Career Re-entry Scholarship
Encouraging professionals to re-enter the STEM workforce and bring diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences that drive innovation and progress.
The 2025 scholarship cycle is now closed.
Applicants have been notified. Stay updated for the next cycle and sign up to receive notifications for 2026.
Scholarship Overview
Up to two AWIS members (with a bachelor’s degree in a STEM-related field) will receive individual awards of $2,500 to be used for expenses that will support and enable the return to a STEM career after being out of the workforce for more than one year. Scholarships may be used for job search fees, technology needs, commuting, family care, additional education, participation in an incubator, or start-up fees for a scientific innovation or product.
Scholarship Requirements
Applicants will need to provide:
- Professional Goals Essay addressing the following (500 – 1,500 words):
- Reasons for exiting and entering the workforce
- Career contributions before exiting the workforce
- Impact of the STEM career being pursued as related to AWIS mission
- How the award will help your career
- Resume/CV Intended use of funds
- Unofficial transcript (optional)
- Recommendation questionnaire from professor, former employer, or new organization
- Recommendation questionnaire from an external person familiar with your work and its impact
- Professional Goals Essay addressing the following (500 – 1,500 words):
Previous Scholarship Recipients
Aurelia Valente
2024 Scholarship Recipient
Aurelia Valente (she/they) is a biology graduate student from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is currently studying adaptability and accessibility in biological education, communication, and research through Miami University’s Project Dragonfly Global Field Program. She will begin coursework for her PhD in comparative behavioral biology at The University of New Mexico in August 2024. She is a Hubbard Brook Research Foundation’s “Young Voices in Science” program alum and gave a presentation on disability inclusion in STEM higher education at Miami University’s 2024 RedHawk Talks.
Cathy Van Bui
2024 Scholarship Recipient
Cathy Van Bui is an aspiring neuroscientist interested in Alzheimer’s research. She is very excited to be in Boston to get immersed in an ever-growing biomedical field. Being a member of AWIS for the past two years has opened many opportunities for her to build her career and to meet wonderful people. She is deeply grateful for the 2024 Career Re-Entry Scholarship. She will use this award to attend an intensive molecular biology workshop to sharpen her laboratory skills as well as to learn new techniques.
Hayley Mattison
2023 Scholarship Recipient
Hayley Mattison earned her PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in Physiology in 2010 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington and Massachusetts General Hospital until her son was born in 2017. She now resides in Austin, TX with her husband and 6-year-old son. Hayley will use the award to take a course called “Data Science and Machine Learning” from MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (MIT IDSS). She will also use the money for childcare expenses needed while interviewing for positions.
Asel Kabashi
2023 Scholarship Recipient
Asel Kabashi is a Research Fellow at the L.G. Rahme Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital. She joined the lab to study host tolerance to persistent infections following a break from academic science for child-rearing. Prior to that, she was a postdoc at Northeastern University’s Antimicrobial Discovery Center searching for new compounds against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, and elucidating their mechanism of action. Born and raised in Kyrgyzstan, she was trained as a medical doctor before completing her Ph.D. at the University of Leicester in the UK as a Faculty for the Future Fellow funded by the Schlumberger Foundation. Her thesis work was focused on the survival mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in non-permissive growth conditions. Asel will use this scholarship to obtain US clinical experience as she wants to resume her medical career as a pathologist. Part of the funds will be spent on the course on Next Generation Sequencing for Molecular Pathology.
Martine Wagstaff, PhD
2022 Scholarship Recipient
Martine Wagstaff, PhD is from the UK and came to the U.S. to work in Environmental Education. She earned her PhD at UMass Boston in Environmental Biology, focusing on Marine Ecology and Evolution. Her work on shallow subtidal habitats in the Gulf of Maine focused on identifying ecological processes that structure the balance between algae and sessile invertebrates, how invasive species have disrupted community structure through time, and how invasive species themselves evolve once they enter new habitats. After graduation, she went to the Galapagos Islands with her husband to view the marine ecology and evolution and shortly after had her first and only child. When her son became of school age she hoped to return to work, but COVID-19 stalled her plans. After nearly 7 years away from science, Dr. Wagstaff plans to use her scholarship funds towards a class in the UVM Geographic Information Systems, a Data Communication Professional Certificate, and a PADI Divemaster qualification.
Laiba Bilal
2022 Scholarship Recipient
Laiba Bilal is a Ph.D. candidate at Stony Brook University, born and raised in Pakistan. She will complete her doctoral research phase as a Research Assistant at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Currently, Bilal is working on Nanoparticle synthesis, analyzing various materials, and focusing on silicate nanocages to be tailored for isotope production and nuclear application. This includes experimenting with trapping noble gases for intended purposes in Nuclear Physics and Clean Energy Revolution. Prior to moving to the U.S. in 2017, she earned her bachelor’s in Computer Systems from UIT and master’s in Electronic Engineering from GIKI. She concentrated on renewable energy, keeping in mind the utilization of the photovoltaic technology and the conversion of the solar energy into electrical energy. With this scholarship she plans to purchase a fast and reliable laptop to pursue her career as a true scientist.
Benefits of AWIS membership
- Achieve personal development through mentoring programs, volunteer opportunities, and programming. Attend our monthly What’s Next Webinars free ($29 for non-members).
- Get recognized for your work in member spotlights on our website, newsletters, and quarterly magazine articles. Members have told us this has helped their career advancement.
- Apply for scholarship opportunities and annual awards available only to AWIS members.
- Connect with AWIS members locally and nationally using our member directory.
- Enjoy a community of other women in science that provides valuable networking opportunities, inspiration, guidance, best practices, and lifelong friendships. Members also participate in outreach to girls and other women coming up behind them.
Available to all Women in Science
- Stay on top of hot headlines and what’s new at AWIS through a weekly newsletter and online content hub.
- Find job opportunities, career insights, and a free resume review on the AWIS Career Center or attend a Virtual Career Fairs (one coming up March 13).
- AWIS advocates for safe, inclusive workplaces and equitable advancement for all women in science.
Featured Partners
Acknowledgements
Thank you to our featured partners for their support of AWIS and the AWIS Foundation Awards.
We would also like to thank the Scholarship Committee for the administration of these programs.
We are grateful for all AWIS donors and supporters for helping women in science and related STEM fields achieve their dreams and reach their full potential.