Anat KimchiIn memory of the life and accomplishments of Dr. Anat Kimchi (Criminology and Criminal Justice graduate student), the Dr. Anat Kimchi Endowed Graduate Award in Criminal Justice was established to memorialize Anat’s passion for empirical research, social justice and effecting positive change in the justice system. 

This endowment supports outstanding criminology and criminal justice graduate students as they pursue their graduate degrees. This fund provides one annual research award for a data-driven, policy-relevant paper, or presentation at a professional or academic conference, related to racial inequality, recidivism, social justice, or the study of formal institutions of social control. In addition, the endowment supports two travel awards for students with records of scholastic excellence who require financial assistance to achieve specific academic and professional goals. 

The Kimchi Memorial Graduate Awards Committee will select the 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)

     

University of Maryland Criminology and 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.

To be considered for a Kimchi Memorial Graduate Award, applicants must submit a written project proposal to the Kimchi Award Committee. Proposals should be no more 5 double-spaced pages.

Applicants must 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.

The committee anticipates being able to support 1 research award that totals no more than $3,600, plus, 2 travel award, each not exceeding $500 in a given year. 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:

1. Scholarly Importance and Potential Impact of the Research

  • Novelty and importance of the research topic
  • Potential to make meaningful research contribution to discipline

2. Substantive Relevance of Proposed Topic Areas

  • Preference will be given to proposals related to:
  • Racial and/or social justice
  • Community corrections (e.g. probation, parole, etc.)  
  • Prosecution, sentencing or imprisonment

3. Data and Methods

  • Projects should involve high-level quantitative data analysis
  • Integration of multiple or complex data sources
  • Application of rigorous and sophisticated analytical approaches

4.  Justice Policy and Translational Criminology

  • Extent to which research might impact policy
  • Potential to enact meaningful change in criminal justice system
  • Additional efforts directly related to translational criminology

5. Overall Quality and Level of Development in the Proposal

  • Quality of writing, organization, and connections to prior work
  • Quality of description of data and methods
  • Completeness of research ideas and feasibility of project

Student may apply for funds to support projects that will occur at any point during the upcoming year (i.e. Summer, 2024– Spring, 2025). Completed proposals must be submitted to Jessica Townsend (jessicat [at] umd.edu) with the Subject Line: Kimchi Graduate Award by 5pm on Friday, March 1, 2024.

The committee anticipates making final award announcements by Friday, March 15, 2024.