Summary of BSP Divisional Guidelines
Division of Animal Behavior
At each Annual Meeting there may be three Best Student Presentation awards. There will be two Division of Animal Behavior Best Student Presentation Awards presented, one for the outstanding oral presentation (the Marlene Zuk Award) and one for the outstanding poster presentation (the Elizabeth Adkins-Regan Award). Additionally, there may be an Adrian M. Wenner Award presented for the oral or poster presentation that exemplifies the strong inference approach in experimental design and execution. Students who have not yet been awarded a Ph.D. are eligible to compete, as are those who have received a Ph.D. no more than 12 months prior to the meeting. The work presented must be original and must have been carried out principally by the student. A student who applies must be a member of the Division of Animal Behavior.
Application Guidelines
The DAB has Best Student Presentation competitions for both Oral and Poster presentations.
Poster Competition.
Students interested in entering the Poster Competition for the Elizabeth Adkins-Regan Award should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Poster as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. Poster entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. Each poster presentation will be judged by DAB members, as assigned by the divisional secretary. The winner will be notified after the meeting.
Oral Competition.
Students interested in entering the Oral Competition for the Marlene Zuk Award should submit a one-page pdf version of an Oral Competition extended abstract during the abstract submission process. The deadline for the extended abstract is the same as the deadline for the SICB meeting abstract submission. In addition, entrants should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. The 1-page DAB Oral Competition extended abstract is in addition to the normal abstract that SICB requests and must be submitted through the abstract submission form.
Guidelines for the 1-page Oral Competition abstract:
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Must have a title, your name, and your affiliation.
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Use 12-point font, single-spaced, and 1-inch margins.
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One small figure may be embedded in the 1-page abstract.
This extended abstract should be pitched more broadly than an abstract for a typical journal article. Besides including key details of the project, it should articulate the significance of the work in plain language. We are especially interested in empirical research with statistically strong and biologically interesting results, or modeling work with significant theoretical impact.
When the SICB Program Committee convenes to determine the meeting schedule, a DAB committee of five judges will have selected up to eight finalists for the DAB oral competition. The committee will consist of the current officers of DAB (chair, program officer, secretary), a DAB member chosen at large, and a DAB member who has received their PhD within the past three years.
The finalists for the oral competition will be scheduled to present during a single session at the meeting. Each finalist will give a 15-minute talk. The five-judge panel will attend all of the presentations and decide on a winner. If possible, the winner will be announced at the DAB social or at the Society business meeting.
Division of Botany
At each Annual Meeting there will be two Best Student Presentation awards; one for the outstanding oral presentation and one for the outstanding poster presentation. Award winners will receive a certificate and monetary prize. Students who have not yet been awarded a Ph.D. are eligible to compete, as are those who have received a Ph.D. no more than 12 months prior to the meeting. The work presented must be original and must have been carried out principally by the student. A student who applies must be a member of the DOB. At any one meeting, a student can enter either the oral or the poster competition, but not both. A student awarded either the poster or the oral presentation award is not eligible for future DOB Best Student Presentation awards. Application Guidelines and Competition Process Students interested in entering Best Student Presentation Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral or Poster as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. Entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular sessions at the meeting. Each presentation will be judged by DOB members, as assigned by the divisional Secretary.Division of Comparative Biomechanics
Two awards will be given in the Best Student Presentation competition at the SICB Annual Meeting: one for the best oral presentation, the Mimi A.R. Koehl and Steven Wainwright Award, and one for the best poster presentation, the Steven Vogel Award. In addition to a certificate, the winners will receive a cash award. Students must be members of the SICB. Students who have not yet been awarded a Ph.D. are eligible for these awards, as are new Ph.D.s who have received the degree no more than 12 months prior to the meeting and are presenting work based on their graduate research. The work must be original and must have been carried out principally by the student presenting the talk or poster. The oral competition Students will compete for the oral prize in a single session at the conference. The DCB BSP committee will select up to 8 students to participate in this session. The committee will consist of judges chosen by the divisional Program Officer, who is the head judge (DPO.DCB@sicb.org). Each student in the competition will have 15 minutes, with roughly 12 minutes to present and 3 minutes for questions. The panel of judges will attend all presentations and will decide on a winner during the conference. The winner will be announced at the SICB Business Meeting. The poster competition Students will compete for the poster prize in a single poster session at the conference. The DCB BSP committee will select up to 8 students to participate in this session. The committee will consist of judges chosen by the divisional Program Officer, who is the head judge (DPO.DCB@sicb.org). Each student will be judged anonymously during the poster session. The panel of judges will visit each poster and will decide on a winner during the conference. The winner will be announced at the SICB Business Meeting. Application guidelines To be considered for the Competition, students MUST: 1) Submit a standard presentation abstract using the registration form on the SICB website, and check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form. This standard abstract is for the SICB program. 2) Submit a DCB Competition Abstract separately. This extended abstract is for the DCB BSP committee to review. Upload the DCB Competition Abstract in pdf format through the SICB abstract submission page (see SICB abstract submission page). Details of the DCB Competition Abstract: On the cover page:- Provide a title, your name, current affiliation, degree type, and anticipated graduation date. If the degree is completed, list the date and the institution where work was conducted.
