NANDI THERIOGENOLOGY SCHOLARS PROGRAM 2025

APPLICATION IS NOW CLOSED

In 2021, the Theriogenology Foundation (TF) established the NANDI THERIOGENOLOGY SCHOLARS PROGRAM to recognize and reward final year veterinary medical students who have demonstrated superior potential for future clinical and scholarly excellence and leadership in Theriogenology.

Previous Nandi Scholars are  profiled on the TF website--view 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021 Scholar bios. In 2025, as in previous years, the TF Board will determine the number and dollar amount of each award.

WHO MAY APPLY IN 2025: Veterinary medical students who are current members of the Society for Theriogenology and who will graduate with a recognized professional veterinary degree within 12 months before the Annual Therio Conference in Sacramento, California, USA, July 23-26, 2025.

TIMELINE FOR 2025:

Jan. 2 - Feb. 13 (midnight) - Student applications submitted on TF website and three referee questionnaires submitted separately via email (6 week window)

Feb. 20 - Mar. 13 - Applications scored by Nandi Scholars Review Team (3 week window)

Mar. 20 - Mar 28 - Nandi Scholars Committee recommends and TF Board approves number of scholars and amount of awards.

Mar. 31 - Selected Nandi Scholars notified

Jul. 25 (Friday PM) - Awards presented in person at Annual Therio Conference in Sacramento, CA, USA. AWARDEES MUST ATTEND IN PERSON TO RECEIVE AWARDS.

The application is submitted electronically by the student.

Applicants should first become familiar with the entire application before beginning to work on it. Note that underlined instructions in the application contain additional details which can be viewed by hovering the cursor over them.

If there are questions about the application or the application process, contact:

•  Theriogenology Foundation Office
info@theriofoundation.org
(334) 395-4666

• Dr. Jim Floyd, Chair, Nandi Scholars Committee
jgfloydjr@gmail.com
(919) 444-1338

REFEREES:

A student’s application must include three completed questionnaires submitted separately by email to the Theriogenology Foundation from three different referees who have been carefully selected by the student and whose names and contact information are listed in the application. The applicant should send the blank questionnaire or a link to it to all referees for their download, completion and separate submission by email by the application deadline, midnight, February 13, 2025.

The student should ensure that each referee understands the importance of the questionnaire and the deadline for their submission. The three referees' questionnaires are a critical part of the application. Each reference questionnaire comprises 10% of an application's evaluation; therefore the three questionnaires together comprise 30% of the total evaluation. If all three referees' questionnaires are not received by the deadline of midnight on February 13, 2025, the student's application will be disqualified.

The referees must meet the following criteria, otherwise the application will be disqualified:

• At least one referee must be either a current or past faculty member at the student's current veterinary school. This person will be designated as the "Faculty Member Referee" on your application.
  
  
• The other two referees may be anyone, including other faculty member(s) at any institution, including the applicant's current institution. This includes current or former teachers, mentors, clergy, relatives, veterinarians, friends, family members, or anyone else

• At least one of the above three referees must be a member of SFT and/or an ACT Diplomate
  

All referee questionnaires are confidential. They will not be shared by The Theriogenology Foundation with the applicant or anyone else. At their discretion, the referees may share their completed questionnaires with the applicant.

LINK TO REFEREE QUESTIONNAIRE (All three referees complete the same form)

Please return completed referee forms to info@theriofoundation.org. 

STUDENT APPLICANT’S WRITTEN RESPONSES TO FOUR ESSAY QUESTIONS:

Section 5 of the application (see following list with links to forms) requires the applicant's answers to four essay questions. Each answer should be written on the specific forms found at the links for each essay question below. Applicants should carefully read the instructions for each essay question's form before completing and uploading it to the application. Each answer has a 500-word limit. Any words in excess of 500 will be deleted before sending to reviewers.

SECTION 5 - Essay Instructions 

RESPONSES TO ALL FOUR ESSAY QUESTIONS ARE REQUIRED.  All responses have a 500 WORD LIMIT.

Please download and complete the provided fillable PDF essay forms rather than submitting responses via a Word document. 

1. INTEREST IN THERIOGENOLOGY
Describe how you became interested in Theriogenology as a main focus of your future veterinary career.

LINK TO INTEREST IN THERIOGENOLOGY FORM

2. PLANS AND GOALS
Describe your plans and goals for the future.

LINK TO APPLICANT'S PLANS AND GOALS FORM

3. PRIMARY CHALLENGE
Describe the primary challenge for a veterinarian involved in the aspect of Theriogenology in which you are most interested.

LINK TO PRIMARY CHALLENGE FORM

4. THERIOGENOLOGY IN THE CURRICULUM
You are one of the two senior student advisory members of your veterinary medical school's faculty curriculum committee. Another committee member has proposed that the core didactic Theriogenology course be eliminated from the school's mandatory curriculum because of its lack of relevance to most graduate veterinarians, and that Theriogenology should instead be offered only as a clinical elective. Please reply to this proposal and justify your response. 

LINK TO THERIOGENOLOGY IN THE CURRICULUM FORM

NOTE: For the essay questions, the following are the scoring guidelines for reviewers:

• Did the applicant answer the specific question?
• Does the answer demonstrate knowledge and understanding?
• Is any cited information or data accurate and correct?
• Is the answer reasonable?
• Is the answer honest and forthright?
• Is the writing clear and concise?
• Did the answer communicate a convincing message?

• Did the answer appear to have been generated in whole or in part by Artificial Intelligence or any other external resource?

BY NO LATER THAN MIDNIGHT, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2025, APPLICANTS MUST SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING COMPLETED APPLICATION.  APPLICANTS WHOSE THREE REFEREE QUESTIONNAIRES HAVE NOT BEEN EMAILED SEPARATELY TO TF BY THIS SAME DEADLINE WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.