As we begin to see a few in-person meetings and conferences appear in our Upcoming Events listing, NISS thought that perhaps this is a good time to re-explain what the NISS Academic Affiliate Award Fund is and how it can be used.
The Academic Affiliate Award Fund was set up to help offset some of the expenses that individuals incur in attending meetings, conferences, talks and other professional activities that NISS sponsors. The annual NISS Academic Affiliate membership is $3,000 (FY or CY). It is important to remember that 50% of this annual membership fee ($1,500) is set aside by NISS so that it can be utilized at the discretion of the Affiliate to support professional activities and individuals in their department, including:
Affiliate hosted conference expenses when co-sponsored by NISS and/or travel expenses and registration fees for:
- NISS hosted events
- NISS co-sponsored events
- All CANSSI events
- All SAMSI events
- Statistical conferences at North American Mathematical and Statistical Institutes
Use Case
Jessica is a student and/or faculty at “ABC University” and her department is a NISS Affiliate. (Don’t know if your department is a NISS Affiliate? Check the List of NISS Affiliates on the NISS website.) She would like to attend a webinar/tutorial hosted by NISS on Machine Learning and the registration fee is $35. Jessica contacts her NISS Affiliate Liaison and asks if she can get reimbursed. The Liaison is usually the department chair or person designated by the chair. (Don’t know who your department NISS Affiliate Liaison is? Check the NISS Affiliate listing.)
She is given permission from her NISS Affiliate Liaison that she can be reimbursed through the NISS ABC University fund. She registers, pays for and attends the webinar/tutorial. After the entire event is over, Jessica downloads the travel reimbursement form, fills in the registration amount, signs the form and gets the NISS Affiliate Liaison to sign it as well. Jessica emails this report and all/any receipts (legible please) as an attachment to officeadmin@niss.org who processes and USPS mails Jessica her reimbursement. Jessica could also email officeadmin@niss.org the completed form and clearly CC the Liaison stating she has their permission to be reimbursed. The email can then be added to the receipt PDF as “ABC University” approval.
Next time there is an event that looks interesting, remember your AAF is there to support you!