Purpose
In memory of the life and accomplishments of Dr. Anat Kimchi (Criminology and Criminal Justice graduate student), the Kimchi Memorial Graduate Awards Committee will be selecting the fourth Annual Kimchi Memorial Award recipients from among graduate student applicants in Criminology and Criminal Justice.
The Kimchi funds may be used for expenses related to summer research support, professional conference travel, data collection/access, academic training, or to defray the costs of achieving key academic milestones in the graduate program. The focus of these awards is on research related to racial inequality, social justice, punishment and recidivism research, and other areas of scholarship in the study of formal institutions of social control in society.
For example, award monies might be utilized to support various activities that
are related to these areas of research, such as:
- Travel to upcoming academic or policy-related conferences
- Summer research stipends (e.g. to complete/submit paper for publication)
- ICPSR or other data training workshops
- Paying for data access for a student dissertation or related work
- Purchasing specialized software needed for research purposes
- Key activities tied to programmatic milestones (e.g. finishing dissertation)
Award Eligibility
University of Maryland Criminology & Criminal Justice doctoral students who have completed their master’s thesis are eligible to apply for the Kimchi Memorial Graduate Awards. Preference will be given to students who have advanced to candidacy. The Award Committee is comprised of 3 full-time faculty members and 1 current graduate student. Graduate students serving on the committee are ineligible to receive the Kimchi Award during their tenure on the committee.
Proposal Structure
To be considered for a Kimchi Memorial Graduate Award, applicants must submit a written project proposal to the Kimchi Award Committee. Applicants can submit a travel/data award, research award, or both. Travel/data proposals should be no more than 3 double-spaced pages. Research proposals should be no more than 5 double-spaced pages. The application process is the same for both but research proposals should be more detailed than travel proposals.
For both types of awards, applicants should provide a summary of the proposed project, including a discussion of the importance of the planned activity and its potential impact on criminal justice research, policy and practice. Proposals should include: a description of the research problem; discussion of relevant literature (other studies that address the topic and use the same or related data); and a detailed description of the methodology, including prior experience with the data or analytic method. The proposal should also clearly describe the project’s dissemination strategy (e.g., publication, dissertation, white paper, policy brief, agency report, paper presentation at a professional conference) and discuss whether it is related to the goals of a specific criminal justice or related agency. Successful applications will consider the feasibility of the study (i.e., how likely it is that the project will be successfully executed) and how the proposed project fits into the broader substantive research areas defined below under Award Criteria. A CV should be attached along with the completed application. For more information about the Kimchi Award, please see: go.umd.edu/kimchiaward.
Award Criteria
The committee anticipates being able to support 1 research award that totals no more than $3600, plus up to 2 travel/data awards, each not exceeding $540 in a given year. Travel/data funds can be used to support travel to a national conference, offset costs of a statistical or other training workshop, or help pay for data access or other specialized research costs. Students who receive a Kimchi Award are expected to use the funds to support the proposed activity. Award amounts may vary depending on individual projects and fund priorities and no award may be given some years. Key criteria that should be used to
structure the written proposals include:
- Scholarly Importance and Potential Impact of the Research
o Novelty and importance of the research topic
o Potential to make meaningful research contribution to discipline - Substantive Relevance of Proposed Topic Areas
o Preference will be given to proposals related to:
▪ Racial and/or social justice
▪ Community corrections (e.g. probation, parole, etc.)
▪ Prosecution, sentencing or imprisonment - Data and Methods
o Projects should involve high-level quantitative data analysis
o Integration of multiple or complex data sources
o Application of rigorous and sophisticated analytical approaches - Justice Policy and Translational Criminology
o Extent to which research might impact policy
o Potential to enact meaningful change in criminal justice system
o Additional efforts directly related to translational criminology - Overall Quality and Level of Development in the Proposal
o Quality of writing, organization, and connections to prior work
o Quality of description of data and methods
o Completeness of research ideas and feasibility of project
Application Timeline
Student may apply for funds to support projects that will occur at any point during the upcoming year (i.e. Summer, 2025– Spring, 2026). Completed proposals must be submitted to Jessica Townsend (jessicat@umd.edu) with the Subject Line: Kimchi Graduate Award by 5pm on Friday, February 28, 2025. The committee anticipates making final award announcements by Mid-March, 2025.