The AATCC Foundation Student Research Support Program provides financial assistance for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing textile-related projects. Students may submit proposals now for funding to be awarded January 2024. Applications must be submitted by October 15, 2023, at 5:00 PM CST to be considered. The application is a simple three-page form including a description of the proposed project and the student’s resume. An advisor’s letter of support is encouraged but not required. Priority is given to research related to test method development, evaluation of textile performance in actual use situations, and correlations between these two. Grants range from $500 to $4,000. Grant recipients may also request an additional reimbursement of up to $500 for travel and/or registration to present the research project at a technical conference. Additional guidelines, application, and submission details are available on the AATCC Foundation webpage.
The Research Support Program is chaired by Yiqi Yang of University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Funding decisions are made by a panel of academic and industry professionals from across the textile industry. Previously selected projects have ranged from tissue engineering to digital printing. Emmy Hsiung, a 2023 grant recipient from Cornell University, reported that the funding helped her investigate medical textiles and determine that chitosan/carvacrol nanofibers can be spun onto cotton for improved thermal stability and fast release of carvacrol. She plans to submit her findings for publication in the AATCC Journal of Research.Submit research proposals by October 15 www.aatcc.org/grants