Dr. Lois Gehring Experiential Learning Endowment Award

The Dr. Lois Gehring Experiential Learning Endowment Fund was established to provide financial support for experiential learning opportunities for Cornell students, with first preference to support participation in international off-campus study programs.

Dr. Lois B. Gehring '47, the daughter of L.E. and Alice Bigger, spent most of her youth in Mount Vernon, Iowa. She majored in biology and chemistry and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She greatly values the lifelong friendships she made at Cornell and the instruction and support of Cornell Professors Howard Lane, Frank Brooks, J.B. Culbertson, Lloyd Oakland, and others.

Lois earned her M.S. in bacteriology from the University of Iowa in 1949 and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cambridge University in 1952. Her honors and recognitions include a Fulbright Scholarship, a Public Health Service Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, a Carlisle Fellowship, and an Ernst Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

She married a fellow Fulbright Scholar, Frederick Gehring and had two sons, Kalle and Peter.

Lois believes that experiential learning opportunities are a vital part of Cornell College and that these opportunities allow students to build their own liberal arts education through its application to a real-world context that advances their personal and professional development.

Eligibility requirements

If you are a Cornell student planning to participate in an experiential learning opportunity, you may be eligible for the Gehring Award. The Ingenuity in Action committee determines if the Gehring Fund is the appropriate funding source and the award amount based off of your scholarship application materials.

The committee considers the following criteria when determining your eligibility:

• Preference will be given if you are a Cornell student interested in participating in international off-campus study
• You plan to participate in an experiential learning opportunity

Get started

Make sure to review the registration process for studying off-campus.