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Current Students

Student Travel Funding Resources

The department of Human Centered Design & Engineering strives to enrich the education and professionalization of our students by supporting travel to conferences, seminars, and professional meetings/experiences.

Limited funds have typically been available to help students defray some conference registration costs and travel costs if the student is making a presentation at a major conference in the field, receiving an award, or performing a significant administrative role at the conference.

HCDE bachelor's and master's students follow a different travel policy than HCDE PhD students.

BS & MS Student Travel Policy      PhD student travel policy

Additional Funding Opportunities

In addition to the HCDE travel policies detailed at the links above, HCDE students may apply for financial support from faculty advisors, HCDE DEI Mini Grants, UW Graduate Student Conference Travel Awards (GSTA) and UW Undergraduate Research Program Conference Travel Awards

HCDE Resources

Students attending or presenting at a conference related to faculty-led research should first seek financial support from the faculty member directly. If a student is presenting, they are also encouraged to apply for the BS, MS or PhD student travel funds (link above).

Attending a conference that will broadly impact the HCDE community? Apply for a HCDE DEI Mini Grant. HCDE DEI Mini Grants support grassroots, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the department. Proposals can cover a wide range of community building, group training, and other DEI-related efforts. 

Students looking for funding to cover attendance to an on-campus conference (e.g. WiSE), should contact the Academic Services Director, Kathleen Rascon at khorenst@uw.edu or by scheduling an advising appointment

Off-Campus Resources

Have additional links and resources to add to this list? Email Leah Pistorius at lepisto@uw.edu.

Graduate Students

HCDE Master's and PhD students who are presenting a paper or who are an invited speaker at a conference may also be eligible for travel support from the Graduate School Graduate Student Conference Travel Awards (GSTA). Students do not need to take any extra steps to be considered for GSTA funding. If the department approves the student’s HCDE funding request, and if the student has not received GSTA funding within the last two years and is currently enrolled, the Assistant to the Chair will then submit the request to the GSTA. Please submit your travel requests early! GSTA request due dates are 1-2 months prior to travel.

GSTA funds can be applied only to transportation expenses (planes, train, automobiles); they cannot be applied to conference fees, hotel, lodging, or food. If the student anticipates that transportation expenses may be covered by other means (e.g., grant money, frequent flier miles), please indicate this on the HCDE travel funding request application. Any funds received from the GSTA are in addition to the total possible award from the HCDE department.

The Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) also have travel grants for qualified individuals. For more information and application procedures, please use this link: Graduate and Professional Student Senate travel grants.

Undergraduate Students

Currently enrolled HCDE undergraduate students working with a UW faculty mentor who have a scholarly paper, poster, or creative scholarly work that has been accepted for a professional conference must apply for an Undergraduate Research Program Conference Travel Award. Any funds received from them are in addition to the total possible award from HCDE.