ESRI Conservation Program

Society for Conservation GIS 2006 Scholarships

2006 SCGIS Scholarship Program

Announcement and Guidelines

1. Announcement

The Society for Conservation GIS
2006 International Scholarship Program Announcement

This is not a typical scholarship program!

Rather, it is a support program that covers SOME of the costs to allow you attend the best Conservation GIS conferences in the world this summer and join in a very tight-knit community of friends in specialized 2-week training courses around these conferences. Local travel and accommodations provided will be simple and plain so that we can afford to include as many people as possible, and you may be asked to pay for some of these costs. These support grants are PARTIAL in that you contribute some of the costs yourself and you are expected to do a lot of work as a scholar. These grants are competitive in that your application will be considered in comparison to others, evaluating your work, your activism with NGO's, your needs and your resources in relation to the environmental and economic issues of your region.

SCGIS will be supporting two different groups of scholars in 2006, corresponding to 2 different conference/training dates and venues, with 2 different emphases. The 2 programs are not finalized so we will work with each applicant as the programs are developed to make sure you are assigned to the one that best matches your needs and interests.

The first group will attend the 9th Annual SCGIS Conference in San Jose, California, June 24-28 2006. For the first time, this conference will be held in conjunction with the annual international conference of the Society for Conservation Biology (http://conbio.net/) June 24-29th, 2006, featuring a keynote address by Jack Dangermond of ESRI on June 28. This training & conference program will be most appropriate to GIS beginners or those who are interested in networking with conservation GIS practitioners and conservation biology scientists.

The second group will attend the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) International User Conference in San Diego, California, August 7-11 2006. With over 13,000 people, this is the largest GIS conference in the world with opportunities to learn from and make presentations to thousands of GIS technical people and large NGO's from around the world. This training and conference program will be most appropriate to GIS beginners and experts and those who are interested in networking with conservation GIS practicioners and GIS experts, developers and users.

Application Deadline is Jan 31st, 2006.

For detailed information, guidelines and forms please go to:

www.scgis.org or www.conservationgis.org

International Applicants outside of the USA/Canada may direct questions to:
Roberta Pickert, SCGIS International Committee,
pickert@strato.net or
rpickert@archbold-station.org

Residents of USA and Canada will apply to the seperate Domestic Scholarship Program, (guidelines will be posted at the websites listed above by the end of Dec, 2005. Domestic program questions should go to the SCGIS Domestic Schoalrship Program chair: mschmidts@esri.com)

Charles Convis, SCGIS International Committee
Prashant Hedao, SCGIS International Networks
(SCGIS is an independent all-volunteer international society supported by membership donations and grants from ESRI, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Garmin International, US Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the University of California James Reserve)

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2. Guidelines, Forms and Instructions

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This is the SCGIS International Scholarship Program 2006 application form with instructions. Please read the instructions carefully before filling out and submitting your application. The form has changed this year, and we do not accept application forms from previous years!

Please note that the U.S. and Canadian candidates will apply instead to the SCGIS Domestic Scholarship Program, using a separate application form. Please check back to www.conservationgis.org or www.scgis.org by Dec 22, 2005 for the Domestic Program forms and guidelines. Domestic program questions should go to the SCGIS Domestic Schoalrship Program chair: mschmidts@esri.com.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*=== INTRODUCTION

The Society for Conservation GIS (SCGIS - http://www.scgis.org) International Scholarship Program is not a typical scholarship program. Rather, it is a support program that covers SOME of the costs to allow you attend 2 of the best Conservation GIS conferences in the world, ESRI and SCGIS, and join in a very tight-knit community of comrades in specialized 2-week training courses before these conferences. Local travel and accommodations will be simple and plain so that we can afford to include as many people as possible, and you may be asked to pay for some of these costs. These support grants are PARTIAL in that you contribute some of the costs yourself and you will be expected to do a lot of work as a scholar. These grants are competitive in that your application will be considered in comparison to around 100 others, evaluating your work, your activism with NGO's, your needs, and your resources in relation to the environmental and economic issues of your region or country. These grants may or may not also include software, books, and refurbished hardware, depending on your needs. We are generally able to award enough support so that 40 scholars or more are able to attend, out of the 100 that apply, so if you are willing to study these guidelines and work hard, your chances of selection are good.

