Student Awards

Students are eligible to compete for the Gruber Award if all the following criteria are met. Gruber candidates:

• must be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student, or have completed their degree no more than 12 months before the presentation date;
• must be in at least their second year of AES membership;
• must be a member in good standing of AES, having renewed their membership by the end of the previous calendar year (by 31 December the previous year);
• must be first author of their presented study;
• must present a completed study (i.e., not merely preliminary data; candidates should be able to tell a ‘complete story’ with all data collection and analyses finished before the presentation date, but the study does not need to be published);
• must have their Gruber candidacy endorsed by their advisor (ideally) or another professional member of AES who will serve as a mentor/advocate;
• must not have competed for the Gruber Award more than once before, if an undergraduate or master’s student, or more than twice before, if a Ph.D. student (i.e., students can compete for the Gruber Award up to two times as an undergraduate student, up to two times as a master’s student, and up to three times as a Ph.D. student; these counts will start at the 2019 meeting in Snowbird, Utah);

***If students do not meet these criteria, they are still encouraged to present at the AES meeting, but not to compete for the Gruber Award.***

Please find guidelines and recommendations designed for students competing for the Gruber Award here.

Stoye Awards of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists recognize the best student oral presentation in the following categories. Submission for oral presentation will be reviewed based on the following emphases:

• General Ichthyology includes, but is not limited to, morphological and molecular systematics, techniques in systematics, zoogeography, paleontology, and faunal descriptions.
• General Herpetology includes, but is not limited to, morphological and molecular systematics, techniques in systematics, zoogeography, paleontology, and faunal descriptions.
• Genetics, Development, and Morphology includes, but is not limited to, population genetics, mitochondrial DNA analysis, comparative embryology, heterochrony, descriptive and experimental development, comparative and evolutionary morphology, functional morphology, and biomechanics.
• Ecology and Ethology includes, but is not limited to, population and community ecology, life history strategies, descriptive and experimental ethology, behavioral ecology, neuroethology, and ecomorphology.
• Physiology and Physiological Ecology includes, but is not limited to, comparative and experimental physiology, biochemistry, sensory and behavioral physiology, and endocrinology.
• Conservation includes, but is not limited to, conservation biology, conservation policy, management, and restoration.

Storer Awards of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists recognize the best student poster presentation in each of the following categories:

• Ichthyology
• Herpetology

To be eligible for either Stoye or Storer Awards, the student must:

• be the presenter and lead author (multi-authored presentations are allowed)
• be a member of ASIH
• indicate a desire to be considered when submitting an abstract (see instructions for Submitting Abstracts)
• meet the ASIH criteria for student:
  “An individual who at the time the paper is given is the equivalent of a full-time student (an individual who is devoting his or her major efforts to a formal program of study) or who has satisfactorily completed a thesis or dissertation defense during the past twelve months.”
• Physiology and Physiological Ecology includes, but is not limited to, comparative and experimental physiology, biochemistry, sensory and behavioral physiology, and endocrinology.
• Conservation includes, but is not limited to, conservation biology, conservation policy, management, and restoration.

Stoye and Storer presentations are judged by the following criteria:

• introduction
• methods
• data analysis and interpretation
• conclusions
• innovation, originality, and scientific significance
• presentation
• visual aids or graphic design

The rating scale is 0 to 10 points: excellent (9 to 10), very good (7 to 8), good (4 to 6), fair (2 to 3), poor (0 to 1).

Questions about the Stoye and Storer Awards should be directed to Kathleen Cole.

If you are a Master’s or Ph.D. student with research results, consider participating in the annual competition for The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Awards. To participate, you must:

• be a member of The Herpetologists’ League in good standing
• be either a registered graduate student or have completed your graduate degree requirements within 14 months of your presentation
• submit an abstract (of which you must be the senior author and have done the majority of the work) by the deadline for submission of abstracts to the Joint Meeting, indicating your desire to compete for the HL Graduate Research Award
• (NEW) submit a brief synopsis highlighting the broader relevance of your work by 11:59 PM EST on May 20, 2021. Click herefor instructions (PDF).

All presenters will receive evaluations from the judges after the meeting. The top five presentations, as ranked by judges, will be announced at the Herpetologists’ League Business Meeting. Presenters of the second to fifth ranked presentations will receive $250 awards. The presenter of the best presentation as ranked by the judges will receive $750, ten years of back issues of Herpetologica, and an invitation to submit a manuscript based on the work presented to either Herpetologica or Herpetological Monographs. The Herpetologists’ League will commit to publishing this manuscript, following a successful peer-review and editorial revision, as a lead article identifying the author (or senior author) as the winner of the Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award.

For further information or questions concerning The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award, please contact the following:

Dr. Matthew Lattanzio
Organismal and Environmental Biology
Christopher Newport University
Newport News, VA 23606
email: matthew.lattanzio@cnu.edu

The Henri Seibert Awards were initiated in 1992 to provide recognition for the best student papers presented at the annual meeting of the SSAR. These awards are named in honor of Henri C. Seibert, an early and tireless supporter of SSAR (having served as an officer for over 20 years) in recognition of outstanding presentations at the annual meeting.

