Beta Sigma Kappa (BSK) Student Travel Fellowship

Founded in 1925 by a small group of optometrists in Illinois, Beta Sigma Kappa now has student chapters in every school and college of optometry in the United States, with two in Canada, and one in Puerto Rico. The Society supports the formation and activities of student chapters and works with the schools and colleges to develop programs that foster academic excellence.

Purpose

Beta Sigma Kappa (BSK) and the American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) have partnered to present the BSK Student Travel Fellowship to one student each year. The $750 travel fellowship gives an optometry student the opportunity to engage in cutting edge learning, participate in hands on workshops, and experience an amazing exhibit hall at the annual Academy meeting. 

• Student MUST be a member of the Beta Sigma Kappa (BSK) International Optometric Honor Society
• Optometry students who are currently enrolled full-time as a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year student.

Application Requirements:

• Short essay (300 - 500 words) on the subject "Why I want to attend the AAO meeting and how it will help me contribute to the profession in the future." 
• Being a presenter of a paper or poster is desired but not required. Please submit a copy of the accepted paper or poster abstract, if applicable.

Materials MUST be submitted online by the deadline date (shown below) using the online submission tool. Applications that remain incomplete after the deadline date will not be evaluated. 

Fellowship Notes:

Although students can apply to attend a meeting for which they have previously been awarded a travel fellowship, priority may be given to first-time awardees.

It is the standard policy of the AAOF that program recipients who receive as part of their award, a travel stipend to attend an event, cannot receive a second or duplicate travel stipend from the Foundation or its affiliate, the AAO.

Applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision prior to the Academy annual meeting. The award checks will be presented to the awardees during the meeting. Recipients are required to attend both the BSK meeting (time/date to be determined) and the AAOF Celebration Luncheon to receive their award checks.

All award recipients by application and acceptance of an award agree to allow the AAOF and/or the sponsor of the program to which they applied to publish their name, image, institution information, and any statement or quote provided by the recipient. These may appear in a variety of media formats that will announce and promote the program including, but not limited to, the AAOF and/or sponsor annual report, website, annual meeting promotional materials.

Please direct all questions regarding this fellowship to:

Christina Velasquez, Program Manager, Education at christinav@aaoptom.org or Jennifer Rubin, Foundation Program Manager at  Jenniferr@aaoptom.org

2019: 
Salwa Saleh
Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University

2018: 
Lea Hair
University of Houston, College of Optometry

2017:
Cameron Sefton
University of Waterloo, School of Optometry and Vision Science