SCGIS will be receiving two groups of scholars in 2006, corresponding to 2 different conference/training dates and venues. The Scholarship Program review committee will make the decision on what venue to offer to each award winner, but we would like to know your preference and opinion about these two options. The 2 programs are not finalized, and we will work with each applicant as the programs are developed to make sure you are assigned to the one that best matches your needs and interests.

The first group will attend the 9th Annual SCGIS Conference in San Jose, California, June 24-28 2006. This year, SCGIS conference will be held jointly with the annual Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) conference. SCB has a more biological science focus in conservation, while SCGIS is more advanced in applying GIS in the same field. The two societies are very interested in cooperation, and this joint conference will be the first cooperative experience. Traditionally, the SCGIS Annual Conference is attended by approximately 150 conservation GIS practitioners, providing a convenient venue for the attendees to meet and discuss GIS application in the field of conservation. The SCB conference, however, is attended by approximately 2000 people, so this large joint conference will be a new experience for SCGIS! During the two weeks preceding the conference (June 12-23) SCGIS scholars will be offered introductory GIS courses. Overall, this training program and conference will be of the biggest interest to conservation GIS beginners who are interested in networking both with conservation GIS practitioners and conservation biology scientists.

The second group will attend the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) User Conference in San Diego, California, August 7-11 2006. ESRI is the leading developer of GIS in the world, and is well recognized for its role in advancing GIS science and providing GIS knowledge and tools to conservationists worldwide. While ESRI and SCGIS are not affiliated with each other, over the last few years they have developed a solid partnership in supporting conservation GIS activists. Generous support from ESRI allows SCGIS to provide in-kind grants that include software, training, books, and participation in the annual ESRI User Conference (UC).

The ESRI UC is the largest GIS event in the world. Last year’s conference brought together around 13,000 attendees from all over the world, providing an opportunity for GIS practitioners of all levels and backgrounds to meet, network, and learn about the most recent developments in GIS technology. The Conservation track at the conference is getting bigger each year, attracting many conservation GIS practitioners. The training courses, available July 24 – August 4, before the ESRI UC will be more diverse; we will try to accommodate training needs of both GIS beginners and advanced users.

GIS trainings, which will occur prior to the both conferences, will be focused on the ESRI suite of GIS software, and will be taught by ESRI certified instructors. Please carefully read details about the training below in the GIS courses section.

(SCGIS is an independent all-volunteer international society supported by membership donations and grants from ESRI, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Garmin International, US Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the University of California James Reserve)

*=== REQUIREMENTS

Scholarship application requirements are as follows:

1) Applicants must be affiliated with a NON-PROFIT CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION or a UNIVERSITY CONSERVATION PROJECT in their region or country.

2) COMPLETED APPLICATION FORM (see below).

3) AN ABSTRACT OR COMPLETE TEXT OF YOUR PROPOSED PRESENTATION should be included in a special section of the application (see below).

4) A COVER LETTER from the HEAD of your Organization detailing the national or international conservation organization's focus and current projects; the applicant's role in the organization and current projects must be defined. The NAME and DIRECT/PERSONAL E-MAIL ADDRESS of the HEAD of your organization should be clearly stated in the letter.

5) CLOSING DATE for SCGIS conference scholarship applications is January 31st, 2006. Applications ONLY VIA E-MAIL must be received by the above date.

*=== ELIGIBILITY

Grants are made on a competitive basis to individuals working with GIS in conservation science and action in any country outside of the U.S. and Canada. Preference goes to those who are working for or associated with a non-profit or non government organization, whose GIS research serves as basis for conservation action, who can show some ability to find local funding for their work, and who show an ability to teach about conservation GIS to other non-profit organizations in their region or country.

Applicants who have received an SCGIS scholarship award in the past are eligible to apply again, but not earlier than two years after their prior award. I.e., we will not accept applications from the Scholars 2005, but any earlier scholar is eligible to apply. However, the priority will be reserved for first time applicants. Returning scholars, please carefully read special instructions below.

