The NAMS awards committee is pleased to announce travel support for US-based undergraduate and graduate students to attend ICOM 2026 (San Antonio, TX) from July 18-25, 2026.  These travel awards, generously sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF),  will provide a total of $1250 to each student. This is anticipated to cover the conference registration cost and 2-3 nights of hotel stay. About 10 undergraduate and 30 graduate students are expected to be selected for these awards.

Eligibility guidelines

  • Each research group can nominate a maximum of 1 graduate student and 1 undergraduate student for these awards.  Priority for selecting undergraduate students will be given to groups from which no graduate students have been selected

  • Recipients of other 2025 NAMS fellowships/awards (Elias Klien, Student fellowships etc.) are not eligible for these awards

  • Students must be from US-based institutions; permanent residency/citizenship not required

  • Undergraduate and graduate students applying for this award must be currently enrolled in their degree programs

  • Undergraduate students need not have prior background/experience in membrane science

Travel award application process – due by January 31, 2026

The following documents must be submitted to isabel.escobar@uky.edu to be considered for these awards: 

  • 1–2-page curriculum vitae

  • Abstract(s) for planned poster and/or presentations for ICOM 2026

  • Research dossier (maximum 2 pages with references) 

  • Use “NSF Undergraduate and Graduate Student Travel Awards for ICOM 2026” as the email subject line

For graduate students: Explaining the intellectual merits and broader impacts of the work to be presented at ICOM. If the student is planning to present on multiple topics, only one of the topics should be chosen for this research dossier. 

Intellectual merits : 1. Background and importance of work; 2. Novelty of the approach; 3. Key findings (if any); and 4. Conclusions and future work. 

Broader impacts : Explain the broader impacts of the work in terms of perceived societal impacts and benefits to the field of separations and membrane science 

For undergraduate students: 

Intellectual merits : 1. Background of work; 2. Methods and techniques used for work; 3. Key findings of the work; 4. Summary and future work 

Broader impacts:  Explain the problem you are trying to address, your solution and the perceived societal benefits of your solution in layman terms

      Award recipients will be announced by March 1. 

Requirements from award recipients 

  • All award recipients will be at least guaranteed a poster at ICOM 2026 

  • Award recipients must attend the student workshops 

  • All recipients will be required to make a 3-minute video explaining the background, significance, and societal benefits of their work in layman terms.  The recipients will be mentored by Planet Forward (https://planetforward.org/) to create these videos and the top 3 videos will be selected for additional awards and posted on the NAMS website. The results for the top 3 videos will be announced during the awards ceremony of the conference. More detailed instructions for these videos will be shared with the travel award recipients. 

Any questions should be directed to Prof. Oishi Sanyal (oishi.sanyal@mail.wvu.edu)