Where in the world is
Margaret Weigand?


Margaret Weigand

Administrative Associate to Associate Dean for School of Computer Science Master’s Programs

Phone:  412.268.1252
Fax:  412.268.3455
Office:  Wean Hall 4212
Email:  weigand -at- cs.cmu.edu

Garlan Student Travel Preparation and Reimbursement


Dear Students:

First, I want to say that I believe conferences and workshops are an extremely valuable part of your Carnegie Mellon graduate experience.  As a general rule, I'd like to be able to send each of you to at least one major conference a year (such as ICSE, SEAMS, or FSE).  Also, the exposure and experience that you get in giving talks and interacting with other people in the community is a central part of what you should be doing here.  David Notkin once published a copy of a letter that he routinely sends to his students, click here, it coincides exactly with the way I look at things.

Second, to make the experience a particularly good one, I do ask that you do two things.  Most importantly, I'd like to have a written trip report from each of you for each external event that you attend.  The purpose of the report is to help you focus on what you are getting out of the experience, to help me and the ABLE group know what kinds of insights and experiences you had.  The trip report doesn't have to be long, but it should show that you've done some thinking to distill what was really important, and what kinds of follow-on activities (if any) might/should result.  A page or two is plenty.  The second thing is that I'd like you to be prepared to give a short oral summary at the next research group meeting.

Third, there are a number of administrative things.  Margaret can help with some aspects of the trip, but I'd like to ask you to do as much as you can on your own.  Margaret will typically file the final expense report.

Thank you,
David Garlan

Travel Preparation

The CMU Business and Travel Expense Policy Summary can be found at http://www.cmu.edu/finance/controller/bte/files/BTE_policy_sum.pdf.

Things to be done on your own

  • Register for the conference or workshop.  You'll need your own credit card to do this and Carnegie Mellon will reimburse you.  If you are unable to, please contact Margaret.
  • Either arrange your trip on your own (e.g., via the web) or work with Barbara Jones, Travel Advisor, with Direct Travel (phone:  412.722.1462; email:  bjones@dt.com) to book transportation (tickets, rental car, etc.).  A traveler profile is required and can be found at https://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/c5zDdp8Fv97d9 .  If you book your travel using Direct Travel, your transportation tickets can be direct billed to the university.  You should do the detailed work of planning travel times, getting instructions on how to find the conference, etc.  Note:  Federal law (the Fly America Act) states that Federal awardees and others performing Federal Government air travel between the United States and a foreign country or between foreign countries should use United States flag carriers to the maximum extent.  The class of air travel chosen is expected to be the lowest-priced coach airfare ticket available using a commercial discount or coach class or standard accommodations.
  • Hotel Reservations can be made on your behalf by Direct Travel.  Your credit card information must be on file with Direct Travel.  If possible, arrange to share a room with another student to save on hotel expenses.  This doesn't necessarily have to be with someone in our research group or even Carnegie Mellon.
  • Submit any conference materials - such as papers, registration forms, etc.


Travel Reimbursement

If you purchase airline tickets before your dates of travel, submit the tickets for reimbursement as soon as purchased.  Your reimbursement will always require dates of travel, business purpose of travel and name/website for conference or workshop, and talk title, if applicable.

Upon your return, you should provide a set of required receipts that include your flight itinerary, itemized hotel bill, itemized rental car receipt, if applicable, and credit card statement(s) indicating all payments made $75.00 USD or higher along with an itemized listing of expenses and a short explanation of each.  Meal per-diem, based on location, will be used.  Please see https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates.  In general, if a conference or workshop provides a meal, say lunch as part of the registration package, then it is not reasonable to ask for reimbursement of that meal.  If you want to go out for a fancy meal, that's fine, but usually you'll have to cover the extra cost or request approval for the additional funds from David.  Submit all original receipts along with itemized listing and brief explanation of each to Margaret.

·        If alcohol is included, it must be identified and reported; you will not be reimbursed for any alcoholic beverages.

·        In order to avoid having your reimbursement be taxable to the individual, expenses should be submitted within 30 days of completing the travel or incurring the expense.

As a non-profit organization, the university has been granted exemption from state sales tax on goods and services in certain states.  In order for the purchase to be exempt from sales tax, the business purchase must be made directly with university funds.  Sales tax incurred with personal funds for university business travel and for business meals will not be reimbursed.

In order to avoid having your reimbursement be taxable to the individual, expenses should be submitted within 30 days of completing the travel or incurring the expense.

As a non-profit organization, the university has been granted exemption from state sales tax on goods and services in certain states.  In order for the purchase to be exempt from sales tax, the business purchase must be made directly with university funds.  Sales tax incurred with personal funds for university business travel and for business meals will be reimbursed.


Travel Advance

In general, we prefer you pay with your credit card or cash and request reimbursement.  If this is not possible, we can sometimes request a travel advance.  Please see Margaret for more information.


Carnegie Mellon Business & Travel Expense Policy

If you have any questions or require additional information, the Carnegie Mellon Business and Travel Expense Policy can be review at http://www.cmu.edu/finance/controller/bte/files/bte_policy.pdf