Dear All,

Just to let you know, I am the GRADUATE STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE for the
Mathematics Department for the 2009-2010 academic year. So please do
not hesitate to drop by to discuss any issues related to your graduate
studies you would like.  :-)

Another important contact person to keep in mind is the Graduate
Student Advisor Professor Pete Winkler.

CONFERENCE TRAVEL: Since I am the graduate student representative, I
am the person you are supposed to make requests to if you would like
to get financial support to go to a conference.


Let me clarify a few important points about the conference support:


========================

1 Priority for conference travel funding will be given to fourth- and
fifth-year students, and to those students invited to give talks.

2 First and second-year students will receive funding for conference
travel only in exceptional cases.

3. The third-year students are in between the two above mentioned
extreme cases.

4. Please exhaust options for outside funding.  Often conferences do
have money to subsidize graduate student travel and/or lodging. Ask
your thesis adviser for other funding options, if any, and consider
sharing a room at the conference with someone, etc., to cut costs.

5. The Graduate Office provides each graduate student with a one-time
support of up to $500 for conference travel, but ONLY if you give a
talk. Contact Dean of Graduate Studies Gary Hutchins in the Graduate
Office for approval. His telephone is (603) 646 2107 and the email is
Gary.Hutchins@dartmouth.edu Many graduate students use this option for
the Joint AMS Meetings in their final year, when they apply for
jobs. These meetings usually have Mathematical Sciences Employment
Centers.

6 Once these funding avenues have been explored and anticipated
results indicated, then ask the Graduate Representative about
department funding. (You don't technically need to know whether you've
been awarded the outside funding before asking for support, but do
need to know what is anticipated.)

7 A REQUEST FOR FUNDING should be made in the e-mail form to the
Graduate Student Representative. This would be me :-) This email
SHOULD CONTAIN the name of the conference, the dates, (website?) and a
detailed projected budget.

8 DO NOT make any travel arrangements until you have received approval
for funding from the Graduate Student Representative. Do NOT wait
until the last minute to make inquiries and to request conference
travel support! You are welcome to make Travel arrangements through
the College Travel Office, their telephone numbers are
603-646-3900/800-321-0707 In this case you don't have to pay up
front. If you can get CHEAPER flights on your own, please do so, but,
you will have to wait to get reimbursed. Please confer with our
department Administrator Tracy Moloney on optimal travel booking, she
will also be the one authorizing the airplane ticket issued by College
Travel Office to be charged directly to our Department account . We
reimburse travel and lodging (and sometimes registration fees). We do
NOT reimburse food or other expenses. We VERY STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you
to take the BUS TO THE AIRPORT to minimize the travel costs. Also
please keep in mind that the Department has the right to put a cap on
the travel budget or to DENY funding, if the travel costs are found
unreasonable or were not preapproved before travel plans were made,
etc.

9 We are willing to fund trips (for all graduate students) to local
area seminars, typically at the cost of a bus ticket. The rule that we
generally try to use is:

A. if one person is going, we pay the bus fare;
 
B. if two people are carpooling, the driver is reimbursed for the cost
of a single bus ticket;  

C. if more than two are going, standard mileage reimbursement applies.

10. We will generally cover up to $500 for a weekend meeting, and up
to $800 for a longer meeting.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate ask me.

Have a pleasant Summer!

Best Regards,

Vladimir

Graduate Student Representative