2024 DNTS MEETING AWARD INFORMATION
DNTS society offers three types of awards for attendees at the annual meeting: Conference Travel Awards for students, postdocs, and lab assistants; the DNTS Richard Butcher New Investigator Award; and the Patricia Rodier Mid-Career Award in Research and Mentoring. Awardees present their research at the meeting, receive recognition on the program and at the business meeting, and receive a monetary award to help cover travel expenses.
Application for these awards can be made by the individual seeking the award prior to the deadline for abstract submission, or an individual can be nominated by another person.
In addition, at the meeting, two Bushnell Best Presentation Awards will be awarded to the best poster and platform presentation made by a student or postdoctoral associate.
DNTS RICHARD BUTCHER NEW INVESTIGATOR AWARD
Please consider nominating a Recent Graduate for the Richard Butcher New Investigator Research Award. The New Investigator Award is given to the best paper by a new investigator in the field of Developmental Neurotoxicology. The applicant must have obtained their PhD within the past five years. The paper must either be published or in press in a peer reviewed journal within two calendar years prior to the Annual Meeting (2022-2024). The applicant must be first author of the paper. There is no requirement that nominees or nominators be members of the Society. The Awardee will present the paper at the Society's Annual Meeting, and will receive $1000 to cover travel expenses and a plaque.
Submission Instructions:
- Indicate on electronic abstract submission form your intention to apply for the New Investigator Award.
- Send the following to Stephanie Godleski by April 15, 2024:
- PDF of paper to be considered for New Investigator Award
- Copy of your CV
- Name of your research advisor
- Have research advisor submit a letter of recommendation to Stephanie Godleski by April 15, 2024
The Richard Butcher New Investigator Research Awardee will be notified prior to the abstract deadline date.
CONFERENCE TRAVEL AWARDS
Conference Travel Awards provide financial assistance to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and laboratory assistants. These awards are in the amount of $750 to be disbursed at the beginning of the meeting; registration fee for the meeting will also be waived for recipients. Awardees will be recognized at the annual business meeting of the Society.
Submission Instructions:
- Send the following to Stephanie Godleski by April 15, 2024:
- Abstract to be submitted
- Copy of your CV
- Letter of recommendation from advisor/supervisor that includes verifying your status
- If you win one of these awards but hadn’t submitted an abstract for the Annual Meeting, you must do so by the DNTS abstract deadline. A link to the abstract submission site may be found on the Society’s website (http://www.dntshome.org).
Conference Travel Award applicants will be notified prior to the abstract deadline if they were selected or not.
TERATOLOGY SOCIETY JAMES C. BRADFORD MEMORIAL STUDENT POSTER AWARD
This is an award for the best poster presentation by a student at the annual meetings of the Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (BDRP) and Developmental Neurotoxicology Society (DNTS). It is jointly sponsored by the Middle Atlantic Reproduction and Teratology Association (MARTA) and Sanofi-Aventis in honor of Dr. Jim Bradford. Dr. Bradford was a past-President of MARTA and Sigma Xi, and he served on Committees of BDRP. He was Director of Research and Development Operations at Sanofi-Aventis at the time of his death. He mentored several current members of BDRP and was a pioneer in Industrial Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) Testing. Currently, the award consists of a plaque and $250, although the monetary award is subject to change. This award is judged at the meeting.
ELIGIBILITY
- Nominees or nominators need not be DNTS members.
- Nominees must be students, post-doctoral fellows, laboratory assistants, or new investigators, as indicated in specific award categories.
- Nominations of minority candidates - African American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian, and Native Alaskan – are especially encouraged.
BUSHNELL BEST PRESENTATION AWARDS
At the annual meeting there will be two Bushnell Best Presentation Awards: one for the best graduate student or postdoc poster, and one for the best graduate student or postdoc platform presentation. These $25o awards, made in memory of Phil Bushnell, recognize excellence in scholarship, research, and communication at the annual meeting. Awardees are selected at the meeting and there is no nomination/application process.
JUDGING CRITERIA FOR AWARDS
Selection of the award recipients will be made by members of the Awards Committee of DNTS and/or BDRP, depending on the award. The BDRP Judging Committee will award the James C. Bradford Poster Award. The following criteria will be used:
- Relevance of the research topic to the DNTS membership
- Soundness of the scientific methodology
- Quality of research in terms of novelty, scope and likely impact
- Strength of recommendation letter and the applicant’s CV
- For Bradford Poster Awards, clarity/appearance of poster, oral presentation of poster
- Best Presentation awards will be judged on scholarship, study design, data analysis and interpretation, and communication of results and their impact
PATRICIA RODIER MID-CAREER AWARD IN RESEARCH AND MENTORING - Deadline February 15, 2024
Jointly Sponsored by the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society and the Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
Description: This award honors the legacy of Dr. Patricia Rodier, a past President of the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society (DNTS) and a past Council member of the Society for Birth Defects Research and Prevention (BDRP). Each society administers the award and selects a recipient in alternating years (when the annual meeting is in an odd year, DNTS administers/selects). If no nominee is put forth by the society whose year it is to select the awardee, nominations from the other society will be evaluated (this does not affect the alternating year schedule of administration/selection).
The award is presented in a joint session during the concurrent annual meetings of DNTS and BDRP. The awardee will give a presentation related to his/her research that is intended to serve as a demonstration of independent mid-career research in a field relevant to DNTS and BDRP.
Eligibility requirements: Criteria for the award include evidence of a successful independent research career and track record of mentorship. Examples of how these may be demonstrated include, but are not limited to, the following:
- high quality publications in peer-reviewed journals;
- obtaining independent funding for research endeavors;
- active mentorship of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, young investigators, and/or trainees within one’s organization or the field in general;
- an established teaching program;
- recognition as an expert in the field.
Nominations of individuals working in academia, government, and industry are equally encouraged.
A candidate must have approximately ten to twenty-five years of professional experience from the date of their last formal training (e.g., degree conferral, completion of their postdoctoral fellowship, residency program, clinical fellowship, etc.); be a member of the society administering the award that year; and be nominated by a member of the society administering the award that year.
Nomination packages should consist of the following items:
- A letter of nomination including past accomplishments and career impact of the candidate, current research interests and projects, information on mentoring, and information on how the nominator believes the candidate's career has advanced discovery in the field of research.
- A second letter of reference must be provided from another individual who is familiar with the candidate's research career.
- A copy of the candidate's curriculum vitae in PDF format.
- Documents that provide evidence of a successful independent research career if not included in the curriculum vitae (see eligibility criteria above).
Judging process: The award winner will be selected each year by the Awards Committees of DNTS and BDRP, with approval of the Council of the society administering the award that year, using the criteria listed above under "Eligibility."
For the awards given in an odd year (ie., 2025, 2027), nominations should be sent to the Chair of the DNTS Awards Committee, no later than February 15 of that year.
For the awards given in an even year (ie., 2024, 2026), nominations should be sent to the Chair of BDRP Awards Committee, no later than December 31 of that year.
Awardee Benefits:
- A plaque that includes the names of both Societies, the name of the award, a brief statement of the purpose of the award, and the name of the recipient
- A $500 honorarium, airfare, 2 nights’ lodging, joint registration to both Societies’ Annual Meeting (each Society covers 50% of the awardees expenses)
- Platform presentation at the Annual meeting
Nominations may be sent to the Chair of BDRP's Awards Committee Julia Gohlke ([email protected]) or the Chair of DNTS's Awards Committee Stephanie Godleski. The deadline for nominations is February 15, 2024.
