Scholarship Opportunities for Doctoral Dissertations on Healthy Community Design or on Climate Change

The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), announces the availability of funds to support up to six (6) scholarships for students currently pursuing their doctorate degrees. The scholarship recipients will conduct doctoral-level studies related to the efforts of CDC/NCEH linking the built environment with public health or to the efforts of CDC/NCEH related to public health and climate change.

Scholarship recipients will have the opportunity to pursue their studies while receiving guidance and input from CDC experts in two key areas of study: the relationship between public health and community design; and, the relationship between public health and climate change.

Eligibility Requirements

*NOTE: Applicants who are seeking their doctoral-level degrees from Accredited Planning Programs or an accredited program in Environmental Science must also have a public health faculty member from an ASPH-member school on their doctoral thesis committee.

Scholarship Period

Scholarships will be awarded during the 2009 - 2010 academic year.

Funds Available

Scholarship recipients will receive a total of $25,000 each. The scholarship awards will be paid in quarterly installments of $6,250 each. The first payment will be issued at the beginning of the scholarship period and the three subsequent payments will be issued upon the submission of quarterly progress reports to ASPH.

Scholarship Opportunities Available

Up to six (6) scholarships will be funded in 2009 - 2010; three (3) community design scholarships and three (3) climate change scholarships.

Application Proposal

All applicants to the ASPH/CDC Environmental Health Scholarship Program are required to submit a project proposal with the application. This proposal must describe the applicant's proposed goals and objectives and how these goals and objectives fall into line with the goals of CDC/NCEH as they pertain to healthy community design and/or climate change. Be sure to include project background, importance of topic, methods, feasibility, analyses, discussion, and a timeline (what progress can we expect during the 12 month award, and how much more work will be needed to complete the research after the 12 months). In addition, you must add a short personal statement (1-2 paragraphs) about career path and interests. This may also include any additional information or special considerations that you think are important for the review committee to know.

Helpful links:

• http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/
• http://www.cdc.gov/climatechange/default.htm
• http://www.cdc.gov/osi/goals/places/

Evaluation Criteria

The following criteria will be used to assess the applicant's qualifications:

Review Committee & Selection

In September 2009, CDC/NCEH will complete a review of the applications based on the criteria described above. Applicants may be contacted by the review committee for additional information and/or clarification of information relevant to the application. Selected applicants will be notified by email and phone by no later than September 28, 2009. All other applicants will be notified by email.

Application Instructions

Hard-copy application materials must be received by ASPH by no later than 5:00 PM (Eastern) on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. The application form is attached to this announcement. All application forms and instructions can be found below.

Important Note: ASPH will not accept electronic applications for this announcement. The online application system is undergoing annual upgrades/maintenance and will not be available during the months of August & September 2009. ASPH will accept only paper-based, hard-copy, applications in response to this announcement.