JSA Travel Fund for Extra Child Care (ExCARE)
The JSA Travel Fund for Extra Child Care (ExCARE) provides fund to assist with expenses incurred from the extra childcare necessary for young scientist-parents to present JLab-related research to conferences, workshops, and collaboration meetings.
- Eligibility:
- All JLab users, including graduate students, postdocs, research scientists, and faculty.
- JLab employees are NOT eligible (sorry).
- Post-tenure faculty who are JLab users can apply, but will receive lower priority.
- Families with children of all ages may apply. Priority is given to families with children under 5 years of age (under school-age) and those with special needs.
- Travel must be associated with the JLab program.
- Both men and women (fathers and mothers) are eligible.
- Each family can apply multiple times, but please submit only one application per travel.
- No support available from another organization (APS, ...) for the requested travel.
- Maximum amount allocated
- It is recommended to apply for a maximum of $400.00 per child per year. This means one may apply multiple times throughout the year provided the total amount requested does not exceed this maximum. (Exceptions to this maximum limit can be made for special cases).
- Examples of eligible cost
Child care costs that are incurred as a result of the parent(s) attending a conference/workshop/collaboration meeting. They will include but are not limited to the following:
- Babysitters: either a copy of a check or a Word document outlining the hours and wage suffice as receipts.
- Additional daycare costs: only expenses beyond those typically incurred.
- Travel expenses for a family member or caregiver to attend the meeting with the parent and child to take care of the child.
- Travel expenses to take the child to meetings or conferences, if there is no other childcare option available.
- Travel expenses for a family member to fly to the child's hometown and care for the child while the parent(s) are away. Typically, the duration of the family member's stay should not be longer than twice the time of the conference or meeting itself.
- What is not eligible
Please exercise common sense and request for supports only for unavoidable expenses that are necessary for the well-being of the parents and the children. The following situations are typically not eligible for support:
- One parent travels to a conference/meeting, taking the spouse and school-age children along (Reason: it is unnecessary for the spouse and the children to travel along)
- A family member comes to the child’s hometown for an extended time, and a small fraction of the stay overlaps with the duration of a parent’s travel to a conference/meeting. (Reason: the main purpose of the family member’s trip appears to be visiting the child and the family, rather than assisting with childcare caused by the parent’s travel.)
- How to apply
Fill the application form and email it to (xiaochao@jlab.org). The ExCARE committee will review each application and provide recommendations to the JSA for reimbursement.
(It is usually helpful to include the number and age(s) of child(ren) in the application form).
- ExCARE Committee Members
Xiaochao Zheng (chair), University of Virginia (xiaochao@jlab.org)
John Arrington, Argonne National Laboratory (johna@anl.gov)
Latifa Elouadrhiri, Jefferson Lab (latifa@jlab.org)
Rakitha Beminiwattha, Louisiana Tech University (rakitha@jlab.org)
- Important ==
Any change in needs between the time of the application and the awarded travel should be notified to the committee in order to establish if the new needs are still eligible for funding. If actual use of funds differs from those on the application the committee reserves the right to deny the award.
Fund recipients are solely responsible for their choice of child care provider; JSA does not endorse any child care providers.
- Prior Awards/statistics
| Date | Applicant | Meeting/Conference | Type of ExCare cost reimbursed |
| 2014 | Silvia Niccolai | APS2014 | travel cost for children's grandparent(s) |
| 2014 | Xiaochao Zheng | HiX2014 | babysitter cost at hometown |
| 2015 | Fatiha Benmokhtar | APS2015 | cost for spouse and child to travel along |
| 2015 | Angela Biselli | UGM2015 | travel cost of children and babysitter cost at the meeting |
| 2015 | Silvia Niccolai | EINN2015 | travel cost for children's grandparent(s) |
| 2015 | Silvia Niccolai | CLAS collab mtg (Fall 2015) | travel cost for children's grandparent(s) |
| 2016 | Buddhini Waidyawansa | Seminar at ANL | cost for spouse and child to travel along |
| 2017 | Karl Slifer | ECT* Workshop on mass of proton | babysitter cost at hometown |
| 2017 | Karl Slifer | Hadron 2017 (Nanjing, China) | babysitter cost at hometown |
| 2017 | Xiaochao Zheng | Hadron 2017 (Nanjing, China) | cost for children to travel along |
