The Cushman Foundation established it's first Student Research Award in 1985 to honor the memory of Joseph A. Cushman. The award supports worthy Master's and Doctoral Student research projects dealing with the systematics, biostratigraphy, paleoecology, and ecology of fossil or living foraminifera.

Current students with developed research projects in these areas are encouraged to apply for support. To apply you will need to fill out the application form and provide a description of the proposed research, why it is important, a detailed budget with justification for the expenditures and a curriculum vitae. Budgets should provide sufficient detail that a complete understanding of the financial aspects of the proposed work is clear. A letter of support from the student's faculty advisor is also required. These should be sent to Secretary/Treasurer in hard copy or by email. No award will be made for more than $2000. The Board of Directors reserves the right to make no awards or to make awards that differ from the requested budget.

Proposals must be submitted by 1 March. Decisions will be made by the Board of Directors in early April.

A letter reporting the progress of the awardee and use of the Foundation's funds is expected within two years after the award. The Board of Directors hopes that the awardees will submit their results to one of the Foundation's publications, and in any case, requests that acknowledgment of the award be included in any thesis, dissertation or publication that results from work supported by an award of the Foundation.

Proposals will be judged upon scientific merit and financial need. Proposals should consist of an application form, a short (1-3 pages) summary of the student's research, a curriculum vitae, a budget and a letter of support from the advisor. Previous awardees should include a short summary of research completed with the award. Decisions will be made by the Cushman Foundation Board of Directors in early April 2012. Proposals should be submitted by 1 March 2012 and directed to Jennifer Jett, Cushman Foundation, MRC 121 Dept Paleobiology, PO Box 37012, National Museum of Natural History, 10th and Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20013-7012, USA or electronically to jettje@si.edu

Previous award winners include:

2008

Ellen Brouillette, M.Sc. student, University of Georgia, USA - "An Experimental Approach to Understanding the Impacts of Heavy Metal Pollutants on Benthic Foraminifera"

Olivia Gibb, M.Sc. student, Dalhousie University, Canada - "Paleoceanographic conditions in the Amundsen Gulf and Viscount Melville Sound, Northwest Passage"

2007

Annette Bolton, Ph.D. student, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Geography, Environment & Earth Sciences, NZ - "Coupled δ¹⁸O- Mg/Ca analysis of individual Globigerinoides ruber (white) and Neogloboquadrina incompta: paleo-environmental implications"

Serena Dameron, M.S. student, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Department of Geosciences, USA - "Benthic foraminiferal changes associated with isotopic changes at the Mid-Maastrictian event and end of the Early Eocene climatic optimum, Shatsky Rise, North Pacific"

Laura Wegener Parfrey, Ph.D. student, University of Massachusetts, Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, USA - "Genomic processing and sequence evolution in foraminifera"

2006

Katherine Jordan, PhD. student, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, USA - "Assessing the effects of calcite saturation state on metal uptake and post-depositional dissolution in benthic foraminiferal calcite"

Heidi Souder, PhD. student, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, USA - "Shell abnormalities in Archaias angulatus (Foraminifera) from the Florida Keys: the possible affects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide?"

2005

Jennifer L. Frail-Gauthier, Msc. student, Centre for Environmental and Marine Geology, Dalhousie University, Canada - “Studies of the biology and pollution tolerances of marsh foraminifera from a cold, temperate marsh in Nova Scotia, Canada”

Andrea D. Hawkes, PhD. student, Earth & Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, USA - “Constraining Past Mega-Thrust Earthquake-induced Vertical Land Movement in the Pacific Northwest”

2004

Scott Fay - "Ecological Zonation of Endosymbionts in Tropical Reef-Dwelling Foraminifera"

Alicia Kahn - "Morphological Inventory of Indian Ocean Calcareous Nannoplankton"

2003

Anna Sabbatini - "Diversity of Polar Monothalamous Foraminifera - Morphological and Molecular Approach"

Irene J. Abbene - "Distribution of Foraminifera, Sources of Organic Matter, and Sedimentation Rates in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina"

Jaime Escobar - " Thecamoebians as Environmental and Paleoenvironmental Indicators: Evidence from Modern Thecamoebian Distributions in Florida Lakes"

2002

Deniz Altin - "Using Novel Mitochondrial Genetic Markers for Phylogeny Reconstruction in Foraminifera"

Tessa M. Hill - "Foraminifera of Methane Rich Environments: Species Assemblages, Geochemistry, and Implications of the Fossil Record"

2001

John Hernandez - "Miocene (8-12 Ma) Sea-Level Changes at Bethany Beach, DE"

David Vance - "Benthic Foraminifera as Indicators of Environmental Change in the Outer Banks-Albemarle Sound System, North Carolina"