Ruth Dickie Awards
Ruth Straethern Dickie, a life member of GWIS, passed away on December 24, 1993 at the age of 80, a Professor Emeritus at the UW‐Madison at the time. Professor Dickie became a member of GWIS in 1947 and served in most offices of the Madison Chapter, including President twice and National President from 1978‐1979. Her support and dedication to the graduate education and research efforts of women in science were expressed in her personal and professional life. She cared passionately and left a generous endowment to the Madison Chapter, the income to provide scholarships and grants‐in‐aid to women in science.
Several awards are given in Ruth’s honor each year as a research scholarship or a grant-in-aid. The amount of the awards vary from year to year but are generally $500 to $3000. Grants-in-aid are always $500.
Who can apply?
Graduate students at UW-Madison, with at least one year remaining before graduation, and are current members of GWIS Madison Chapter. Domestic and international students may both apply.
When are applications due?
Applications for 2025/2026 awards open on February 10th, 2025 and are due by April 4nd, 2025, 11:59 pm Central Standard Time.
What is required for an application?
Awards are given based on a hypothesis-driven research proposal. A complete application includes:
- Application form for the 2025/2026 award cycle
- Project title and abstract (100 word-limit)
- Project description (Grants-in Aid application 800-word limit; Research Scholarship application 1,500-word limit)
- This should cover a hypothesis and specific aims, a brief background of the project, and brief explanation of methods used for the planned experiments.
- Resume (2 page limit)
- A brief resume-style summary of the candidate’s academic history and professional experiences.
- Two letters of recommendation
- One letter from an advisor or department head, and one letter from another person qualified to evaluate the candidate’s ability to perform the research proposed.
- Budget proposal
- This should show how the Ruth Dickie award or grant-in-aid will supplement the funding for your entire research project.
- (Optional) Relevant personal factors (200 word-limit)
- This should discuss any relevant personal factors that should be considered in evaluating your proposal, plus the impact these funds may have on your graduate studies.
How are applications submitted?
Application materials should be submitted via email to the GWIS Madison Chapter scholarship coordinator Monica Ridlon (mridlon@wisc.edu).
All submissions should be in word or PDF format and given filenames in the format “lastname_year_grant in aid or scholarship” for our ease of use.
Helpful documents:
An overview of the awards and grants available is found here. A definition of the awards (including candidate qualifications and terms of the awards) may be found here.
If you have questions about the awards, contact our scholarship coordinator Monica Ridlon.
A list of past recipients of the Ruth Dickie awards may be found Here.
Guidelines for writing an application are found here.
IA list of past recipients of the Ruth Dickie awards may be found here.
If you have questions about the awards, contact us at Madison.gwis.org