Dear colleagues - I’m writing to request your support, once again, for the SIGCIS Travel Awards <https://www.sigcis.org/travelaward>. We raise funds for these awards to help emerging scholars attend our meetings and present their work. We now have 10 years of experience running SIGCIS workshops and conferences, and there is no doubt in my mind that these travel awards are the single most important mechanism we have to broaden the range of participants at our meetings, which, in turn, serves as an investment in the future of our field. The full history of our award recipients is available on our website <https://www.sigcis.org/travelaward> - it really is a remarkable group of scholars and subjects. At the SHOT and SIGCIS meetings in St. Louis in October 2018, we had a very successful fundraising campaign. I am deeply grateful for the generosity of our members who bid on books at our auction on Friday, contributed to the money cup at the SIGCIS lunch on Friday, and/or put money in Laine’s hat at the beginning of our Sunday conference. However: with the 2019 SHOT and SIGCIS conferences taking place in Milan, Italy <https://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2019-shot-annual-meeting-24-27-october-milan-italy/>, we’re seeking more support for the additional costs of travel to Milan - hence my appeal to you today. We are an all-volunteer organization, and SHOT’s umbrella means that we are in the wonderful position of being able to use every penny that you donate to support our Michael S. Mahoney Travel Awards. It’s simple, and direct, and an amazingly efficient way to support emerging scholars. Here’s how you can contribute: - If you are a SHOT member, you can make a contribution online <https://shot.press.jhu.edu/membership/contribute> - you’ll simply need to log in with your SHOT username and password, and then provide credit card information. - If you are not a SHOT member - or if you prefer writing checks to online donations - you can send a check to SHOT Treasurer Richard Hirsh. The check should be payable to “Society for the History of Technology”; please be sure to indicate that the donation is for SIGCIS. Richard’s address is: Richard Hirsh SHOT Treasurer Virginia Tech Dept. of History (0117) 220 Stanger Street Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 USA richard@vt.edu <mailto:richard@vt.edu> I’d be very happy to answer any questions you might have about our travel awards program, or about SIGCIS in general. Thank you all for your generous support of SIGCIS, and I hope you all enjoy a peaceful holiday season. Best wishes, Andy Russell SIGCIS Chair — — — — — — — — — — — Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts & Sciences SUNY Polytechnic Institute Donovan Hall - 2123B 100 Seymour Road Utica, NY 13502 t. 315-792-7317 w. https://sunypoly.edu/ e. arussell@arussell.org