- List your co-authors and their affiliations.
- Provide a brief explanation that describes the contributions of each co-author to the project.
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- Provide the extended abstract only. Use single-spaced, 11-point Times New Roman font, and 1-inch margins. It is recommended to include motivation, methods, results, and discussion.
- The abstract should frame the work in the appropriate context and highlight its significance to the field.
- At least one small figure is required and must be embedded in the content page. The figure(s) and caption(s) should occupy no more than 25% of the page. Caption text can be a minimum 10-point font.
- Numbered references can be provided if appropriate, listed at the bottom in a minimum 9-point font. It is OK to exclude titles if needed for space constraints.
Division of Comparative Endocrinology
Division of Comparative Physiology & Biochemistry
Two awards will be given in the DCPB Best Student Presentation (BSP) competition at the Annual Meeting, one for the best poster presentation and one for the best oral presentation. Each year the award will be titled in honor of a distinguished comparative physiologist or biochemist. The name of the honored person will be selected by the DCPB Executive Committee. Each award will include a certificate and monetary prize. Undergraduate students and graduate students who have not yet been awarded a PhD degree are eligible for the award, as are new PhD’s who have received the degree no more than 12 months prior to the meeting. The work must be original and must be carried out principally by the student presenting the paper or poster. In any one year, a student can enter their work in either the oral or poster competition. If a student is awarded either the top DCPB poster or oral competition prize they are not eligible for future DCPB Best Student Presentation contests. The DCPB Chair will appoint a DCPB member to chair the BSP competition and, in consultation with that member, will select the other judges. A student who applies must be a member of the Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry.
Poster competition.
During the abstract submission process, students interested in entering the DCPB Best Student Presentation poster competition must submit a single PDF document consisting of the following 2 items: 1. a one-page cover letter, and 2. a one-page Poster Competition extended abstract. The deadline for the cover letter and extended abstract is the same as the deadline for the SICB meeting abstract submission. In addition, entrants should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Poster as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. Poster entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. Each poster presentation will be judged by DCPB members. The winner will be notified after the meeting.
Oral Competition.
During the abstract submission process, students interested in entering the DCPB Best Student Presentation oral competition must submit a single PDF document consisting of the following 2 items: 1. a one-page cover letter, and 2. a one-page Oral Competition extended abstract. The deadline for the cover letter and extended abstract is the same as the deadline for the SICB meeting abstract submission. In addition, entrants should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. Entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular oral sessions at the meeting. Each oral presentation will be judged by DCPB members, who will have access to the cover letter and extended abstract. The winner will be notified after the meeting.
Entry requirements:
The cover letter and 1-page DCPB BSP Competition extended abstract are to be submitted in addition to the normal abstract that SICB requests; both abstracts must be submitted through the SICB abstract submission form. The normal abstract is submitted as usual through the first page of the SICB submission form. If DCPB competition is selected on page 1, the PDF document containing both cover letter and extended abstract can be uploaded on the second page of the SICB abstract submission form. Although there is no prescribed number of entrants allowed in either the Oral or Poster competitions, the Division reserves the right to exclude from the competition any abstract that fails to meet these requirements and/or is deemed of insufficient quality. This will be determined by the chair of the BSP competition in consultation with the Division Program Officer.
The 2-page PDF document should be prepared in 12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced, with 1-inch margins.
Guidelines for the 1-page BSP Competition cover letter:
The Best Student Presentation awards are targeted at students presenting a completed project that makes an important and/or novel contribution to the field of comparative physiology and biochemistry in a presentation that is both clear and informative. Projects that present new ideas, challenge older ones, or provide a novel synthesis are especially encouraged. Please address the following in your cover letter:
-Explain in clear, simple language how the results of the study contribute to the broader field of comparative physiology and biochemistry;
-Clearly outline the contributions of all co-authors (keeping in mind that the student entrant should have been the primary individual responsible for design and implementation of the project);
-Include your current degree objective and anticipated degree conferral date (estimate if necessary). If the degree has been conferred, list the date and the institution where work was conducted.
