Charles Stearns Memorial Grant-In-Aid for Herpetological Research
at the California Academy of Sciences
The Department of Herpetology provides limited financial aid -- mostly to cover round trip transportation and limited per diem expenses -- to graduate students who wish to visit our collections to support their research in systematics. Proposals should include a short -- no more than one page -- description of the research project, a budget, and a letter of support from the student's faculty advisor.
Proposals are due by 15 October, with notification by 1 December of the same year. Grantees are expected to complete their Academy visit by 15 September. For more information please email Dr. Robert Drewes for further information.
Applications can be emailed to Dr. Robert Drewes with hard copies addressed to:
Herpetology Department
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA. 94118
United States
Brett Stearns Award for Chelonian Research
at the California Academy of Sciences
The Department of Herpetology provides limited financial aid -- mostly to cover round trip transportation and limited per diem expenses -- to researchers who wish to visit our collections to support their work in chelonian biology. Preference will be given to graduate students. Proposals should include a short, one page description of the research project, a budget and, in the case of graduate students, a letter of support from the student's faculty advisor.
Proposals are due by 15 October; with notification by 1 December in the same year. Awardees are expected to complete their Academy visit by 15 September of the following year. Please email Dr. Robert Drewes or Jens Vindum for further information.
The CAS chelonian holdings are included in the Department of Herpetology Catalog
The Joseph B. Slowinski Research Memorial Fund
The Herpetol
ogy Department, in honor of former curator Joseph B. Slowinski, is offering small grants-in-aid ($300.00-$500.00) for graduate level herpetologists (although highly developed proposals from undergraduate students will be considered). In order to apply, please send a 1 page description of your proposed project along with a detailed account of anticipated expenses (field and lab) and 1 letter of recommendation. The due dates for proposals are March 15th for commencing work in the fall and September 15 for commencing work in the spring.
At the end of the grant period we require a 500 word summary of how the funds were used along with a statement of accomplishments. Any publications that result from work completed should state in the acknowledgement section that support was received from the Joseph B. Slowinski Memorial Research Fund from the Herpetology Department at the California Academy of Sciences. Please email Jens Vindum for more information.
Joseph B. Slowinski, 1962-2001, was a Curator in the Department of Herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences from 1997 until 2001. He had earned his PhD at the University of Miami in 1991 had and completed field work in the USA, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Jamaica, and the Bahamas before coming to the CAS.
Joseph was greatly interested in phylogeny and molecular systemmatics especially as they related to snakes.
In 1997, Joe initiated the Herpetofauna of Myanmar survey in association with the Smithsonian, and with Academy botanists, the Yunnan Natural History Project in 1998.
The Joseph B. Slowinski Memorial fund was established in memory of Dr. Slowinski to encourage and assist young herpetologists by providing grants-in-aid for their research.
The Summer Systematics Institute, a hands-on, collections-based summer research program in evolutionary biology and the Internship in Biological Illustration are for undergraduate college/university students who are U.S. citizens or resident aliens. 