If you were awarded a SCGIS scholarship in the past, but for some reason weren’t able to attend the program, you have to apply again this year if you want a scholarship. We currently don’t roll over earlier awards to following year. You will be given equal priority with the first time applicants.

*=== YOUR OBLIGATIONS IF SELECTED AS A SCHOLAR

Scholarship awardees will be required to do all of the following:

a) present a talk and a poster at the SCGIS conference describing their conservation efforts and projects within their organization.

b) or present a talk and poster in the Conservation Hall at the ESRI User Conference.

c) be available to volunteer to help with the SCGIS conference or the Conservation Hall at the ESRI User Conference. We expect recipients to volunteer for aproximately 4 hours over the course of the conference. Some work may take place during sessions, but adjustments can be made to ensure that volunteers attend the sessions that are most important to them. Details for volunteers will be provided shortly before the conference.

d) attend the training classes you are assigned to. Once accepted, you are expected to attend all of the courses to which you will be assigned. We will work with each of you individually to customize a training course schedule to fit your needs.

e) participate in scholarship support activities outside of weekday classes, according to your skills and interests, such as hardware assistance, web research or field trips.

f) complete and submit 2 reports:
1. Scholar's report is an informal account of your experiences as a scholar and is due towards the end of your travels.
2. Scholarship Final report is a formal account of your work back home and is due several months after you return home. It describes how you have applied the training, software and other items of your grant, with example maps and photos, and specific suggestions and criticisms for improving the program. Specific requirements and due dates are finalized later.

g) read and respond quickly to many many emails. There will be at least 40-50 emails from us with important announcements that you are required to read and respond to. Failure to do so in a prompt manner can result in the disruption or even loss of portions of your grant.

*=== SCGIS OBLIGATIONS TO YOU IF SELECTED AS A SCHOLAR

You will receive a combination of fee waivers, travel expenses and in-kind grants that can be worth over $10,000. The specific components of this grant are:

a) Tuition fees for GIS training (retail $450 per person per day) are FULLY paid for

b) Attendance fees for Conferences (as much as $1,250 per person) are FULLY covered

c) Travel expenses are PARTIALLY covered, depending on your grant level, beginning when you leave to attend the program and ending when you return home from the program, including the following categories of costs: Lodging, Food, Ground Transport (in the USA only)

d) Travel preparation expenses are NOT covered, including fees or travel expenses you must pay locally to obtain Visas or pick up air tickets.

e) Software and Textbooks grant: As a scholar you will be allowed to apply for a customized grant of software and textbooks through a separate application process. You will receive details about this if you are selected.

f) Hardware grant: As a scholar you may have access to limited donations of older used laptops from ESRI, GPS units, external drives, etc. These may be free or very reduced in price. Your eligibility for these will depend on hardware availability, your work as a scholar and your prompt responses to several hardware prioritization surveys, beginning with the "*-What GIS hardware do you most critically need " question in this application form.

*=== GENERAL APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Please read the section-by-section instructions below, and think carefully about the overall structure of your application before you start filling out the form.

Although the SCGIS Scholarship Program is not a typical scholarship program, some general guidelines found at http://www.scholarshiphelp.org/preparing_application.htm can help you in writing your application to SCGIS. The web site above is designed primarily to help apply for college scholarships, so not everything on that page is applicable to SCGIS Scholarship Program, however, there are a few useful hints that will be helpful. The web site above is not affiliated with SCGIS, and is provided as a resource that you can use at your own risk.

Please do not erase any of the questions from the application form. If a question is not applicable to you, just leave the answer area blank.

Please write your application in the English language. Although some of our review committee members speak other languages, we’ll be able to judge your application more fairly if it is written in English. Remember, if you are awarded a scholarship you will join a group of people from all corners of the world, and in such situations English is usually the common language. Also, the training and conferences are all conducted in English, but technical GIS English is less demanding and few of your colleagues will be fluent so your English skills do not have to be brilliant and shiny. This is not our criteria, so please do not be shy if your English is not perfect! You will find a way to communicate with others!

