Student Projects
VaAGC Student Research Award
Purpose
The purpose of the VaAGC Student Research Award is to support quality graduate-level research that supports the VaAGC vision: To maximize the quality of genetic health care and to improve and promote the practice of genetic counseling in the state of Virginia.
Eligibility
Current Masters of Genetic Counseling students who are in good standing at an accredited program.
Award
The VaAGC plans to fund up to four proposals at a maximum of $500 each. The number of awards may vary depending on the quality of proposals, requested budget, and availability of funds.
Important Dates
Proposals must be submitted via e-mail by 11:59 PM EST on Friday April 11th.
Award notification via e-mail by April 18, 2025
We will announce winners at this year’s Annual Education Conference on April 24th-25th, 2025.
Questions
Please direct any questions about the award to treasurer@vaagc.com and vice-treasurer@vaagc.com.
Proposal Instructions
The proposal consists of the following sections:
- Project Description
- Reference List
- Budget
- Appendices (optional)
Project Description
The Project Description provides an overview of your project aims, rationale, and methods. This section is limited to 500 words (not including references, budget pages, and appendices). Please note, the review committee will not consider any text beyond the first 500 words of the Project Description.
Include the following sections in your Project Description:
Goal – In one or two sentences, describe what general research question you hope to answer.
Objectives and/or Hypotheses – Number each specific project objective and, when appropriate, your testable hypothesis for each objective.
Background – Briefly summarize relevant literature justifying the need for your project and supporting your objectives/hypotheses.
Methods – Describe, as appropriate, the study design, sample population, recruitment plan, intervention, key variables including instrumentation/measures, and analytic plan. Generally, this section will comprise at least half of the Project Description.
Limitations – Provide a brief critical assessment of your methods and any anticipated problems. Explain how your project is valuable despite these potential challenges.
Reference List
Within the Project Description use in-text citations and include a separate reference list page. Use either APA or AMA formatting for the citations.
Budget
On a separate page, provide a table itemizing each budget item, and include the total cost of the project. Typically, sections of the budget will include items such as recruitment costs (e.g., advertising), participant honoraria, equipment (e.g., audiovisual recording devices), services (e.g., transcription, statistical consultation), and/or survey/instrumentation fees. If your total budget exceeds $500, explain how you expect to fund the additional cost.
Appendices
If appropriate, you may attach separate documents in appendices (e.g., consent form, survey instrument).
Review Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated on the following:
- Alignment with the VaAGC vision
- Need/rationale for the project
- Innovation
- Feasibility
- Budget appropriateness
- Quality of the proposal
Proposal Submission
Email your proposal as a single attached Word document or PDF file to treasurer@vaagc.com and vice-treasurer@vaagc.com
Other expectations
Award winning students will provide a summary of the project, approximately 15 minutes, at the VaAGC Annual Educational Conference in 2026.
In your email include your full name and date of anticipated graduation.
Thank you,
Eddie Williams, MS, CGC
Distribution of Student Research Requests to the VaAGC Membership
We will distribute student research requests if specific criteria are met, as outlined in our Advertising Policy, and when approved by the VaAGC Officers and Board of Directors. Students in an ABGC-accredited genetic counseling program within the state of Virginia may request a survey listing be emailed to all VaAGC members one time free-of-charge. Students in an ABGC-accredited genetic counseling program outside of the state of Virginia or in other medical programs may request a survey listing be emailed to all VaAGC members for a $20.00 fee. Other options for survey distribution, including a request for a follow-up reminder from VaAGC to the VaAGC membership regarding the survey request are outlined in the aforementioned attached document. Please note, in order for VaAGC to distribute a survey, it must incorporate a consent statement (or notice of exemption from ethical review from an IRB) and contact information for the researcher(s) in the survey.