2020 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists [1]
Overview:
The Blavatnik National Awards recognize and celebrate America's most innovative and promising faculty-rank scientists and engineers. Each year, one nominee in each category is awarded $250,000 in unrestricted funding and honored at the Blavatnik National Awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City as a Blavatnik National Awards Laureate. UMass Amherst has been invited to nominate up to three outstanding young faculty members, one in each of three disciplinary categories: 1) Chemistry, 2) Physical Sciences & Engineering, and 3) Life Sciences.
Eligibility:
Nominees must:
- Have been born in or after 1978*.
- Hold a doctorate degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, DDS, DVM, etc.).
- Currently hold a tenured or tenure-track academic faculty position.
- Currently conduct research as a principal investigator in one of the disciplinary categories: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, or Chemistry.
- Previously nominated individuals who were not selected as Laureates in past Awards cycles may be nominated again.
*Age limit exceptions will be considered by the Academy in exceptional circumstances upon a detailed written submission from the nominating institution.
Award Background:
Award Amount: $250,000 in unrestricted funds
- Number of Awards: 3 (1 in each category)
- Number of UMass Amherst Nominees: up to 3 (1 in each category)
- Total Number of Applicants: roughly 450
- Previous Finalists: to help determine your competitiveness, we strongly recommend reviewing the list of past finalists [2].
Internal Application Process
The internal selection process will be informed by the grant program's guidelines and submission requirements [3] and led by a committee composed of the deans of applicants' respective schools and colleges or their designees and, if necessary, the Provost, Vice Chancellor for Research Engagement, and/or faculty with relevant expertise.
If you are interested in applying to this program please email a pre-proposal with the following items in a single PDF by October 4 to foundation.relations@umass.edu [4]:
- Curriculum vitae (please include date of birth, which must be in or after 1978);
-
1,000 word research statement that includes:
- A description of up to five of your most significant scientific contributions and research accomplishments from your independent career; and
- Key results, their impact on your field of study, and the your specific role in the described work.
- Two anticipated references (name, position, institution, noteworthy national/international awards); it is recommended that one letter come from someone external and one should come from someone who is not a previous advisor;
- A list of current and pending external and internal research support.
Additional Information
Nominees and their work as independent investigators will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Quality: The extent to which the work is reliable, valid, credible, and scientifically rigorous.
- Impact: The extent to which the work addresses an important problem, advances scientific progress, and is influential in the nominee's field, related fields, or beyond, and/or has the potential to benefit society.
- Novelty: The extent to which the work challenges existing paradigms, establishes a new field or considerably expands on an existing field, employs original methodologies or concepts, and/or pursues an original question.
- Promise: The nominee has potential for further significant contributions to science, and the research program will generate further impactful and novel discoveries.
For additional information, visit the program's website [5]. If you have technical questions about the grant program or your eligibility, please contact Marco Monoc [6] or Liz Smith [7] in Foundation Relations [8].