ESA Biogeosciences Junior Scientist Best Paper Awards

2008 Gene E. Likens Award goes to Jennifer Funk for the best paper by a recent Ph.D.

Funk, J.L. and P.M. Vitousek. 2007. Resource-use efficiency and plant invasion in
low-resource systems. Nature:1079-1081 Open access link

2008 Elizabeth Sulzman Award was given to Duncan Menge for the best paper by a current graduate student.

Menge, D.N.L., S.A. Levin, and L.O. Hedin. 2008. Evolutionary tradeoffs can select against nitrogen fixation and thereby maintain nitrogen limitation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(5):1573-1578.

Honorable mentions:

Ben Colman for: Colman, B.P., N. Fierer, and J.P. Schimel. 2007. Abiotic nitrate incorporation in soil: is it real? Biogeochemistry:161-169.

Kristina Anderson-Teixeira for: Anderson-Teixeira, K.J., P.M. Vitousek, and J.H. Brown. 2008. Amplified temperature dependence in ecosystems developing on the lava flows of Mauna Loa, Hawai'i. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 228-233.

The 2008 Likens and Sultzman awards were given at the ESA Meeting in Milwaukee, WI.

Past Winners:

Likens Awards:

2007 Ben Houlton, Katey Walter

Sulzman Award:

2008 Scott Ensign

Background

It is our belief that two of the most important roles that the ESA Biogeosciences section can play are to promote graduate student and postdoctoral researchers in our field, and to highlight our best science. Thus, these new awards seek to do both.

Each year, the awards will be presented to the first author of a notable paper in biogeosciences that is published between January of the previous year and May of the current year.

The Elizabeth Sulzman Award recognizes a current graduate student (must still be in graduate school in August of the current year)

The Gene E. Likens Award recognizes a postdoctoral scientist who received his or her degree in or after August three years prior.

The winner of each award will receive a modest cash prize and formal recognition by ESA.

Instructions

Nominees should be members of ESA (join here), but need not be members of the Biogeosciences section. Nominations for each award should include the following, and self-nominations are allowed:

1) The paper's citation, and a pdf if possible
2) The first author's current contact information
3) A statement of eligibility (e.g. current grad student, or postdoc<3yrs from Ph.D.)
4) A short letter in support of the nomination from a colleague or advisor (sent separately from above materials unless also submitting the nomination itself)

We note that while self-nominations are entirely appropriate, the above process does not require that a potential awardee be a part of the process. This, in part, is why we are asking for a statement in support of the nomination from a colleague or advisor.

A panel of scientists representing a broad array of disciplines within the biogeosciences will then evaluate the submissions and decide upon the winning entries. Award winners will be notified in advance of the next meeting, and the awards will be announced to at the annual section mixer.

Winners need not be present, but we hope they will be! All nominated papers will be listed on the ESA Biogeosciences web site as a way to begin building a community resource of notable papers by junior scientists.

Please direct any questions to the officers, and please help contribute to the nomination process so that we can have an excellent and diverse pool of entries to consider.

Finally, if you are not a section member, please consider joining, and we hope to see you at the next meeting.