It is important for the applicants to make a very strong effort to supply as much of their own funding for travel to the conference, as possible. Preference will be given to those who make a sincere effort to obtain some of their own funding. Accordingly, the applicant must supply information about additional funding they have been able to or hope to secure.

As indicated above, part of the application process is your ability to pay some of the costs. One of our rules for awarding grants is your ability to raise funds to keep your own conservation GIS program alive. Your ability to pay some of the costs is important. If you cannot pay anything, you will need to provide strong evidence about the financial circumstances of yourself, your institution, your country. Each year we do indeed make some grants to scholars who are unable to contribute anything, but the majority of the grants we make go to scholars who are able to contribute an amount that is appropriate and sustainable given their financial circumstances.

The important point is the amount you commit to provide from your own resources will be examined carefully in relation to your personal and institutional financial situation, your country, and the importance of your work to conservation and society. When you commit to an amount in your application it is a serious commitment and if you are selected as a scholar we expect you to honor that commitment to pay. If you cannot, and you have not been in regular communication with us about your circumstances, then parts of your grant will be declined, including but not limited to hardware.

If you need more explanations or help in understanding the form, please contact Roberta Pickert, pickert@strato.net or rpickert@archbold-station.org .

*=== SECTION-BY-SECTION INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING FORM
Remember, the following are instructions only. The actual form follows after these instructions.

*-Today's Date?: Please enter the date when you’re submitting your application. Please make sure you submit the application before the official deadline.

[TRANSPORTATION]
*-Your departure airport to travel to the U.S.: Please let us know what airport you will be flying from if you travel to the U.S. (the first airport in your trip). This helps us better understand your actual travel needs. If possible, please supply us with the 3-letter international code for your airport.

*-Total airfare (in U.S. Dollars) to travel to San Francisco, CA (SFO), or to San Jose, CA (SJC) in June:
*-Total airfare (in U.S. Dollars)to travel to Los Angeles, CA (LAX), or to Ontario, CA (ONT) in July:
Please research the round-trip airfares from your local airport to the airports indicated in these two questions. Be aware that for the U.S. it is very typical to have several airports in a big urban area such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, that is why we are asking you to research different options. Ontario (ONT) is the nearest large airport to Redlands, California, and will be the most convenient to arrive to for the training before ESRI User Conference. San Jose (SJC) is the nearest large airport to the SCGIS&SCB conference venue in San Jose, California. However, we are still developing training arrangements for the SCGIS&SCB option, and the training may have to be organized in Redlands area, so please provide us your estimates for the both options. Please see details about the both venues in the INTRODUCTION section.

ONT and SJC are not the largest airports in their respective areas, and actually may not be available for international flights. If this is the case with flights from your area, please research for airfares to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) airports respectively. Besides availability, airfares to larger LAX and SFO may be significantly cheaper than for smaller ONT and SJC, so please research all possible options. Not only this will allow you to identify the most cost-efficient way, but will also provide you with back-up options in case you have to re-arrange your plans!

International airfares are not cheap, but please research for reasonable economy class options. SCGIS will not fund first-class or business-class travel. Sometimes opting for a 1 stop or 2 stop flight might save you a significant amount of money compared to a non-stop direct flight. On the other hand, sometimes non-stop flights on a smaller national airline are cheaper than 1 or 2 stop flights on a major international carrier. Traveling on a weekday is typically cheaper than traveling during weekend or holiday. So search carefully! Besides the good old method of getting airfare quotes from a local travel agent or an airline office, there are several online resources for booking air tickets. We are listing some of these resources below, but PLEASE NOTE THAT SCGIS IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THESE WEB-SITES OR COMPANIES IN ANY WAY. THESE LINKS ARE PROVIDED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE ONLY. SCGIS CAN’T BE MADE LIABLE FOR ANY ISSUES ARISING FROM THE USE OF THESE SERVICES.

http://www.sidestep.com/air/ - allows to search multiple travel web sites
http://www.bookingbuddy.com/ - allows to feed search conditions to multiple travel web sites
http://www.orbitz.com/App/PrepareFlightsTab - popular travel search site
http://www.expedia.com/ - popular travel search site
http://www.travelocity.com/Flights - popular travel search site
http://edit.travel.yahoo.com/flights.html - popular travel search site

Please provide all airfares for a round trip, and in U.S. Dollars, not in your local currency.