Guidelines for the 1-page BSP Competition abstract:
This extended abstract should be pitched more broadly and more include more detail than an abstract for a typical journal article. Besides including a clear description of key details of the project (i.e., motivation/hypothesis, methods, results), it should articulate the significance of the work in plain language.
-Include a title, your name, and your affiliation. Include names and affiliations of co-authors.
-We strongly encourage the use of one (but not more than one) informative figure to be embedded in the 1-page abstract. The figure and associated caption should occupy no more than 25% of the page. Please remember that evaluators of your abstract may not have access to a color version.
Division of Ecoimmunology and Disease Ecology
Two awards will be given in the Best Student Paper competition at the Annual Meeting, one for the best oral presentation and one for the best poster presentation. Award winners will receive a certificate and monetary prize. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and individuals who have received their PhD less than 12 months prior to the meeting are eligible for the award. The presented work must be original and must be carried out principally by the student presenting the paper or poster. To be considered for an award, the student must be a member of the Division of Ecoimmunology and Disease Ecology. At any one meeting, a student can enter either the oral or the poster competition, but not both. A student awarded either the poster or the oral presentation award is not eligible for future DEDE Best Student Presentation awards. The DEDE Chair will appoint a DEDE member to chair the judging of the student competition and, in consultation with that member, will select additional judges. To be considered for an award, the student must indicate their interest in joining the oral presentation or poster competition by checking the appropriate box upon submission of the abstract for the annual meeting.Division of Ecology & Evolution
The DEE Raymond B. Huey competition for Best Student Presentations (poster and oral) are a highlight of the annual meeting. We are eager to showcase the impressive research being done by DEE’s student members!Application Guidelines and Competition Process
Students entering the competition must check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and submit a 1-page DEE Competition Abstract (formatted as a pdf file) during the regular abstract submission process. This 1-page Competition abstract is in addition to the normal abstract required to be submitted to SICB. To be considered for the Huey Award, students MUST submit both their presentation abstract (by standard registration practices on the SICB website) and their extended DEE Competition Abstract by the posted society-wide deadline for abstracts. No late submissions will be accepted.
Guidelines for compiling the 1-page Competition Abstract:- Submit a title and your name and affiliation.
- Use 12-point fonts with 1-inch margins.
- One small figure may be embedded in the 1-page extended Competition Abstract.
- The extended abstract must be saved as a pdf file and uploaded through the general abstract submission form.
Abstracts should be pitched more broadly than journal abstracts or the society-wide abstract submitted for the meeting, rising above the mere details of the project to point out the significance of the work in plain language. We are especially interested in key tests of big ideas, new syntheses of formerly separate areas, and applications of ecology and evolution to global problems.
PLEASE NOTE – 1. Students must submit both their society-wide abstract and the DEE Competition Abstract via the SICB website. 2. When submitting, students MUST select the appropriate presentation format and Best Student Presentation division on the abstract form. Students must upload the extended abstract via the form by the posted deadline for society-wide abstracts.
Eligibility, Content, and Criteria
A certificate and monetary prize will be awarded for the Best Oral and the Best Poster Presentation by a student at the Annual Meeting. Students who have not yet taken the Ph.D. degree, as well as new Ph.D.s who have received the degree not more than 12 months prior to the meeting, are eligible to compete for the awards. The work presented must be original and must be carried out principally by the student presenting the paper or poster. Students submitting abstracts of work to be presented at the Annual Meeting may apply to compete for the awards. A student who applies must be a member of the Division of Ecology & Evolution, and a prize can be awarded only once to any student for a poster or a talk. It is possible for a student to win both poster and talk awards separately. If, in the opinion of the judges, none of the papers or posters presented is deserving of an award, the awards may not be presented that year. In the case of a tie, duplicate awards may be presented. The Chair of the Division will appoint annually an Awards Committee with at least three members who will act as judges. All papers identified as competing for the prize must be attended by at least two judges. No member who has a student competing for a prize shall be eligible to serve as a judge.
Criteria for judging papers and posters will be agreed upon by the Divisional Executive Committee and used to create an evaluation form. Judging criteria will be shared in advance with BSP participants. The evaluation form is provided to aid the judge in evaluating the paper or poster for content and presentation.
Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology
At each Annual Meeting there will be two Best Student Presentation competitions within the Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, one for the outstanding oral presentation and one for outstanding poster presentation. Students who have not yet been awarded a Ph.D. are eligible to compete, as are those who have received a Ph.D. no more than 12 months prior to the meeting. The work presented must be original and must have been carried out principally by the student. A student who applies must be a member of the DEDB.
Application Guidelines and Competition Process
Poster Competition.
