CSA Stella Blum Student Research Grant

Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Be a CSA member in good standing:
• Be a student matriculating, at the time of the funded research, in a degree program at an accredited institution;
• Propose a research project in the field of North American costume.

Allowable expenses include the following:

• Transportation to and from a research site (away from home or school);
• Living expenses at research site (away from home or school);
• Supplies and services such as image reproduction/rights, books, postage, phone charges, data storage, transcription services, graphics, etc.

Non-allowable expenses include the following:

• Living expenses while at home or school;
• Tuition and materials for course work;
• Overhead or indirect costs to any institution;
• Salary;
• Equipment such as cameras, tape recorders, or computers;
• Transportation to regional or national meetings of CSA during the year of the award. (Note:  a $600 reimbursement is provided for the National Symposium presentation year.)
• Expenses incurred prior to the date of the written notification of the award, including costs of preparing the application.

**Note:  If the research proposal involves human subjects and/or interviews, appropriate Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval must be submitted before the initial grant payment is made.**

A complete application must be uploaded as one (1) pdf file under 100 MB using this form and include the following documents in listed order:

• Contact Information
• Project Proposal (1000 word total) addressing:

1. Budget narrative for the project (see allowable expenses);
2. Introduction to research project, its background, significance, and/or innovation;
3. Purposes, impact, and goals of the research to the broad field of costume, specific objectives of work to be accomplished, and what questions will be answered (beyond simply increasing the student’s own knowledge and experience);
4. Qualifications of researcher, familiarity with subject (awareness of the interdisciplinary nature of the field of costume), course work completed and related courses to be taken during the project, previous research experience, and how the project will benefit the student at this point in his/her academic career and in the long run;
5. Methodology and structure of research, appropriateness of research sources, and bibliography;
6. Projected schedule of completing the work and feasibility;
7. Name of research supervisor;
8. Application/scholarly presentation of results, and the value of this information to the field of costume research;
9. Select bibliography and related resources (not included in word limit).

• Transcripts from all relevant academic work.
• Letters or emails of permission from any research site, museum, or library that the applicant intends to visit for research.
• Two letters of recommendation, one from the research project supervisor and another from someone familiar with the applicant’s academic record, preferably a faculty member, on the form that can be downloaded here.
• A CV including the following information: 

1. Summary of college education (including institution(s), date(s) of attendance/graduation, degree(s) earned, major field(s) of study)
2. Summary of high school education (school name, address, year of graduation or equivalency, honors, awards, scholarships received)
3. Listing of all related professional activities, memberships, internships and volunteer positions, and publications
4. Summary of professional employment history (including name of company or institution, dates worked, and position held beginning with the most recent)

Applications will be evaluated on the completed application packet, clarity of Project Proposal, and all supporting documents. See rubric tab for more information.

Each criterion is rated according to the following scale: 

5 = outstanding, 4 = excellent, 3 = fair, 2 = poor, 1 = unacceptable

1. Proposal is clearly written and well-organized.
2. Proposal makes a case for the project’s significance to the field of North American dress/costume. 
3. Proposal describes a theoretical perspective, research methods, and an analytical approach that are all appropriate to the research problem, questions, goals, and purpose.
4. Bibliography shows familiarity with the project’s scholarly context.
5. Project timeline and budget are feasible and appropriate.
6. Recommendation letters convincingly affirm the applicant’s qualifications and ability to undertake the grant project.
7. Vita and transcripts demonstrate preparation for completing the proposed project according to grant requirements.

The deadline for  applications  is June 1, 2025. Applicants will be notified about the results by July 15, 2025. Both the grant recipient and project advisor must sign the Grant Letter of Agreement; when this is received, a check for half the funds will be sent. The recipient will begin the research by September 15, 2025 and complete the project within one year. Upon completion of the project and after receipt of a summary of the research and an expense report, the remainder of the funds will be paid.

The recipient will submit a short report or a or a more comprehensive article for publication in Dress by September 15 following their presentation CSA’s National Symposium.  The final report will be co-authored by the awardee and their faculty advisor (with the advisor as second author).  The awardee has the option to request that the report be blind, peer-reviewed; alternatively, the report may be published as editor-reviewed only if the awardee desires.

Following the presentation at the National Symposium, reimbursement of up to $600 of expenses to present at the symposium will be paid upon completion of travel and submission of an expense report.

The recipient must publicly acknowledge CSA in all lectures, publications, publicity pertaining to the award.