The Joel Peterson JP Travel Award fund was established by microbiology alumnus Joel Peterson (’69), who founded Ravenswood Winery after working as a research immunologist at the Harold Brunn Institute for Cardiovascular Research in San Francisco and as a clinical lab scientist at Sonoma Valley Hospital.

The JP Undergraduate Student Travel Fund is designed to fund discipline-related travel for undergraduates majoring in BB and BMB. It is designed to supplement funds from other sources to enable BB/BMB majors to travel to take advantage of professionally beneficial opportunities, such as travel to present research at a conference, a distant internship or other training opportunity.

How to apply

Students desiring travel support can download the JP Travel Award application and submit by following the guidelines in the application. A maximum award is not defined, but award amounts are generally $500 or less.

Thanking our donor

Students awarded travel funds agree to write a report about the experience that can be conveyed as a letter of thanks to the person who made this possible – Joel Peterson.

Previous award recipients

Through the generosity of Joel Peterson, the following undergraduates have received travel awards to present their research at conferences:

2022-23

• Matthew Frischman (Magnuson lab) Society for Neuroscience Annual National Conference, San Diego, CA
• Alyssa Schroeder (Mackiewicz lab) American Chemical Society Crossroads of Chemistry Conference, Indianapolis, IN (March 2023)
• Sophie Fischer (Mackiewicz lab), American Chemical Society Crossroads of Chemistry Conference, Indianapolis, IN (March 2023)

2021-22

• Alyssa Pratt (Hendrix lab) RNA 2022 Conference in Boulder, CO
• Alexandre Sathler (Franco lab) American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
• Gretchen Fujimura (Barbar lab) Biophysical Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA
• Elizabeth Milford Toll (Freitag Lab) 31st biennial Fungal Genetics Conference, Pacific Grove, CA

2018-19

• Oliver Valdivia-Camancho and Jeanine Pestoni (Franco Lab) presented their research at the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine in Chicago, IL November 2018.
• Mason McDowell attended the Student National Medical Association conference at UCLA medical school, November 2018. He plans to help host a medical conference here at OSU in February 2019 in collaboration with the Minority Association of Pre-medical Students.
• Kendra Jackson (Freitag Lab) present her research at the Fungal Genetics Conference in Pacific Grove, California.
• Grace Ross (Perez Lab) American Ageing Association.

2017-18

• Marissa Gallegos (Beckman/Hurst Labs) presented her research at the SACNAS conference.
• Mark Geisler (Freitag Lab) presented his research at the Neurospora 2018 Conference in Pacific Grove, CA.

2016-17

• Brian Josephson (Freitag Lab) presented his work at the 29th Fungal Genetics Conference in Asilomar, California.
• Dani Stevens traveled to Plön, Germany for a summer research internship with Dr. Eva Stukenbrock.
• Trisha Chau, Richelle Castro, Garth Kong, and Ryan Chung were all given travel awards to attend undergraduate-focused research conferences in April 2017.