Fellows Scholarship Eligibility

To be eligible for the Davidson Fellows scholarship, an applicant must:

• Applicants must be 18 or younger as of the application deadline to be eligible.
• Be a U.S. citizen residing in the United States, or a Permanent Resident of the United States residing in the United States, or be stationed overseas due to active U.S. military duty.
• Have completed a significant piece of work in one of the submission categories.
• Two person teams are eligible.
• Be able to demonstrate that the work is his or her own creation.
• Be able to attend an in-person event, with at least one parent or guardian.

Yes! Two-person teams are eligible to apply.

• Teams may be no more than two people.
• Both team members must be 18 or younger as of the application deadline.
• Both team members must attend any in-person awards events.
• Scholarship money will be split evenly between the two team members.
• As with solo submissions, two nominators are required.

Applications involving human subjects or live vertebrates are NOT eligible.

Projects involving the following live invertebrates are eligible: C. elegans, Drosophila, Hydra. Additionally, projects involving zebrafish no older than 168 hours post-fertilization are eligible.

Tissue-related projects are eligible, if the applicant can demonstrate:

• The materials were collected for other purposes;
• No embryos were sacrificed; 
• The student is collaborating with a qualified lead scientist; and
• The lead scientist provides to the Institute documented approval from a recognized Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Scientific Review Committee (SRC).

Please submit documentation with the preliminary portion of the application which will be reviewed by the Davidson Institute, who, at its sole discretion, will determine eligibility. The Davidson Institute may, in its sole discretion, also require that other conditions be met before tissue-related projects will be further considered.

Yes, you are eligible.  Students are welcome to submit research completed at home, in paid and unpaid programs, or in a high school or college/university lab. However, applicants AND nominators MUST disclose participation in a paid program.  This policy is to safeguard students. 

A word about paid research programs - The Davidson Fellows program urges careful selection of paid programs and we offer these suggestions:

• Transparency is key, a legitimate program will be transparent with their pricing as well as who the student will be working with along with their credentials.
• Paid programs should not promise results, meaning the program should not say that by paying to participate in said program that the student would be guaranteed to win a Davidson Fellows Scholarship.
• Paid programs should not ask students for secrecy about their participation, this is a violation of the Davidson Fellows Scholarship rules, and is inappropriate and improper when working with minor students.
• If you are aware if a suspicious program, please contact the Davidson Fellows program, DavidsonFellows@DavidsonGifted.org.

Generally, theoretical applications are hard for the judging panel to assess because there are no results demonstrating proof of concept.  Without testing it is hard to know if an idea actually works.  If you have no data, you are not eligible for consideration.

No, literature reviews are not eligible for consideration.

Community service projects are NOT eligible.  We also do NOT offer a vocalist, dance, theater, photography or visual arts category.