The ISCE awards the ISCE Silver Medal Award, ISCE Silverstein-Simeone Award, and ISCE Early Career Award annually to scientists working in the field of chemical ecology. A fourth award, the Applied Chemical Ecology Award, was added in 2020. Details about each award are below, and nominations for all awards are generally solicited during the first few months of each year, and are announced here and in the ISCE newsletter.
Due Date: Nominations are due by January 31, 2024.
See below for information regarding the review process and conflicts of interest.
The ISCE Silver Medal Award
The ISCE Silver Medal Award recognizes career achievements by an outstanding scientist working in the field of chemical ecology. Click here for previous recipients of the ISCE Silver Medal Award.
Eligibility and Nomination Requirements:
- Membership in the ISCE is not required.
- Letter of nomination from an ISCE member. The letter must highlight career achievements in chemical ecology. The nomination letter must include a summary (approximately 25 word) stating the reason for the award (to be used on the Award Certificate).
- Curriculum vitae, including a full list of publications.
- Supporting letters from other colleagues may be included.
- The entire nomination must be submitted as a single PDF file.
- The recipient must deliver a plenary lecture at the annual ISCE meeting one year after being selected and publish a paper on the same topic in the Journal of Chemical Ecology. The conference fees, reasonable economy travel, and hotel expenses of the recipient of the Award will be paid by the ISCE.
- Nominations should be submitted (single PDF file) to: president (at) chemecol.org
The ISCE Silverstein-Simeone Award
The ISCE Silverstein-Simeone Award was established in 1995 to honor Drs. Robert M. (Milt) Silverstein and John B. Simeone, the founding editors of the Journal of Chemical Ecology. The award is made on the basis of recent or current work of an outstanding nature at the cutting edge of chemical ecology. Click here for previous recipients of the ISCE Silverstein-Simeone Award.
Eligibility and Nomination Requirements:
- Membership in the ISCE is not required.
- Letter of nomination from an ISCE member. The letter must highlight career achievements in chemical ecology. The nomination letter must include a summary (approximately 25 word) stating the reason for the award (to be used on the Award Certificate).
- Curriculum vitae, including a full list of publications.
- Supporting letters from other colleagues may be included.
- The entire nomination must be submitted as a single PDF file.
- The recipient must deliver a plenary lecture at the annual ISCE meeting one year after being selected and publish a paper on the same topic in the Journal of Chemical Ecology. The conference fees, reasonable economy travel, and hotel expenses of the recipient of the Award will be paid by the ISCE.
- Nominations should be submitted (single PDF file) to: president (at) chemecol.org
The ISCE Early Career Award
The ISCE Early Career Award recognizes an emerging leader in chemical ecology within 10 years of receiving the Ph.D. degree, and honors cutting-edge research that will influence the future direction of the field of chemical ecology. Click here for previous recipients of the ISCE Early Career Award.
Eligibility and Nomination Requirements:
- The nominee must be a current member of the ISCE and an ISCE member in the preceding calendar year.
- The nominee must be within 10 years of receiving the Ph.D. degree at the time of the due date of the nomination. However, two exceptions will be considered by the Executive Committee for extending the eligibility period:
- ISCE Councilors and Executive Committee members that reach the 10-year limit during their term in office may be nominated in the following year after completing their service to the Society.
- ISCE recognizes that research productivity may vary during periods of pregnancy, early child care, or as a result of other personal circumstances. A one-year extension (to 11-years post PhD) may be requested as part of the nomination, explaining the reason for the extension request.
- Letter of application (i.e., self-nomination) or nomination from an ISCE member. The letter must highlight current cutting-edge research in chemical ecology. The letter must include a summary (approximately 25 word) stating the reason for the award (to be used on the Award Certificate).
- Curriculum vitae, including current position, year of receipt of Ph.D. and a full list of publications.
- One to three supporting letters from current ISCE members.
- Reprints of the three most important papers, included in the single PDF of the nomination.
- The entire nomination must be submitted as a single PDF file.
- The recipient must deliver a plenary lecture at the ISCE meeting in the same year as the nomination. The nominee will be selected prior to the early registration deadline of the annual conference. The conference fees, reasonable economy travel, and hotel expenses of the recipient of the Award will be paid by the ISCE.
- Nominations should be submitted (single PDF file) to: president (at) chemecol.org
The ISCE Applied Chemical Ecology Award
The new ISCE Applied Chemical Ecology Award was established to recognize career achievements by an outstanding chemical ecologist for her/his significant contribution in developing novel semiochemical-based technologies for advancing practical applications in chemical ecology. This award is sponsored by APEX BAIT Technologies, Inc. and Pherobio Technology Co. Ltd., which may provide non-voting comments on the top 3 finalists prior to selection of an awardee.
Eligibility and Nomination Requirements:
- The nominee must be a current member of the ISCE and an ISCE member in the preceding calendar year.
- Letter of nomination from an ISCE member. The letter must highlight career achievements in chemical ecology, particularly in discovering novel semiochemical-based technologies, as well as their practical application. The nomination letter must include a summary (less than 10 words) stating the reason for the award (to be used on the Award Plaque/Certificate).
- Letter of application (i.e., self-nomination) or nomination from an ISCE member. The letter must highlight current cutting-edge research in chemical ecology. The letter must include a summary (approximately 25 word) stating the reason for the award (to be used on the Award Certificate).
- Curriculum vitae, including a full list of publications, documentation of technology transfer (e.g., patents), listing of commercial products and other practical applications in applied chemical ecology.
- Supporting letters (up to 3) from other colleagues may be included.
- The entire nomination must be submitted as a single PDF file.
- The recipient will deliver a plenary lecture at the ISCE meeting one year after being selected.
- Nominations should be submitted (single PDF file) to: president (at) chemecol.org
Review Process
Nominations will be reviewed by the President, Vice-President, and Past-President for relevance to the appropriate award, and by the Secretary and Treasurer for membership requirement (Early Career Award). Should a nomination for one award be considered more relevant for another award, the President will contact the nominator(s) regarding reconsideration. Award winners will be selected by a vote of the award committee, which will consist of the ISCE Executive Committee and the ISCE Councilors. Unsuccessful nominations must be updated and re-submitted to the President to be considered for an award.
Conflicts of Interest:
The success of the ISCE Executive Committee (EC) and Councilors in performing their functions as award panelists (Silver Medal, Silverstein-Simeone, Early Career, as well as Travel and Presentation awards) depends on the effectiveness, evenhandedness, and transparency of their decision-making processes. The decision-making process may be compromised, or appear to be biased, if conflicts of interest (COIs) are not declared. Toward the goal of recognizing, declaring, and avoiding COIs, the EC has adopted the following set of rules to guide award nominations and their review:
- Current ISCE Executive Committee members and Councilors are not eligible for ISCE awards, except for the “ISCE Travel and Participation Awards”, which are managed by ALAEQ and APACE (see COI statement associated with these awards).
- Members of the EC and Councilors who nominate or write letters of support for award nominees will declare COI and recuse themselves from reviewing that specific nomination.
- Examples of COI for EC members and Councilors as panelists, that normally should lead to recusal:
- personal, family, or business relationship with the nominee;
- served as the nominee’s Ph.D. or postdoc advisor;
- organizational affiliation with the nominee in the last 12 months;
- served as nominator or letter of support writer for the nominee.
The ISCE membership is relatively small and highly collaborative. Therefore, some COI rules that usually guide larger organizations (e.g., co-authorship on books or articles; collaboration on projects, such as funded grants) are not considered COI by the ISCE. Nevertheless, the ISCE encourages EC members and Councilors to be mindful of the appearance of COI.