Donald R. Kaplan Dissertation Award in Comparative Morphology

About this program

The Botanical Society of America administers the Donald R. Kaplan Dissertation Award in Comparative Morphology, providing up to two annual awards of up to $10,000 to support Ph.D. dissertation research that advances understanding of evolutionary or developmental diversity in plant form (funds may cover equipment, supplies, travel, and summer support). Applicants must be graduate students who have advanced to candidacy or are at a comparable doctoral stage (international students welcome), and both the applicant and their advisor must be BSA members; proposals must clearly demonstrate the student’s independence and how the project differs substantially from the advisor’s program. Applications require a cover page and 500-word abstract, a proposal body up to 5 single-spaced pages (methods limited to 1 page), a brief budget, a 200-word broader impacts statement, and two letters of reference including one from the research supervisor; awards are administered through institutional sponsored-research offices with no overhead and funds are expected to be spent within two years, with an expectation of publication in American Journal of Botany.