Conference-bound undergraduate students can now get some help with extra expenses.

Liz Beck, director of the Honors Program, said Provost Rollin Richmond and vice president for student affairs, Thomas Hill, are jointly supporting an undergraduate conference fund to help financially support students traveling to supplemental academic conferences.

“The purpose of the fund is to help undergraduates attend conferences,” she said.

Beck, co-administrator of the funding program, said the conferences can be related to students’ academic programs or organizations of which they are members.

The fund has $10,000 to give this year and provides allocations of up to $100 for students attending conferences or $400 for students presenting at conferences, Beck said. She said the fund usually provides no more than $750 for each group.

“We try to take each request on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

Beck said the program was started because there was no funding for undergraduates to go to conferences.

“It was very difficult for students who were doing research and could be presenting at conferences to get them there,” she said. “We turn down very few students who apply, as long as the money holds out.”

While the fund does cover most travel expenses, she said they generally expect students to pay for personal expenses and food themselves. Beck said the funding committee usually turns down students if it feels the student already has enough support or if the conference does not meet qualifications for the supplemental money.

Thomas Cauley, junior in mechanical engineering, was one student who received help from the fund.

Cauley said he used the fund when he went to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Conference (ASME) in Orlando, Fla., with three other ISU students. He said the students went in order to learn more about a design competition, attend the job fair and get to know people in the industry. Cauley said members of the group also received funding from other groups, and one member received a grant from ASME.

“Orlando is very expensive,” he said. “The funding is the only reason we were actually able to go.”

Beck said students interested in applying for the fund can pick up applications in Osborn Cottage or 311 Beardshear as soon as possible. “It’s a first-come, first-serve basis,” she said.

Cauley said conferences are a great experience for students.

“I would encourage everyone to attend conferences because you never know who you’re going to run into, what kind of job opportunities you’re going to run into,” he said.