NEERS Student Presentation Awards - Eligibility

NEERS offers presentation prizes based on the quality of the scholarship and presentation at a NEERS meeting (list of awards).

To be eligible for one of the student presentation prizes, a student must:
- be first author on the presentation and be responsible for carrying out most of the work;
- present the oral or poster presentation in person;
- be matriculated in a degree program at the time of the meeting; 
- be a NEERS member; and
- not have won the same presentation prize previously.

Prizes will be awarded at the end of the meeting to students chosen by the judging panel in four categories: graduate student oral presentation (Buck Ketchum Prize, $100), undergraduate student oral presentations (Stubby Rankin Prize, $100), graduate student poster presentation (David Dean Prize, $100) and undergraduate student poster presentation (Scott Warren Prize, $100). A history of these prizes is provided on the Awards page.

All eligible students will be automatically entered into the appropriate presentation prize competition.

The Student Award endowment Fund was established to generate income to fund all student prizes and travel awards. Five dollars of every Regular membership goes toward the student endowment fund.

NEERS Student Presentation Awards - Judging Procedures

Papers and posters are judged by a committee in terms of overall effectiveness, scientific content, and quality of the presentation. Students are strongly encouraged to review the scoring criteria in advance.

There is no minimum number of students that must present for an award to be given. A prize is awarded if the judges agree that at least one presentation was outstanding enough quality to warrant special recognition. Each student is rated on specific criteria within broad categories of overall effectiveness, scientific content, and quality of presentation (Student Award Judging Criteria). The same standards are applied to graduate and undergraduate prizes. The student must clearly be the senior contributing author but need not be the sole author of the paper. Volunteers judge oral presentations and posters during the meeting. Members are asked to volunteer to judge when they pre-register for the meeting or when they arrive at the meeting. We try to have 3 judges per presentation and each judge is asked to evaluate no more than 5 presentations. Usually about 5 – 7 people volunteer during pre-registration, and we need about 10-15 judges. Assignments are made by the Local Organizing Committee and distributed before or at the meeting. Judges should not be asked to judge papers that are too close together in the oral session as they need time to fill out the forms between talks. Packages for the judges, with student assignments and evaluation sheets, will be available at the Registration desk.

At the meeting, the judges fill out an evaluation form and then caucus to decide upon the best presentation. The evaluation sheet is only a guide for the judges who make the final decision at the caucus. The evaluation forms will be distributed to the students after the awards are decided.

NEERS Student Travel Awards - Eligibility & Procedures

Three $100 travel-awards will be awarded by NEERS, plus additional awards may have been donated by our sponsors.

Graduate and undergraduate students who are giving presentations at this meeting and are members of NEERS (by the meeting date) may apply. Travel awards may also be offered to non-presenting students if sufficient funds are available; students are welcome to contact the NEERS Treasurer about availability of such support for general student travel. Selection will be made by lottery and will not affect eligibility for student presentation prizes.

To apply for a travel award, send an email with your abstract attached to the NEERS treasurer by the date noted on the meeting information page (see Team NEERS for the email address). Provide your name, address, college or university, email, and telephone number. In addition, please have your faculty advisor send the treasurer an email certifying that you are a student in good standing. Award applicants will be notified of award status by the date noted on the meeting information page.

As always, NEERS greatly appreciates donations to the Bill Niering Student Travel Endowment fund (student endowment contributions can be made when you pre-register).