The WICS Mentorship Awards are designed to encourage established scientists, both male and female, to develop the research and publication skills of female graduate and undergraduate students in cognitive science. Two awards of up to $2,400 will be made to scientists who have demonstrated sustained, effective mentorship of female students and who have also served as a research advisor or supervisor to one or more female students during the academic year immediately preceding the nomination.
Award Information
Nomination deadline: June 1, 2012
Use of Award: Award funds should be used for research-related expenses for a project carried out by the mentor with a female student.
Basic award criteria:
- Each nominee must have served as a research advisor/supervisor to a total of three or more female graduate and/or undergraduate students over at least three of the five academic years preceding the nomination. If the nominee is at an institution that has a graduate program, at least one of the three female students must be a graduate student.
- The research in which the female students participated must have led to dissemination through submission for publication or through presentation at a scientific meeting.
- The nominee must submit a paper or poster for presentation at the 2012 Psychonomic Society meeting on which at least one of the nominee’s female students is an author.
- This NSF funding is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
Additional evaluation criteria:
- Effectiveness of the nominee’s mentoring activities as evaluated by the female students mentored. For senior nominees who are at least 15 yrs. post-Ph.D., there must be demonstrated evidence of consistent mentoring effectiveness for longer than 5 years. For junior nominees who have been in their first non-postdoctoral position for 7 or fewer years, there must be demonstrated mentoring effectiveness during the academic year immediately preceding the nomination.
- Evidence of effective mentoring of more than one female graduate students and/or female post-doctoral fellows will be considered favorably for nominees at institutions where such opportunities exist.
Who may make a nomination:
Nominations may be made by the nominee’s colleagues, current or former students, or by the nominee him- or herself.
What to submit:
- Name, title, address, phone number, and email address of nominee
- Name, title, address, phone number, and email address of nominator (if different from nominee)
- List of at least three female graduate and/or undergraduate students for whom the nominee has served as a research advisor or supervisor. For each student, include (a) name, (b) current contact information (including phone number and email address whenever possible), (c) graduate or undergraduate status during the mentoring period, (d) role in research project (e.g., honors student, independent study student, research assistant, MA/Ph.D. thesis student, etc.), and (e) bibliographic reference to submitted publication or scientific meeting presentation resulting from the research.
- The intended title, abstract, and authors of paper or poster submission to 2012 Psychonomic Society which includes at least one female student as an author. If the female student author is not among those listed in #3, please include items 3(a)-(d) for this student.
- Description (not to exceed 500 words) of the nominee’s record of mentoring of female students. This may include, but is not limited to, information about such activities over a career or periods longer than the minimum period above. It may also provide information on outcomes (e.g., graduate school admissions, job placements, etc.) for mentored female students.
- The Mentorship Award Committee reserves the right to request copies of submitted papers and/or scientific meeting presentations from the nominee, if needed.
How to submit a nomination:
- All nominations should be submitted electronically to the Chair of committee at [email protected]. All or some of the nomination materials may be included in the body of an email or as an attachment to an email.
- Questions may be addressed to the Chairperson of the Selection Committee at [email protected].
Selection Committee Chair: Dr. Natasha Tokowicz (University of Pittsburgh)
Funding for this program comes from the Perception, Action, and Cognition Program at NSF.