Department of

Biological Sciences

Mosig Travel Funds

The Mosig Endowment for Biological Sciences
Professor Gisela Mosig enjoyed a distinguished career in molecular genetics during a life richer in adventures and disasters than is common among scholars. The formal outline of her career conceals much. She was born in Saxony on November 29,1930. She left East Germany as a teenager, did her undergraduate studies at the University of Bonn, and went on to obtain a postdoc fellow degree in plant genetics at the University of Cologne in 1959. She worked for 3 years with A. D Hershey at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. In these two intervals she became deeply immersed in the general and molecular genetics of the T-even bacteriophages. She joined the Department of Molecular Biology at Vanderbilt in 1965 (becoming a US citizen in 1968) and worked there until her death on January 12, 2003. Dr. Mosig leaves behind an influential corpus of discoveries in the molecular biology phase of T4 and influential insights into the interrelationships of recombination, replication, and DNA repair processes.

Professor Mosig provided a significant endowment to the Biological Sciences Department to be used to support the graduate program and enhance the scholarly activities of the graduate students of the department.

The Gisela Mosig Travel Fund
Upon selecting a Ph.D thesis advisor amoung our primary faculty and joining that lab as a Biological Sciences graduate student, an account will be set up for the student called the Gisela Mosig Travel Fund in the amount of $3500.00. During the student's tenure in the department the fund can be used by the student, with approval from the mentor, for any reasonable and documented travel related expenses to meetings, workshops, offsite courses or training. Each year the student and the mentor will be notified of the balance of the fund.

Directions of how to use your Gislea Mosig Travel Fund

Before the trip, complete a "request to use Mosig Funds" form and email it to your mentor to gain his/her approval. If he/she approves, your mentor should email the completed form to Leslie Maxwell. Receving the form from the mentor will confirm his/her approval of your proposed use of the travel fund. Please note that the form must be submitted by the mentor, forms will not be accepted from a student.
Click on the following link for a Mosig Funds use form: Mosig Fund Request Form
Complete a green travel form. This form can be found in the office of Leslie Maxwell or Barbara Sidwell located in the Biological Sciences Administrative Office. This form must be completed and signed at least two weeks prior to your trip.
When returning from your trip, you will need to complete the yellow copy of the green travel form and submit to Barbara Sidwell for processing. To be reimbursed from the Mosig Fund you must keep all receipts, including those for meals! A reimbursement of travel expenses via the Mosig Funds will NOT be processed without receipts.
Your Mosig Fund will pay for the following: Hotel, flight, taxi or shuttle, registration, parking fees and reasonable meal expenses for yourself. The Mosig Fund will not pay for: Movies, entertainment activities, upgraded flights or any unreasonable or unrealistic charges.
Presentation and posters given at meetings supported by the Travel Fund should have an acknowledgement of support from the Gisela Mosig Travel Fund.

Apply for Graduate School funds as well
The Graduate School at Vanderbilt also offers travel funds for Graduate students. You are strongly encouraged to apply for these funds in order to make your Mosig fund go further.

Click below to access the Graduate School form:

Application for a Graduate Student travel grant to Present Research

Graduate Student travel award money can be uses annually (July 1st-June 30th). A student must be the presenter of research conducted at Vanderbilt. The meeting must be a major regional, national, or international conference. Grants are limited to $500 for domestic travel and up to $1000 for foreign travel. (See form for detailed guidelines about domestic and international travel). The Graduate School will not pay for food. Each Graduate Student is responsible for completing the application and submitting it to the Graduate School in a timely manner for processing prior to the meeting.