COA GRANTS TO MALACOLOGY
Since the inception of the program in June, 1985, the COA has awarded over $140,290.00 in grants in the field of malacology. Individual grants range between $1,000 and $1,500 per project. The size of total annual funding has grown to $15,868 in 2005.

Richard Forbush was the first chairman of the Grants Program, awarding 2 grants totaling $2000 that year. The chair passed to Dr. R. Tucker Abbott in July, 1988. Dr. Abbott, assisted by Dr. Henry Chaney and Walter E. Sage, III, began a series of increases in grants that had brought the annual giving to $6,000 per year by 1993. Funding for these grants came mainly from the proceeds of the COA Annual Auction. In June, 1995, Dr. Gary Rosenberg (Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia) took over COA Grants Committee chairmanship. In 2003, the chair was passed to Dr. José H. Leal (Director, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum) with Dr. Gary Rosenberg and Dr. Henry Chaney (Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History) remaining as committee members.

Besides the annual auction income, we now also source from other convention income for grants. Due to the wide fluctuation of our annual convention/auction income, we find it necessary to pay more attention to enlarging our endowment donations as well as direct donations to our annual grant budget.

Typically, grants of up to $1,500 each are given to qualified parties undertaking field or laboratory research on recent or fossil mollusks, and other molluscan related projects. Up to 2004, most of the awardees have been citizens or permanent residents of the Americas or students attending graduate schools in the United States. Awards are not made to high school students and rarely are made to undergraduate college students.

Elsewhere on this web site, you will see a list of Grantees and their grant projects giving you an idea of the scope of our program.

INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS:
There is no official application form. Applications should not exceed six pages single spaced and should include the following items:

• title of project;
• summary of project, not to exceed 150 words;
• body of the proposal including background information necessary to understand the project and its significance, materials and methods, and proposed plan of research;
• itemized budget of estimated expenses;
• literature cited; and
• a one page biography or resume including address, phone number and other means of contacting the applicant. (US citizens and residents should include their social security number.)
• Student applicants should also submit a letter of recommendation from an academic or professional source.

If funding is being requested from several sources, an overall budget for the project may be presented, with items and total amount requested from COA clearly indicated. Normal budget items include supplies, expendable equipment, and travel expenses. Grants will not cover salaries, overhead, permanent equipment, conferences or meeting costs.

Applications are judged by the COA Grants Committee. Awards will be announced at COA's annual convention.

IF A GRANT IS AWARDED, the recipient must submit a summary of the completed phase of the project to the chairman of the grant committee within one year of receipt of the award. This summary need not be longer than one page, and should report negative as well as positive results. Those who do not comply will be asked to return the award.

Grant recipients are encouraged to submit a popular account of their research to the editor of COA's magazine, American Conchologist.

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Dr. Daniel L. Geiger
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History - Invertebrate Zoology
2559 Puesta del Sol Road
Santa Barbara, CA 91364 USA
e-mail: geiger@vetigastropoda.com | dgeiger@sbnature2.org