AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science

Funding Information

• The recipient receives a monetary prize of $5,000, a commemorative plaque, and recognition at the AAAS Annual Meeting.

Eligibility Criteria

• Nominations may be made by individuals, universities, government agencies, media, research organizations, and AAAS affiliate organizations. One nominator can nominate multiple candidates.
• Self-nominations are permitted.
• Prior nomination or being a named finalist does not exclude a candidate from consideration in subsequent years. Re-nomination is encouraged.
• Nominees must be an individual scientist, mathematician, or engineer. Groups or institutions will not be considered for this award. One candidate will be chosen to receive the award each year.
• AAAS employees are ineligible.
• Nominee must represent a field of science, technology, engineering and/or math (STEM) and be actively conducting research in any scientific discipline (including social sciences, mathematics, engineering and medicine). They may be based in academia, government or industry. Public engagement activities must be above and beyond job responsibilities.
• Candidate must be “early career” which is defined as an individual who has completed their terminal degree within seven years of the deadline for nominations:
  • Nominees no longer considered “early career” as defined by this award may be eligible for the AAAS Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Current students are not eligible.

Selection Criteria

• One scientist or engineer will be chosen to receive the award each year and will be announced at the AAAS Annual Meeting.
• Successful nominees will have demonstrated excellence in their contributions to public engagement with science activities, with a focus on interactive dialogue between the individual and their audience(s).
  • Types of public engagement activities might include but are not limited to: informal science education; public engagement and public dialogue activities, such as science cafés and science festivals; public policy activities; science communication activities, such as mass media, including radio, TV, books, and film; and social media.
• The selection committee includes distinguished scientists, engineers and public engagement practitioners named by AAAS. Decisions of the committee are final after approval by the AAAS Board-Council Prize Committee.
• AAAS may ask winners to contribute to public engagement with science by speaking to groups of AAAS constituencies, helping to identify scientists to participate in AAAS engagement events, and participating in other AAAS activities related to public engagement with science.

Application Requirements

• Nominations and materials must be in English.
• You will be asked to provide:
  • Name, email, position, institution, and phone number of the nominee
  • Name, email, position, institution, and phone number of the nominator (if not a self-nomination)
  • A brief citation (25 – 30 words) describing the accomplishment(s) for which the individual is nominated.
  • Nomination rationale of the public engagement activities that form the basis for the nomination.
  • PDF only.

For more information, visit AAAS.