*-Airfare amount you can pay yourself (in U.S. Dollars):
*-Airfare amount requested from SCGIS (in U.S. Dollars):
Typically we expect our applicants to cover a part of their travel costs, through additional fundraising or other resources. In very rare cases we provide a full airfare, but to be eligible you must provide a thorough explanation in the justification section (below). We really appreciate every effort you make to cover at least some portion of the costs. In these two lines, please indicate (in U.S. Dollars) what part of the airfare costs you are able to cover, and what part you would like SCGIS to cover.

[ACCOMMODATION]
*-Accommodation/Food/Local Transport costs that you can pay (in U.S. Dollars):
If you are awarded a SCGIS scholarship, you will come to the U.S. for 3-4 weeks. Typically, this may cost over $5,000. SCGIS international volunteers work hard to reduce costs through finding discounts, ride sharing, cooking options etc. This allows us to reduce these per person costs to $2,000 on average. However, we greatly appreciate it when scholars are able to raise funds to cover a portion of these costs. Please indicate how much you can afford to pay for these expenses.

*-Will you share a private home?
*-Will you share a motel room?
*-Will you camp?
*-Do you need to borrow camping equipment?
One of the ways for us to reduce lodging costs is to provide accommodation at SCGIS activists’ homes, sharing hotel and dorm rooms, or sometimes even tents where conditions permit. Please let us know your accommodation preference/flexibility.

*-Any special notes regarding Accommodation/Food/Local Transport in California:
If you have any health or other conditions that require special food or lodging please let us know. Also, please feel free to tell us anything regarding local accommodation or food or transport arrangements in California that you think we should know about.

[ORGANIZATION DATA]
*-Organization name:
*-Organization full street address (in your local format):
*-Organization full mailing address, if different:
*-Country:
*-Work phone with country and area code:
*-Work fax with country and area code:
*-Main email:
*-Organization Web site URL if any:
Please provide information about the organization or conservation project you are affiliated with. If applying as an individual, you can enter your own name here, but you must still complete the contact data section in full.

Address formats are different in many countries. Please fill out the address fields in the format that you see appropriate. There are two separate fields for address. Mailing address may be different if your organization prefers P.O. Box delivery. However, we need your actual street address as well.

This information may be shared with a third party only if we ask for and receive your special permission.

*-Organization subject keywords (please see instructions):
Please use any of the following keywords to characterize your organization. Please also feel free to add any other keywords relevant to the organization activities!
admin, advocacy, agriculture, air quality, alternate energy, analysis, anthropology, aquatic, archeology, biodiversity, biology, birds, botanic garden, botany, caves karst, climate, climate change, coast, conservation, core-corridor, critical sites, database design, data center, data integration, data source, desertification, ecology, education, emergency, envir education, envir justice, envir law, epidemiology, fire, first nations, fish, forest, GAP analysis, geology, greenways, haz mat, health, herptiles, history, hydrology, insects, inventory, invertebrates, landscape analysis, land trust, mammals, marine, mediation, mitigation, modeling, monitoring, museum, parks, planning policy, pollution, populations, protected areas, open space, ranch, recreation, recycling, remote sensing, restoration, river, soil, species, statistics, sustainable development, trails, tribal, vegetation, water, water quality, watersheds, web, wetlands, wildlife, wilderness, youth.

*-Confidential: your organization's last year total budget:
*-Confidential: your last year's total GIS program budget:
Please enter your best estimates of your last year total organizational budget, and your best estimate of last year's total GIS budget including hardware, software, salaries and maintenance. Please feel free to include any comments if you think they will help us better understand your situation.

This information shall remain confidential and shall not be shared with any third party.

[APPLICANT]
*-Your full name:
*-Your honorific(i.e. Mr., Ms., Dr.):
*-Your preferred informal name:
*-Your direct address if different:
*-Your direct phone number(s):
*-Your direct email address(es):
*-Your job title or role in the organization:
*-Your own interest keywords (please see instructions):
Please provide your personal information similarly to the organization information.