To be eligible, the presented paper must be the result of research conducted by the individual making the presentation. The research must have been conducted while the student was enrolled in either an undergraduate or graduate degree program. Please refer to Herpetological Review 28(4):175 and the SSAR website for recommendations to students entering the Henri Seibert competition. Students entering the competition must be members of SSAR. The presentations will be judged by the SSAR student prize committee. One Henri Seibert Award of US $200 may be given in each of the following four categories:

• Systematics/Evolution
• Ecology
• Physiology/Morphology
• Conservation

For further information or questions concerning SSAR Henri Seibert Awards for 2021, please contact the following:

David Blackburn
email: dblackburn@flmnh.ufl.edu

The SSAR Victor Hutchison Graduate Student Poster Awards will provide recognition for the best graduate student posters presented at the annual meeting of the SSAR. To be eligible, the presented poster must be the result of research conducted by the individual making the presentation. The research must have been conducted while the student was enrolled in a graduate degree program. Students entering the competition must be members of SSAR. The presentations will be judged by the SSAR student prize committee. One SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster Award of U.S. $250 (plus a book gift from CRC Press) may be given in each of the following four categories:

• Evolution, Genetics, & Systematics
• Ecology, Natural History, Distribution, & Behavior
• Physiology & Morphology
• Conservation & Management

The SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster Award will be judged by the following criteria:

• Quality of Research
• Quality of the Visual Display of the Research
• Professionalism and Confidence of the Presenter

Students may win the award only one time. Please indicate the appropriate category for which you are applying on the abstract submission form. Contact Allyson Fenwick for further information.

SSAR is pleased to announce the George B. Rabb Undergraduate Poster Award, sponsored by Zoo Atlanta. The award honors our colleague George Rabb (1930-2017), former Director of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, IL, and highly respected advocate and spokesman for wildlife conservation.

To be eligible to compete for this award, a student must be an undergraduate, or have graduated in the previous spring semester. The student must be the first author on the poster and must present the poster during the student poster competition at the annual JMIH or SSAR meeting. There can be additional authors on the poster. As is the case for the SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster Award, the competing student must be a current member of SSAR. Abstract submission is the same as for anyone else submitting to present at the annual meetings. See the JMIH website for information. The prize includes a $250 check and an SSAR book.

For more information, please contact Allyson Fenwick.

SSAR is pleased to announce that it will provide funds for selected junior and senior high school students who are budding herpetologists. Our annual meeting provides an opportunity for young students to interact with students and professionals with similar interests and learn more about the field of herpetology. Students will virtually present posters on their research or interests and interact with other attendees in virtual events tailored to them, along with participating in all other aspects of the meeting. This an opportunity for students and their families to learn more about programs and careers in herpetology.

Founders Fellowships are funded by the Weinkle Family Endowment for Pre-College Scholars, and will cover the student’s registration fees. These awards will support virtual attendance for several students in 2021.

Please find guidelines for the application here. Send application materials to Dr. John Maerz, Chair of the Founders Fellowship Committee, at jcmaerz@uga.edu.

As a reminder to AES student members, please consider submitting a poster when you make your arrangements to attend the Annual Meeting. As a minimum requirement, at least three eligible students must declare their candidacy for this $150 award.

Established in 1999 as the AES Student Poster Award to recognize the outstanding poster delivered by an AES student member during the Annual Meeting, this award has since been generously endowed by Jeff and Carol Carrier. As a result, the award has been renamed to honor the Carriers, who have been longtime advocates of student participation in the Society.

To be eligible, a student must:

• be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student, or have completed his/her degree within 12 months of the presentation;
• be in at least his or her second year of AES membership;
• be a member in good standing of AES;
• be first or sole author of a contributed paper;
• indicate at the time of abstract submission his/her intention to compete for the appropriate award. Late entries will no longer be accepted.

Remember that to be a "member in good standing," students must renew their student memberships by the end of the calendar year.

Distinct advantages of a poster include the opportunity to display research data and results for in depth perusal rather than for a brief glimpse during a slide presentation, an atmosphere that is more conducive to dialogs or discussions that are not constrained by time, and an environment that is more relaxed and less likely to produce the same level of anxiety that often precedes an oral presentation. Posters also provide a wonderful forum to present preliminary data or research that might be considered by the author to be incomplete. Candidates for the Carrier Award will not will not be penalized if their study is in progress and judging criteria will assess appropriateness of data in relation to how far along a study has progressed rather than whether or not it is completed.

For further information or questions, please contact the chair of the Jeffrey C. and Carol A. Carrier Fund Committee, Carl Luer (caluer@mote.org). Jeffrey is open to questions and comments from student and regular members of the Society in an effort to be responsive to the needs of poster presenters, and looks forward to a full slate of candidates for the Carrier Award at the Annual Meeting.