The ASM Peggy Cotter Travel Award Program provides funds for outstanding early career Branch members to attend ASM Microbe.

The Peggy Cotter Awards, fully funded by ASM, are named in honor of Peggy Cotter, Ph.D., past president of ASM, to recognize her commitment to mentoring and training of early career scientists.  

Program Details

Use of Awards: Awardees will use the awards to pay for registration, accommodation and travel costs associated with attending ASM Microbe.

Each ASM Branch may identify up to 3 awardees, based on criteria established by the award program and the individual branch. Awardees will be responsible for registering for ASM Microbe and making all their own travel arrangements to attend the meeting. The award funds will be distributed after ASM Microbe and are to be used to cover the expenses associated with attending the meeting (registration, travel, accommodation, meals, incidentals).

Eligibility

1. All awardees must be participating members of their local ASM Branch.
2. All awardees must be members of ASM (the national organization) at the time of application/nomination. Only postdoctoral, clinical laboratory scientist (CLS, MT, MLT, MLS), contributing or premium members are eligible. Student, supporting, emeritus and honorary members are not eligible for the award.
3. Past recipients of this travel award are not eligible to receive the award again.
4. All awardees must be “early career,” which, for the purposes of this award, includes the following:

• Postdoctoral fellows (up to 15 years beyond terminal degree).
• Clinical laboratory scientist (CLS, MT, MLT, MLS)—up to 15 years beyond terminal degree.
• Early career faculty (either tenure track or non-tenure track; e.g., assistant professors, research assistant professors, visiting assistant professors, etc.)—up to 15 years beyond terminal degree.
• Early stage investigators (ESI’s)—up to 15 years beyond terminal degree.
• Other—as determined by Branch—up to 15 years beyond terminal degree.
• Note: students are not eligible for this award. 
• Exceptions: exceptions to the 15-year time limit may be made in special circumstances on a case-by-case basis (e.g., career delays caused by taking parental leave to care for children). 

Apply

Application and selection processes will be handled by the branches; ASM (the national organization) will verify ASM membership and branch membership status, but otherwise, will not participate in the collection of applications or the review and selection of awardees. Contact your Branch for more details.

​Each branch will determine its own specific application and selection process. 

Learn More

To learn more and to apply for the Peggy Cotter Travel Awards, contact ASM Branch Activities.