You can provide your full name to any extent that you find appropriate. The format is completely flexible, and it does not have to be exactly ‘full’ in official terms. Naming tradition diversity in the world is astonishing! The order people use for family names and given names, the number of names, the names pronunciation, the name that is actually used in the society to refer to a person – all these can be different in different cultures on different continents, and the diversity is not limited to this short list of examples. SCGIS activists are constantly learning about these traditions from meeting international scholars, however, there is always something new for us to learn! Please be understanding if we misinterpret your name by accident – we do not mean any offence! You can help us better understand you if you provide your preferred “informal” name for cases where using full name is redundant. The format for the “informal” name is completely open to your discretion. You may leave this field blank if you want.

For your interest keywords, please use the list of keywords above (see ORGANIZATION section), plus any missing keywords that you would like to include.

This information may be shared to a third party only if we ask for and receive your special permission.

*-Alternate contact full name:
*-Alternate honorific (i.e. Mr., Ms., Dr.):
*-Alternate contact direct phone number(s):
*-Alternate contact direct email address(es):
*-Alternate contact job title or role:
Please provide contact details for an alternate contact person. We may ask this person to convey important information to you when you are in the field or out of contact for some other reason. These contact details will not be used for any other purpose, and will not be shared with any third party.

[GIS EXPERTISE LEVEL / COURSES / CONFERENCE]
*-Briefly describe your GIS capability/expertise: Please briefly explain your GIS expertise / capability level - BEGINNER, MEDIUM or ADVANCED. Please feel free to comment in open format.

BEGINNER - Know about basic concepts of GIS and have used ArcExplorer, web-based mapping resources, or similar level of GIS software.
MEDIUM - Know about the analysis concepts of GIS and have used ArcView 3x/9x or similar level of GIS software.
ADVANCED - Have been a GIS user for many years and have used ArcEditor or ArcInfo or similar level of GIS software.

*-What GIS software (if any) have you used?:
Please provide details on what GIS software have you used, and briefly describe operations that you have implemented in your GIS work.

*-Please describe your programming experience (if any):
Please note that knowledge of programming is not necessary for using GIS. However, today’s GIS software products allow users to extend the functionality through writing scripts in programming languages such as Visual Basic, Python, C++, etc. If you have any programming experience, please mention, this will help us to better understand your level of skills.

*-What organization or individual helps you learn GIS (your mentor)?
*-Your mentor’s email address:
*-Your mentor’s phone number:
Learning GIS is challenging! There are advanced international groups or individuals who support developing grass-root organizations in building GIS capacity through providing software, hardware, training, and general mentorship until the GIS program reaches maturity in the organization. If you have such a mentor, please give us their contact details. We may contact the mentor to better learn about your GIS program. We will not use the contact information in any other way.

*-If you have a preference, please indicate what conference you prefer to attend, SCGIS&SCB, or ESRI (please see instructions!):
*-If you indicated a preference above, please explain:
Please let us know which conference is more interesting for you, and why (the difference between the conferences is explained above in the INTRODUCTION section). Although there is no guarantee that we will be able to provide you a slot in the preferred group, we will take your opinion into account in our decision making!

*-What GIS courses you are interested in (please see instructions!):
The training courses that SCGIS arranges for scholars are generously provided by ESRI. Every year we work hard to put together a training program that benefits all our scholars, and to be successful in this we will need your help! Please visit the page
http://training.esri.com/ilt/schedule/index.cfm?fa=courseList
and carefully read the description of each course. In this section of the application please list the courses that are most important for you, in the order of decreasing priority. The final training program will be built based on preferences we will receive from many scholars, and because it will be a consensus of many needs we may not be able to offer your top priority course. This may also happen if the instructor for the course you’re requesting is unavailable at the time of SCGIS training. In the light of this, please provide us with an extended list of your training priorities, so we know what course you would prefer in case some of your top priorities are not available. Typically, the SCGIS training program includes 3-4 course titles; please provide 6-10 courses on your preferences list.

