Academic Excellence Award for Young Women in Ecology

I don't usually post things like this, but I think some of my readers might know some excellent young female ecologists to nominate for this award from the Ecological Society of America's Student Section.

Attention All ESA Students and Faculty,

The ESA Student Section is pleased to sponsor the first Academic Excellence
Award for Young Women in Ecology. We will award one female student a prize
for academic excellence demonstrated by an outstanding research publication
and a commitment to increase the visibility of other women scientists.

ELIGIBILITY AND NOMINATION: At the time of the nomination deadline
(SATURDAY, MAY 30th 2010), the nominee must have published a paper in a
peer-reviewed journal (MAY 2008-MAY 2010) and have implemented outreach
activities to promote women in science. Accepted manuscripts in press are
eligible, but in review are not. The nominee must be an undergraduate
student, a graduate student, or have received a Ph.D. within the past two
years.  In addition, the nominee must be first author of the paper and be a
member in good standing of ESA's Student Section at the time of nomination.
If you are not sure if your dues are up to date with the ESA Student
Section, pleas contact our membership officer (Matthew Whiteside,
mwhitesi@uci.edu). Self-nominations and nominations by colleagues are welcome.

SELECTION CRITERIA: Applications will be reviewed by an Awards Committee
appointed by the Officers of the Student Section. The award package will be
judged based upon (1) the paper‚s contribution to the field, including
originality, study design and impact and (2) the nominee‚s outreach efforts
to promote participation of young women in science.

AWARD:
- Commemorative plaque
- 95th ESA annual meeting registration fee reimbursement 

The awards will be made public during the ESA Student Section award
ceremony, to be held on Tuesday, August 3rd at the conference center (time
and room TBA) of the annual meeting. Applicants are required to attend this
event.

Nomination packets should include:

1. A PDF copy of the published paper in the original format of the journal
in which it was published. If in press, the edited proof pdf is valid.

2. A brief letter (pdf or word 2003 compatible format) containing:
- A description of the impact the paper has on the field and the date of
completion of the degree, if the nominee is no longer a student. ***Make
sure to indicate whether the research was completed during undergraduate or
graduate tenure*** (200 words max)
- A statement describing how the nominee engages in outreach to other women
scientists; personally, educationally and/or professionally (200 words max)
- A final sentence in this letter stating: „I hereby commit to attend the
95th ESA annual meeting to be held in Pittsburgh, PA 1st-6th August 2010,
and to be present during the ESA Student Section award ceremony‰. Please
sign or write your initials at the end of this letter. 

3. A letter of support from the major professor that also confirms the
nominee‚s eligibility for the award. The letter is to be submitted in pdf
format, and directly by the recommender (not by the applicant).

4. A CV from the nominee in pdf format

Nomination packets should be sent (by May 30th 2010) electronically as pdfs
to the Student Section's Women and Minorities Officer (Stephanie Kivlin,
skivlin@uci.edu), with the phrase "Academic Excellence Award for Young Women
in Ecology " in the subject line.
Failure to adhere to any of the rules described above will translate in
automatic withdrawal of the entire application for this award.

*** THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS FRIDAY, MAY 30th 2010. ***

For award application and instructions, go to the ESA Student Section
website, http://esa.org/students/section/. If you have questions, please
email Stephanie Kivlin (skivlin@uci.edu) or Rob Salguero-Gomez
(Salguero@sas.upenn.edu).

Sincerely,

ESA Student Section