonstrated need for the equipment, and
4. Ability to obtain quantifiable results within a defined deployment or study period.

4. Proposals should be contained in a single PDF file no more than 8 pages in length. The proposal could contain the student’s CV and a detailed description of the intended research plan including:

1. Scientific hypothesis,
2. Analysis methods, 
3. Detailed description of the Sea-Bird and/or WET Labs equipment needed,
4. Deployment or study start date, duration, and location,
5. Detailed plan for recovery and safekeeping of the equipment,
6. Estimated date that the equipment will be returned to the manufacturers. and
7. Additional support or training required from the manufacturer(s). 

The PDF file should be named using the student’s and university’s name using the format FirstLastname_Universityname.pdf. Proposals or questions concerning this program should be e-mailed to seabird@seabird.com and sales@wetlabs.com.

5. While no hard limits are imposed, proposals should be for modest amounts of equipment. Sea-Bird and WET Labs reserve the right to limit the type and amount of equipment granted to any proposal. A single proposal can request equipment from both or either of the manufacturers.
    
6. Student investigators accepting a grant are expected to provide WET Labs and Sea-Bird with a final report of their project within three months after the field or lab studies are completed.
    
7. At the conclusion of the project, each proposal is eligible for a grant of $1,000 for travel by the student to a national conference to present the results of their investigations. The $1,000 grant will be provided upon proof of an accepted abstract at an approved conference. In exchange for the travel grant, the student presenter is expected to acknowledge Sea-Bird and WET Labs in their presentation. In addition, upon request the student will provide their data to the manufacturers for use in product development and sales/marketing efforts.

Last modified: 04-Oct-2010

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