Our training capacity will be different at the two conference venues. We will be able to offer only beginner-level courses prior to the SCGIS conference, and in the past we found that the following courses program was most popular among beginners: Introduction to ArcGIS I & II, Advanced Analysis with ArcGIS, Working with ArcGIS Spatial Analyst. We will try to implement this program, but this is tentative and can be changed. Under any scenario, we will make sure every scholar receives a solid and appropriate training if we receive a meaningful listing of preferences from you! And, we definitely will need this listing for designing the training program preceding ESRI UC.

This section is very important! Remember, the more thoughtful is your approach in identifying your own training needs, the easier it is for your application reviewers to understand you!

*-What GIS hardware do you most critically need (please arrange list in order of priority)?:
Moderate laptop capable of GIS
External hard drive 80gb or more
GPS with strong sensitivity under trees
Desktop computer capable of GIS
Other (please describe)

Please note that this is a survey question to help us with critical data needed for our attempts to arrange hardware donations for 2006. This is NOT a promise or indication that we will be able to obtain or grant ANY of these items, but your thoughtful responses indicating critical hardware needs and issues that you cannot resolve locally are very important to us. Remember, you would have to carry back home any hardware you receive from SCGIS.

[REQUIRED JUSTIFICATION (CONFIDENTIAL)]
*-Essay justification of why you require a grant:
Please explain us why you would like to join the SCGIS training and attend one of the conferences, and why do you need a scholarship grant for that.

[REQUIRED PAPER that you will present at the conference]
*-Full list of authors:
*-Title of the paper you will present:
*-Abstract/summary of the paper you will present:
Please provide the information about the paper you will present if awarded a scholarship. If you are not the only author of the paper, please list all authors. You do not have to have the whole paper finalized a this point, we just need a one paragraph abstract.

[REQUIRED BACKGROUND DATA]
*-HISTORY: Please describe the history of your local work in conservation and GIS:
It’s important for us to know the history of your work. Please do not hesitate to explain how long you have been involved in conservation and GIS, what projects or actions you have worked in, your motivation for working in conservation, and anything else that you think is relevant here.

*-LOCAL INVOLVEMENT: Please describe how you work in your local conservation community: If you work with local NGO's or institutions, please elaborate and please provide full contact information for at least one of them.

*-INTERNATIONAL: Please describe how your work involves cooperation with any international groups:
If applicable, please provide full contact information for at least one person qualified to comment on this work.

*-UNIQUE: Please describe what is the most unique and the most challenging about the conservation/GIS work that you do:
In this section, please tell us about the most exciting and the most difficult parts of your work. You can tell us about the obstacles you’re having in running your GIS projects. Also, please tell us anything you want about uniqueness of the area where you work – remember, your reviewers may not be aware about the beauty of the region you are from, and about the threats to this region!

*-PLAN: Please provide a 1-year plan for how you hope to apply the skills you will learn under the SCGIS scholarship, and what you expect to be able to achieve in your conservation GIS work over the next year:
This is a very important section! Your plan for future work is the key for application reviewers to know what outreach the SCGIS Scholarship Program may expect, and what research or action the Scholarship Program is going to be contributing to. You are not restricted to one year, please feel free to provide a longer term plan if you can.

*-RETURNING SCHOLARS: Please provide a report about your progress and achievements since your last visit:
If you received the SCGIS Scholarship Award before, please fill in this section, otherwise skip.
Our requirements to returning scholars are stricter compared to first-time applicants. We need a strong justification to provide an award to somebody who received it before. Please use this section to tell us about your work since your last visit. While, of course, we would like to see certain progress and achievements, please do not hesitate to tell us about difficulties that may have prevented you from accomplishing something. We need to know about your problems to understand your need for help!

Please remember that the scholarship applications are reviewed by a panel of reviewers, and even though you might have updated some members of the SCGIS International Program, it is a good idea to use this section to provide a detailed report for the reviewers who are not familiar with your work.

*-SUMMARY: Please provide an executive summary of your request, and include any special statements about your work that you would like to make at this time:
Please summarize your request in this section. Also, feel free to include any comments or statements that you did not find an appropriate section for!

