Nomination Deadline: June 30 at 11:59pm ET

The AAAS Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science, established in 2010, recognizes early-career scientists and engineers who demonstrate excellence in their contributions to public engagement with science activities. The recipient of the award receives a monetary prize of $5,000, a commemorative plaque, and recognition at  the AAAS Annual Meeting.

For the purposes of this award, public engagement activities are defined as an individual’s active participation in efforts to engage with the public on science- and technology-related issues and promote meaningful dialogue between science and society.

The award is presented each year at the AAAS Annual Meeting. View a list of all past recipients. 

Eligibility

• Nominations may be made by individuals, universities, government agencies, media, research organizations, and AAAS affiliate organizations. One nominator can nominate multiple candidates.
• Self-nominations are permitted.
• Prior nomination or being a named finalist does not exclude a candidate from consideration in subsequent years. Re-nomination is encouraged.
• Nominees must be an individual scientist, mathematician, or engineer. Groups or institutions will not be considered for this award. One candidate will be chosen to receive the award each year.
• AAAS employees are ineligible.
• Nominee must represent a field of science, technology, engineering and/or math (STEM) and be actively conducting research in any scientific discipline (including social sciences, mathematics, engineering and medicine). They may be based in academia, government or industry. Public engagement activities must be above and beyond job responsibilities. 
• Candidate must be “early career” which is defined as an individual who has completed their terminal degree within seven years of the deadline for nominations.
  • Nominees no longer considered "early career" as defined by this award may be eligible for the AAAS Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science.
  • Current students are not eligible.

Required Materials

All nominations must be submitted electronically through our nomination site. If you require an alternate format, please contact awards@aaas.org, and include the award name in the subject title. Nominations and supporting materials will not be accepted by email or by post.

Nominations and materials must be in English.

You will be asked to provide:

• Name, email, position, institution, professional address and phone number of the nominee
• Name, email, position, institution, professional address and phone number of the nominator (if not a self-nomination)
• Nomination statement of the public engagement activities that form the basis for the nomination
  • This statement of two pages maximum should discuss the nominee’s approach to public engagement. It should emphasize the candidate’s public engagement goal(s), intended audience(s), and message(s), as well as the level and type of dialogue achieved with their audiences, evaluation of public engagement work, and examples of how public engagement has affected the nominee’s scientific work. 
  • More information about AAAS’s approach to public engagement is available in the Center for Public Engagement's Communication Toolkit.
• The nominee’s curriculum vitae
  • Limit CV to five pages, with a specific section highlighting public engagement activities distinct from work that is required as part of the nominee’s job. If the CV is longer than five pages, only the first five pages will be considered.
• At least two (up to five) representative material samples or other documentation which illustrate or describe the candidate’s public engagement contributions
  • Samples should exhibit the activities discussed in the statement and further contribute to the narrative of the nomination, showing different representations of the breadth of their public engagement.
  • Letters of support (up to two) are optional and count toward the five sample/document limit. Letters should provide more insight into the candidate's public engagement and discuss their accomplishments and can be written by a colleague, supervisor, or participant. 
• If the candidate uses social media for their public engagement there will be a space to include all relevant accounts.

​​​All materials submitted become the property of AAAS.

Selection and Criteria

• One scientist or engineer will be chosen to receive the award each year and will be announced at the AAAS Annual Meeting.
• Successful nominees will have demonstrated excellence in their contributions to public engagement with science activities, with a focus on interactive dialogue between the individual and their audience(s).
  • Types of public engagement activities might include but are not limited to: informal science education; public engagement and public dialogue activities, such as science cafés and science festivals; public policy activities; science communication activities, such as mass media, including radio, TV, books, and film; and social media.
• The selection committee includes distinguished scientists, engineers,and public engagement practitioners named by AAAS. Decisions of the committee are final after approval by the board.
• AAAS may ask winners to contribute to public engagement with science by speaking to groups of AAAS constituencies, helping to identify scientists to participate in AAAS engagement events, and participating in other AAAS activities related to public engagement with science.

​​​The award selection committee will evaluate nominations through the questions below.  Nominees will possibly excel in one category more than others. 

1. Does the nominee demonstrate active participation in public engagement activities?
2. Does the nominee demonstrate high quality public engagement activities?
3. Does the nominee demonstrate a focus on interactive dialogue between the nominee and a non-scientific public?

Deadline

All information must be submitted electronically through our submission site by 11:59pm ET on June 30. Late nominations will not be accepted.

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