Call for 2008 ASPB Award Nominations

The 2008 Call for ASPB Award Nominations will be sent to all members on January 2, 2008. Nominations are due by Friday, February 8, 2008.

ASPB encourages you to participate in our 2008 Awards Program by nominating deserving individuals. Please watch for the “Call for Nominations” in early January in your mailbox and on ASPB’s website (http://www.aspb.org/awards/nominate.cfm). In the meantime, please visit ASPB’s awards pages (beginning with http://www.aspb.org/awards/) so that you may see who among your colleagues has received these awards in the past—and determine who else may be deserving in the future.

Nominations are submitted electronically as a single pdf file at http://www.aspb.org/awards/nominate.cfm.

The names of the award recipients will be announced on or about March 15, 2008, via e-mail broadcast to ASPB members. These awards, which recognize the major scientific contributions of recipients, will be presented during Plant Biology 2008 in Mérida, Mexico. Please make plans to attend the President’s Opening Address and Awards Ceremony on June 27, 2008, at 2 p.m. in Mérida. Most of the awards are monetary and, with the exception of the Fellow of ASPB Award, winners also will be reimbursed up to $1,000 for travel expenses to Mérida.

Awards to Be Given in 2008

ASPB–Pioneer Hi-Bred International Graduate Student Prize
The ASPB–Pioneer Hi-Bred International Graduate Student Prize, made possible by the generosity of Pioneer Hi-Bred International (http://www.pioneer.com), recognizes and encourages innovative graduate research and innovation in areas of plant biology that relate to important commodity crops. Three $5,000 prizes will be given annually from 2006 through 2009, with an additional $1,000 awarded for prize recipients attending the ASPB annual meeting in the year of their award. Each nominee must attend a U.S.-accredited college or university and must demonstrate interest in the study of plant biology or a related discipline. Nominees must be PhD candidates, have successfully passed their preliminary examinations, demonstrate an excellent academic record, and be a member of ASPB. An individual may receive this prize only once.

Charles Albert Shull Award
Created in 1971 to honor the Society’s founding father and the first editor-in-chief of Plant Physiology, the Charles Albert Shull Award is designed to recognize young researchers. It is a monetary award made annually and is given for outstanding investigations in the field of plant biology by a scientist who is under 45 years of age on January 1 of the year of presentation, or who is fewer than 10 years from the granting of the doctoral degree. The 2008 recipient is invited to address the Society at the 2009 annual meeting.

Charles F. Kettering Award
The Charles F. Kettering Award was established by an endowment from the Kettering Foundation in 1962 to recognize excellence in the field of photosynthesis. It is a monetary award to be given in even-numbered years to an individual for meritorious work in photosynthesis.

Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership
The Charles Reid Barnes Life Membership is ASPB’s oldest award, established in 1925 at the first annual meeting of the Society through the generosity of Dr. Charles A. Shull. It honors Dr. Charles Reid Barnes, the first professor of plant physiology at the University of Chicago. It is an annual award for meritorious work in plant biology that provides a life membership in the Society to an individual who is at least 60 years old. Membership is not a requirement for the award, and, if appropriate, every fifth award should be made to an outstanding plant biologist from outside the United States.

Corresponding Membership
The Corresponding Membership honor, initially given in 1932, provides life membership and Society publications to distinguished plant biologists from outside the United States. The honor is conferred by election on the annual ballot. The committee selects no more than three candidates, and these are placed on the ballot for approval of the corresponding membership by majority vote. The president notifies successful candidates of their election. Election of a corresponding member is to be considered each year and held if warranted, provided the election will not increase the proportion of corresponding members beyond 2% of the dues-paying membership.

Early Career Award
The Early Career Award was instituted by the Society’s executive committee in 2005 to recognize outstanding research by scientists at the beginning of their career. This is a monetary award made annually for exceptionally creative, independent contributions by a member of the Society who, on January 1 of the year of the presentation, is not more than five years post-PhD.

Fellow of ASPB Award
Established in 2007, the Fellow of ASPB Award may be granted in recognition of distinguished and long-term contributions to plant biology and service to the Society by current members in areas that include research, education, mentoring, outreach, and professional and public service. Current members of ASPB who have contributed to the Society for at least 10 years are eligible for nomination. Recipients of the Fellow of ASPB honor, which may be granted to no more than 0.2% of the current membership each year, receive a certificate of distinction and a lapel pin.

Lawrence Bogorad Award for Excellence in Plant Biology Research
The ASPB Lawrence Bogorad Award for Excellence in Plant Biology Research was approved by the Society’s executive committee in 2005 to honor Dr. Bogorad’s many contributions to plant biology, including his influential efforts to bring the techniques of molecular biology to bear on problems in plant biology; his groundbreaking research on chloroplast genetics, biogenesis, structure, and function; and his inspired teaching and mentoring. The ASPB Lawrence Bogorad Award for Excellence in Plant Biology Research is a monetary award made biennially to a plant scientist whose work both illuminates the present and suggests paths to enlighten the future.

Stephen Hales Prize
This award honors the Reverend Stephen Hales for his pioneering work in plant biology published in his 1727 book Vegetable Staticks. It is a monetary award established in 1927 for a scientist, whether or not a member of the Society, who has served the science of plant biology in some noteworthy manner. The award is made annually. The recipient of the 2008 award is invited to address the Society on a subject in plant biology at the 2009 annual meeting.

Please contact Donna Gordon with any awards questions or comments, 301-251-0560, ext. 131, or e-mail dgordon@aspb.org.

Thank you for participating in our 2008 awards program!