The C. Weldon Jones Memorial Research Scholarship is given annually to students in the biological sciences to provide support for summer research activities.

The goals of the C. Weldon Jones Memorial Research Scholarship are to:

1. Encourage students to pursue independent research projects in collaboration with a faculty mentor, perhaps leading to a research focus beyond the undergraduate years.
2. Provide funding for undergraduate students to work on significant research questions and help prepare them for graduate-level training.

Awards are made annually based on proposals submitted to the Department of Biological Sciences.

Contact

Current Application Information

The deadline for the 2023 C. Weldon Jones Memorial Research Scholarship is April 14, 2023.

Download the scholarship application (docx).

Funding is also available to freshman and sophomores interested in gaining research experience through the C. Weldon Jones Memorial Assistant Program. The program goals are similar to those receiving C. Weldon Jones Scholarships but the time commitment and expectations are less. Students should contact individual faculty for information in specific projects and availability prior to applying for the Assistant program.

The deadline for the 2023 C. Weldon Jones Memorial Assistant Program is April 14, 2023.

Download the assistant application (docx).

Give to the C. Weldon Jones Memorial Research Scholarship Endowment

To make a donation to the C. Weldon Jones Memorial Research Scholarship:

1. Visit our giving page.
2. Click "Donate Today" on the right side of the screen.
3. For "Designation," select "Other."
4. Indicate "C. Weldon Jones Memorial Research Scholarship" in the blank field below "Designation."

About the Scholarship

These awards are in honor of Dr. C. Weldon Jones, a longtime department member who passed away suddenly in 2003 and was widely recognized for his excellence in teaching and collaborative research with students.

His undergraduate education at Harvard was followed by a Ph.D. from Harvard and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University Medical School. Before joining Bethel College (now University) he spent a year at the Dana Farber Cancer Center of the Harvard Medical School.

Named the Minnesota Professor of the Year in 1995 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, published extensively, and the recipient of numerous National Science Foundation grants, Dr. Jones is best remembered as a quiet professor who truly loved biology and Bethel. His tireless energy and many hours at Bethel changed the lives of generations of biology students. During his time as faculty advisor to the Gamma Omega chapter of the TriBeta National Honor Society, the chapter won the national Lloyd M. Bertholf Award for program excellence 3 times in 8 years, and he had numerous student publications in BIOS, a national undergraduate research journal along with his own publications in peer-reviewed journals.