Fellowships and Grants

photo courtesy of AAUW

 AAUW awarded over $6 million in 2023-24, here and internationally

Our local branch is part of one of the world’s largest sources of funding for graduate women - AAUW. 

Congrats 2023-24 Fellows & Grantees! 

AAUW is excited to announce over $6 million in funding to more than 285 women and community projects in the 2023-234 award year. These exceptional recipients will pursue academic work and lead innovative community projects to empower women and girls. All applicants are notified by email on April 15.

Due to the longstanding generous contributions of AAUW members and their branches, a broader community of women continues to gain access to educational and economic opportunities — breaking through barriers so that all women have a fair chance.

Fellowship and grant recipients perform research in a wide range of disciplines and work to improve their schools and communities. Their intellect, dedication, imagination, and effort promise to forge new paths in scholarship, improve the quality of life for all, and tackle the educational and social barriers facing women worldwide. AAUW seeks a diverse applicant pool.

The Batavia, Geneva St Charles Branch along with the leadership of Peggy Liska, our past president (2002-2005), has an endowment that has been in place since 2004.  Our fundraising and her generous seeding of this endowment, contributes directly to women each year and in perpetuity.  LINK to application details

Follow this link to start your application for the coming year.   The application process opens for most categories after August 1. 

LINK


Name: Stacy Henderson

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: Career Development Grant

Institution: Western Governors University

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Discipline: Computer and information sciences

Degree and Specialization: B.S., Software Development

In 2020-21 our Branch contributed directly to this recipient - Stacy Henderson

Margaret "Peggy" Liska Naylor Fund - Batavia, Geneva St Charles IL Branch

                               Career Development Grants

Award Year: 2022-23

Stacy Henderson is an innovation technologist, a teacher and an aspiring software engineer living in Texas with her family and friends. She serves as an innovation consultant for a well-known mobility company driving global innovation via systems and events. Her grant-year goals include learning software development and earning CompTIA certifications. She values intellectual generosity in work, study and informal interactions. Learning new things, solving problems and making life better for people is what she does.


Follow this link to see all past recipients from our endowment. LINK                    

And of the 320 - 2022/23 recipients - 5 are in Illinois.  LINK

To learn more about AAUW’s fellowships and grants and past awardees, visit our fellowships and grants web page

Award: American Fellowship

Funding: $6,000–$30,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: November 1

Name: Xiao (Angel) Bohannon

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: American Fellowship

Institution: Northwestern University

Location: Evanston, Illinois

Discipline: Education

Degree and Specialization: Ph.D., Leadership

Project Name: Attending to Leadership Attention: School Leadership during COVID

Angel Xiao Bohannon’s research examines how school leaders in urban schools experience and respond to the multiple, simultaneous demands on their limited attention during the COVID-19 crisis. Prior to pursuing a doctorate, she worked at a research-practice partnership on community-college mathematics.




Funding: $2,000–$12,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: November 15

Name: Kristine Lorenzo

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: Career Development Grant

Institution: DePaul University

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Discipline: Earth, atmospheric, and marine sciences

Degree and Specialization: M.S., Urban forestry

Kristine Lorenzo’s research examines the socio-ecological system interactions that influence the outcomes of urban tree-planting initiatives. Her goal is to complete her thesis and provide actionable metrics and data to on-the-ground stakeholders seeking to wisely use limited urban forest resources.


Funding:

$3,000-$10,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: December 1

Recipient: The Carter Education & Community Foundation, Inc.

Project Director: LaTonya Carter Sanders

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: Community Action Grant

Location: Rantoul, Illinois

Term: One-Year

Project Name: S.T.E.P.S.-n-STEM (Search, Try, Experience and Prepare 2 Succeed in STEM)

The Carter Education & Community Foundation will utilize the S.T.E.P.S.-n-STEM program to improve the connections to and opportunities for young people to connect to the world of STEM. S.T.E.P.S.-n-STEM deploys a three-prong stackable learning approach to education (Show-Teach-Connect) and will provide workshops to teach students as well as allow them to try out the fun in STEM and create opportunities for students to connect with people representing STEM certification programs and professions.



Funding: $18,000–$30,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: November 15

Name: Kaye Celine Palisoc

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: International Fellowship

Institution: University of Chicago

Citizenship: Philippines

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Discipline: Public administration

Degree and Specialization: M.S., Data Science and Public Policy

Amarachukwu Okafor is a pediatric neurologist who also has a passion to ensure that Nigerian under-fives are fully immunized for age. For this, she received an award from the Pediatric Association of Nigeria. She teaches pediatric neurology passionately. Her new work in encephalogram/epilepsy will go a long way to help improve the evidence-based diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy in Nigeria to the standard of the other parts of the world.


Funding: $5,000–$7,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: November 1

Primary Director: Olayide Obidi

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: International/Home Country Project Grant

Citizenship: Nigeria

Location: Lagos

Project Name: Demystifying STEM for Nigerian Females: A Chance for the Girl Child

Olayide Obidi, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, is passionate about uprooting the phobia toward STEM among Nigerian female students. These girls have developed fear over the years having received the wrong impression that STEM is for the “strong” (boys). Therefore, many girls naturally avoid STEM-related careers. Her goal is to reorient these young Nigerian girls—through motivation and advocacy— about the possibility of girls thriving in STEM.


Funding: $10,000–$35,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: December 1

Name: Rou-Jia Sung

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: Research Publication Grant in Engineering, Medicine, and Science

Institution: Carleton College

Location: Northfield, Minnesota

Discipline: Biology

Degree and Specialization: Publication, Biology

Project Name: Expression of ly6 proteins from C. elegans

Rou-Jia Sing is an assistant professor in the biology department at Carleton College. In the lab, she uses tools from biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biology and cell biology to investigate the role of the ly6 protein family. The goals for this fellowship year are to develop and publish a robust expression protocol for expression of ly6 proteins from C. elegans, with future goals to use the purified protein to isolate novel interacting partners.


Funding: $5,000–$18,000

Opens: August 1

Deadline: December 1

Name: Kiana Washington

Award Year: 2022-23

Award: Selected Professions Fellowship

Institution: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Discipline: Business administration and management

Degree and Specialization: M.B.A., Venture Capital

Project Name: Democratizing the financial services industry through innovation

Kiana Washington aspires to land a role in the fintech sector of the venture capital industry, in hopes of democratizing the financial-services industry for underrepresented communities. Before attending business school, she was responsible for the client acquisition, retention and strategic growth initiatives for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.


fellowships and grants web page

cut off varies for applications up to December 1 each year