Society of Systematic Biologists

General Information. The Ernst Mayr Award is given to the presenter of the outstanding student talk in the field of systematics at the annual meetings of the Society of Systematic Biologists. The award consists of $1000 and a set of available back issues of Systematic Biology.

Who is Eligible. Members of the Society who are students or have completed their Ph.D. within the last 15 months are eligible. Applicants may be from any country, but must be members of SSB, and are advised to join the Society as soon as possible to be considered (to join go to: http://systbio.org/?q=node/6). Previous Mayr award winners are not eligible.

Application Procedure. Applications should be sent to the current SSB Awards Committee Chair (Sydney Cameron), at ssb-apps@life.illinois.edu. E-mail submissions are required. IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE E-MAIL, please indicate the SSB award category as "Mayr Award" followed by first name initial and last name.

Applicants should:
1. Submit a 400-word abstract of their talk to the SSB Mayr Awards Commitee (ssb-apps@life.illinois.edu) by April 19, 2010. All candidates will be notified of their status no later than April 26, 2010.
2. When you register for the 2010 Evolution meetings (http://www.evolutionsociety.org/SSE2010/) you will be given an option to declare your candidacy for the SSB Ernst Mayr Award. Again, the deadline for meeting registration is April 19.

Judging. Based on the submitted abstracts, the Mayr Awards Committee (appointed by the Awards Chair) will select a maximum of 16 applicants for inclusion in the Ernst Mayr symposium at the 2010 Portland, OR meetings. The symposium will be held at a single venue as a continuous session.

Talks will be judged on creativity, quality, excellence of research, and quality of presentation. Abstracts should clearly indicate methods used, conclusions, and the relevance to systematics. Presentations focusing on other areas of biology (ecology, behavior, genetics, populations or molecular biology, etc.) that lack a strong systematics emphasis are not eligible.

Co-Authors. The paper may be co-authored. It is understood that the ideas, data and conclusions presented are primarily and substantially the work of the student presenter, and the intention is that the student presenter will be senior author on the published version of the paper.

Notification of Winner. The winner of the award will be announced at the SSB business meeting in Portland and again during the banquet awards ceremony (complimentary ticket provided) at the conclusion of the Evolution Meetings, whereupon the winner will be given an award certificate. An announcement of the winner will also be published in Systematic Biology.




Previous Winners

2010 David Winter, University of Otago, and
2010 Jeremy Brown, University of California, Berkeley
2009 Clemens Lakner, Florida State University, and
2009 Dan Rabosky, Cornell University
2008 John Paul, University of Pittsburgh
2007 Matt Brandley, University of California, Berkeley, and
2007 James Haile, Oxford University
2006 Catherine R. Linnen, Harvard University
2005 Jonathon Q. Richmond, University of Connecticut, Storrs, &
2005 Heather Maughan University of Arizona
2004 Christopher C. Witt, Louisiana State University
2003 Nicolas Salamin, University of Washington
2002 Lena Hileman, Yale University, and
2002 Todd Oakley, University of Chicago
2001 Geoff Morse, Harvard University, and
2001 Alexei Drummond, University of Auckland, and
2001 Adam Leache, Louisiana State University
2000 R. Craig Albertson, University of New Hampshire
1999 Frank 'Andy' Anderson, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, and
1999 George Weiblen, Harvard University
1998 Hopi E. Hoekstra, University of Washington, Seattle, and
1998 Jim McGuire, University of Texas, Austin
1997 Steven Poe, University of Texas, Austin
1996 Sharon Messenger, University of Texas, Austin
1995 Allan Cooper, Victoria University, NZ, and
1995 Scott Steppan, University of Chicago
1994 Anna Graybeal, University of California, Berkeley
1993 Michael Whiting, AMNH, New York
1992 Scott Edwards, University of California, Berkeley
1991 John Huelsenbeck,University of Texas, Austin
1990 No Award
1989 Richard Cloutier, University of Kansas
1988 Linda Ford, University of Kansas
1987 Darrel Frost, University of Kansas
1986 Linda Dryden, University of Kansas
1985 David Cannatella, University of Kansas
1984 Eldredge Birmingham, University of Georgia, Athens
1983 Janine Caira, University of Nebraska, and
1983 Richard O'Grady, University of British Columbia
1982 Jonathan Coddington, Harvard University
1981 Kevin de Queiroz, San Diego State University
1980 No Award
1979 Sadie Coats, University of California, Berkeley
1978 No Award
1977 Sharon Simpson, University of Illinois, Chicago
1976 Diane Calabrese, University of Connecticut