ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½

  Applications open until December 16, 2025

AAI Equity in Immunology Travel Award

Download 2023 Reimbursement POLICY & Form

This award provides travel support to eligible trainees and early-career faculty members from disadvantaged backgrounds.*

Awardees attending IMMUNOLOGY2026™ will receive $1,250 to defray expenses associated with attending the AAI annual meeting. Monetary awards will be paid by ACH or wire transfer to recipients following the AAI annual meeting.

In most cases, this award may not be combined with other awards or grants for the AAI annual meeting; trainee recipients may receive the AAI Trainee Abstract Award or AAI Trainee Poster Award, but they may only claim the monetary value from a single award.

Eligibility

To be eligible, an applicant must meet all of these requirements:

1. Be a Regular, Associate, or Trainee member paid through the end of 2026 at the time of application submission.
2. Be a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, or early career faculty (assistant professor or equivalent).
3. Have submitted a first-author abstract for presentation (podium or poster) at IMMUNOLOGY2026™.
4. Be from a disadvantaged background.* An applicant is considered to be from a disadvantaged background* if they meet two or more of the following criteria:
   1. Were or currently are homeless, as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Definition: );
   2. Were or currently are in the foster care system, as defined by the Administration for Children and Families (Definition: );
   3. Were eligible for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program for two or more years (Definition: );
   4. Have/had no parents or legal guardians who completed a bachelor’s degree (see );
   5. Were or currently are eligible for Federal Pell grants (Definition: );
   6. Received support from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) as a parent or child (Definition: ). 
   7. Grew up in one of the following areas: a) a U.S. rural area, as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Health Grants Eligibility Analyzer (), or b) a  (qualifying zip codes are included in the file). Only one of the two possibilities in item g can be used as a criterion for the disadvantaged background definition.

Preference will be given to those from laboratories with limited research support as reported on the Funding Confirmation Form submitted with the application package.

Application Instructions

Please submit your award application by logging into your AAI member account at . Select “Awards” from the left-hand menu, and then click on “Make Nomination” for the relevant award. Only self-nominations will be accepted, so please fill out your information on the application form. All documents should be uploaded as a single combined PDF file no larger than 5 MB.

Please include the following in the application package:

1. A cover letter (not to exceed two (2) pages) clearly designating “AAI Equity in Immunology Travel Award” and including the following information:
   • Full name (first, middle initial, last)
   • Title and affiliation
   • Current mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address
   • A brief statement of applicant’s research goals
   • Title(s) and ID number(s) of abstract(s) submitted to IMMUNOLOGY2026™
2. Applicant’s curriculum vitae, including current funding and past AAI awards (NIH Biosketch style)
3. A completed Funding Confirmation Form (PDF) signed by Department Chair or Dean (Trainee members must submit a Funding Confirmation Form completed by their PI listing the PI’s research funding portfolio.)
4. A copy of the abstract(s) submitted to IMMUNOLOGY2026™, including the abstract submission ID number(s), abstract topic category, title(s), complete author list(s) in order, and body text

Complete application packages must be received by December 16, 2025. Packages that are not complete will not be considered. AAI will not accept materials sent separately, through regular mail, or by email. Final award decisions are at the discretion of AAI.

Note: Once your nomination is submitted, it will not be visible in your member profile. You will receive notification of acceptance or decline by the end of February.

* Criteria for disadvantaged backgrounds taken from the NIH website on September 3, 2025:

 

2020 Reimbursement Policy