*=== How to submit your application

We accept applications sent via email only.

Please format the Subject line of your email as following:
@<your name>, <your country>, <date>
For example:
@Alexander Yumakaev, Russia, Jan 15 2006

Please send your application to the email addresses below.

scgis2006@gmail.com
scgis2006@yahoo.com
scgis2006@esri.com

We are asking you to send the application to so many email addresses to avoid possible loss of the application due to increased spam and anti-virus security measures these days. Hopefully, if the application gets rejected by a filter in one mailbox, it will still make it to the other mailboxes!

The applications can be sent in any readable format – text, ms word files, pdf. You can use plain email format or attachments, however, please list any attachments in the body of your message, so we can catch the situations when an attachment has been truncated.

We usually acknowledge the application receipt. If you did not receive acknowledgement in a couple of days after you emailed your application, please do not hesitate to inquire about the status of your application!

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Please re-read the instructions then copy everything below the plus signs line, paste into a new file and start filling out your application. Good luck!
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[SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION GIS]
[SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION FORM 2006]
[Please read the instructions carefully – the form has changed this year!]

*-Today's Date?:

[TRANSPORTATION]
*-Your departure airport to travel to the U.S.:
*-Total airfare (in U.S. Dollars) to travel to San Francisco, CA (SFO), or to San Jose, CA (SJC) in June:
*-Total airfare (in U.S. Dollars)to travel to Los Angeles, CA (LAX), or to Ontario, CA (ONT) in July:
*-Airfare amount you can pay yourself (in U.S. Dollars):
*-Airfare amount requested from SCGIS (in U.S. Dollars):

[ACCOMMODATION]
*-Accommodation/Food/Local Transport costs that you can pay (in U.S. Dollars):
*-Will you share a private home?
*-Will you share a motel room?
*-Will you camp?
*-Do you need to borrow camping equipment?
*-Any special notes regarding Accommodation/Food/Local Transport in California:

[ORGANIZATION DATA]
*-Organization name:
*-Organization full street address (in your local format):
*-Organization full mailing address, if different:
*-Country:
*-Work phone with country and area code:
*-Work fax with country and area code:
*-Main email:
*-Organization Web site URL if any:
*-Organization subject keywords (please see instructions):
*-Confidential: your organization's last year total budget:
*-Confidential: your last year's total GIS program budget:

[APPLICANT]
*-Your full name:
*-Your honorific (i.e. Mr., Ms., Dr.):
*-Your preferred informal name:
*-Your direct address if different:
*-Your direct phone number(s):
*-Your direct email address(es):
*-Your job title or role in the organization:
*-Your own interest keywords (please see instructions):

[GIS EXPERTISE LEVEL / COURSES / CONFERENCE]
*-Briefly describe your GIS capability/expertise:
*-What GIS software (if any) have you used?:
*-Please describe your programming experience (if any):
*-What organization or individual helps you learn GIS (your mentor)?
*-Your mentor’s email address:
*-Your mentor’s phone number:

*-If you have a preference, please indicate what conference you prefer to attend, SCGIS&SCB, or ESRI (please see instructions!):
*-If you indicated a preference above, please explain:

*-What GIS courses you are interested in (please see instructions!):

[REQUIRED JUSTIFICATION (CONFIDENTIAL)]
*-Essay justification of why you require a grant:

[REQUIRED PAPER that you will present at the conference]
*-Full list of authors:
*-Title of the paper you will present:
*-Abstract/summary of the paper you will present:

[REQUIRED BACKGROUND DATA]
*-HISTORY: Please describe the history of your local work in conservation and GIS:

*-LOCAL INVOLVEMENT: Please describe how you work in your local conservation community:

*-INTERNATIONAL: Please describe how your work involves cooperation with any international groups:

*-UNIQUE: Please describe what is the most unique and the most challenging about the conservation/GIS work that you do:

*-RETURNING SCHOLARS: Please provide a report about your progress and achievements since your last visit:

*-SUMMARY: Please provide an executive summary of your request, and include any special statements about your work that you would like to make at this time:

[END-this is the end of the SCGIS application]