May 14, 2020

Nominations open for Dean's Award for Exceptional Achievement in Advanced Graduate Studies; due May 18

Nominations are being accepted for this year’s Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Advanced Graduate Studies through the following REDCAP survey: https://redcap.link/deans_award_2020

The due date for nominations is 5 p.m. on Monday, May 18.  A description of the award including eligibility requirements follows:

Description

Graduate students in the biomedical sciences work tirelessly to master their research fields, learn advanced experimental methodologies and tackle research projects at the forefront of knowledge. The best students make discoveries that change our conceptual understanding of basic biological mechanisms, reveal causes of human disease or lead to changes in clinical practice. The Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement recognizes these outstanding students.

The recipients of the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement for Advanced Students will have distinguished themselves during their graduate studies. This year, all graduate students (PhD or MD/PhD) that joined a School of Medicine laboratory for their thesis research in 2018 are eligible. Nominations from faculty mentors with primary appointments in the School of Medicine should include a letter, candidate CV and an optional additional support letter. Nomination letters should confirm eligibility and address the evaluation metrics described below.

Eligibility

  • Students in PhD programs linked to the School of Medicine including: Biochemistry, Biomedical Informatics, Biostatistics, Cancer Biology, Cell and Developmental Biology, Chemical and Physical Biology, Epidemiology, Hearing and Speech Sciences, Human Genetics, Microbe-Host Interactions, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Molecular Pathology and Immunology, Neuroscience and Pharmacology.
  • Mentor must have a primary appointment in the School of Medicine.
  • Student should have chosen a mentor and started their PhD research in 2018 (typically this would apply to PhD students that matriculated in graduate school in 2017)
  • MSTP students are eligible.

Metrics

  • Originality, significance and rigor of dissertation research
  • Excellence in research discovery as evidenced by fellowship awards, publications and presentations at conferences
  • Mastery of a discipline as evidenced by classwork, qualifying exam and performance in committee meetings

Committee

Nominees will be evaluated by a committee consisting of the Directors of Graduate Studies for each of the PhD granting programs in the School of Medicine. David Cortez, professor of Biochemistry, will serve as chair and non-voting member of this committee. Questions can be directed to david.cortez@vanderbilt.edu.