Overview 

Enterprising graduate students across the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) have taken crucial steps to enhance excellence in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) through grassroots efforts. To support the longevity and impact of these initiatives, the CBS DEIJ Initiative Grant provides funding for graduate student-led events or programs that promote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in the College of Biological Sciences and the UC Davis community more broadly. We understand that various aspects of graduate student education, development, and success are considered DEIJ issues. Thus, we will consider and award funds to a variety of funding proposals and encourage a broad interpretation of what constitutes advancement of DEIJ.

Who Can Apply

Graduate students or graduate student-led organizations

• Individual applicants must be in or affiliated with one of the following CBS graduate groups or centers: Animal Behavior; Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology; Biophysics; Integrative Genetics and Genomics; Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology; Neuroscience; Plant Biology; Population Biology; Center for Neuroscience; Genome Center; Center for Population Biology; and the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute
• Organizations, committees, and/or programs must have a primary student representative from a CBS graduate group or center

Eligible Activities

Projects, initiatives, activities, or events with explicit aims or primary programmatic components that address DEIJ issues will be considered. 

• Funding proposals must have an explicit aim to advance DEIJ within the CBS graduate student community. Proposed activities may aim to achieve any of the following goals: 
  • Dismantle barriers to success, development, and/or resources (i.e., reduce equity gaps) 
  • Broaden participation to historically marginalized groups
  • Promote inclusion within the workplace
  • Support professional development, leadership development, or mentorship
  • Foster community development  
• Funding proposals to support research or publication expenses, teaching-related activities, or travel to primarily research-focused conferences will not be considered unless theses activities/publications are primarily focused on the advancement of DEIJ in CBS
• Funding proposals to support research stipends will not be considered. However, funds to support small facilitator stipends and/or speaker honoraria are eligible for funding
• Funding can be used to support food and beverage costs, but are not to be used to purchase alcoholic beverages under any circumstances
• Funding proposals must be for an upcoming event or program. Activities held prior to a review date will not be considered. Funding proposals for activities held within three weeks of the application deadline may be declined due to time constraints related to application processing time

Though we will consider proposals with a variety of aims related to DEIJ, we will prioritize funding proposals that are not eligible for funding through the funding avenues below. 

• Sharon Gray Memorial Award – Supports graduate student-led mentorship activities
• Dean’s Mentorship Award – Supports graduate student-led mentorship activities

Submitted proposals may be awarded partial funding as we aim to support as many CBS initiatives as possible. Thus, we strongly encourage applicants to pursue other funding opportunities such as the examples listed below. 

• Student Recruitment and Retention Center Grant – Supports outreach and retention efforts serving students of historically minoritized and disadvantaged groups
• GradPathways Graduate Student Professional Development Fund – Supports professional development among graduate students and graduate student organizations
• Internship & Career Center Graduate Student Career Development Assistance Award – Supports graduate students who completed an unpaid internship related to their career development goals
• Graduate Student Association Special Projects Fund – Supports graduate student-initiated projects and events of interest to graduate students
• Lifting Underrepresented Voices (LUV) Grant – Supports programs aimed at enriching the experiences of historically marginalized students in STEM, science policy, advocacy, communication, and diplomacy
• Graduate and Professional School Grant – Supports educational, professional development, and cultural programming that enriches campus life
• Graduate Student Association Community Engagement Fund – Supports graduate student-led community engagement and outreach efforts
• Dean Witter Fund – Supports graduate student interactions in informal settings
• Beyond Tolerance Grant – Supports programs that further the Hate Free Campus Initiative
• Pepsi Product Fund – Provides Pepsi products for campus events hosted by registered student organizations

Funds related to emergency support and/or basic needs will be considered, but will not be prioritized. We encourage students to visit the UCD wide and GSA Basic Needs webpages for more information on personal resources available to graduate students.

Award Amount

A student or student group can be funded up to $1,000 per academic year. 

• An applicant’s total grant request may not exceed $1,000 even if their project’s budget is greater than $1,000
• Because we aim to fund at least one proposal per CBS graduate group during each academic year, submitted proposals may be awarded partial funding
• With a total budget of $5000 for AY2023-2024 supported by the ODEI Vision Grant, we expect to award most applicants with $100-$500

Though applicants may apply multiple times throughout the academic year regardless of the decision on past funding proposals, we will prioritize proposals from students/groups who have yet to receive funding in the current academic year

• We will only consider proposals if the applicant’s prior funding does not sum to $1000 in the current academic year

Again, we strongly encourage applicants to pursue additional funding opportunities through their department, graduate group, the UCD Office for DEI, Graduate Studies, the Graduate Student Association, and other relevant UCD and industry entities. Contact Kiran Long-Iyer and Sarah Wang for additional support in raising funds for large scale projects and initiatives.

Application Deadlines & Award Timeline

Applications will be reviewed twice per quarter during the academic year (September to June). Application materials must be submitted by 11:59pm on the dates listed below. Again, activities held prior to a review date will not be considered and activities held within three weeks of an application deadline may be declined due to time constraints related to application processing time.

Fall Quarter 

• Thursday, November 16, 2023
• Thursday, December 7, 2023

Winter Quarter

• Thursday, February 8, 2024
• Thursday, March 7, 2024

Spring Quarter 

• Thursday, May 2, 2024
• Thursday, June 6, 2024 

Applications will be reviewed and award decisions with the funding amount (if applicable) will be sent via email within two weeks of the application deadline. The CBS Dean’s Office will coordinate the use of awarded funds via purchasing or reimbursement.

Conditions for Funding

Those who fail to adhere to the conditions for funding may be exempt from future grant opportunities.

• List the College of Biological Science as a co-sponsor of your program/activity/event in the advertising and program documentation (e.g., list as a sponsor in a conference program and website) using the materials provided with the award notification
• Submit an end of the year report that summarizes how awarded funds were used

Contact 

Please contact Kiran Long-Iyer and Sarah Wang with questions or for additional information.