Students interested in entering the Poster Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Poster as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. Poster entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. Each poster presentation will be judged by DEDB members, as assigned by the divisional Secretary. The winner will be notified after the meeting.
Oral Competition.
Students interested in competing in the Oral Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. DEDB will group students competing for the BSP in a single oral session. By the time the SICB Program Committee convenes to lay out the meeting schedule (late September or early October), a committee of 4-5 judges, organized by the divisional Secretary, will have selected up to eight students for the oral competition session based on the submitted abstracts. At that time, the divisional Secretary will contact all those who asked to be considered for this competition and inform them of the results of this initial selection. Each finalist will have a 15-minute time slot to present and answer questions from the audience, and judges assigned by the divisional Secretary will attend the entire session and decide on a winner. Candidates not selected as finalists will still be expected to present in a regular oral session. Although there are no special instructions for submitted abstracts, the following questions will be considered when selecting abstracts for the Oral Competition: Does the abstract provide a clear description of the problem, approach, results and conclusions? Does the abstract describe results that provide a novel insight? Does the abstract describe a novel approach or technique?
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
At each annual meeting of the SICB, the Division of Invertebrate Zoology may give awards for best papers and posters contributed by students. A first and second prize may be awarded in both papers and posters categories. Each award will be accompanied by a certificate of achievement. Among those students competing for the best oral and poster presentations, one may be designated to receive the “Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award” detailed below.
Eligibility
The student must be sole author or primary author of the paper/poster and, as such, have conceived of and executed the bulk of the reported research. A student who applies to be considered must be a registered student or must have received a Ph. D. within 12 months immediately prior to the meeting. A student can not win the same award twice i.e. previous winners need not apply to the same category.
Mary Rice Award for Best Student Oral Presentation
Students should indicate their interest in competing in the Best Student Oral Presentation Award by checking the DIZ Best Student Presentation box and selecting Oral as presentation type on the Abstract/Transmittal Form. DIZ will group students competing for the BSP in a single oral session. The finalists will be selected based on their abstract by a committee appointed by the DIZ Division Chair. Candidates not selected as finalists will still be expected to present an oral presentation in a regular session. The winner(s) will be selected by a 3 judge committee who will attend the entire best student presentation session based on their presentations and answers to audience’ questions. The results will be announced at the DIZ business meeting.
Alan Kohn Award for Best Student Poster
Students should indicate their interest in competing in the Best Student Poster Presentation Award by checking the DIZ Best Student Presentation box and selecting Poster as presentation type on the Abstract/Transmittal Form. Poster entrants will be present at a special session for candidates at the meeting.The winner(s) will be selected by a 3 judge committee and informed after the meeting.
The Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award
The selection of the paper or poster to receive the “Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award” shall be on the basis of how well and explicitly it meets the standards of the strong inference or multiple working hypotheses approach, as described in any one of the following papers:
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Chamberline, T.C. 1890 (reprinted in 1965). The method of multiple working hypotheses. Science 148: 754-759.
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Platt, J.R. 1964. Strong Inference. Science 146: 347-353.
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Wenner, A.M. 1989. Concept-centered versus organism-centered biology. Integrative and Comparative Biology 29: 1179-1199.
To be considered for the strong inference award, the paper or poster must explicitly apply the following steps:
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Clearly state an initial hypothesis.
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Explicitly designate alternate hypothesis(es).
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Devise crucial experiment(s) with alternative possible outcomes that will as nearly as possible exclude one or more of the alternative hypotheses.
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Execute the experiment cleanly.
Division of Neurobiology, Neuroethology, and Sensory Biology
The Division of Neurobiology, Neuroethology, and Sensory Biology (DNNSB) will give two Best Student Presentation Awards at each annual meeting: one for outstanding oral presentation, and one for outstanding poster presentation. Eligible applicants include those who have not yet received a Ph.D. or have received a Ph.D. no more than 12 months prior to the meeting. The work presented must be original and must have been carried out principally by the student. A student who applies must be a member of the DNNSB. Winners will receive a certificate and a cash award. The prize can be awarded only once to any student.Application Guidelines
Poster Competition. Students applying for the Poster Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Poster as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. Poster entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. Each poster presentation will be judged by members of a DNNSB awards committee. The winner will be notified after the meeting. Oral Competition. Students applying for the Oral Competition should should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral as the presentation type elsewhere on the form. No special DNNSB Oral Competition extended abstract is required. Applications for the Oral Competition will be reviewed by the DNNSB awards committee, which will select the top eight abstracts to be including in a single, DNNSB oral competition session at the SICB meeting. All talks at this session will be evaluated by the committee, and if possible, the winner will be announced at the DNNSB social or at the Society business meeting. Abstracts not selected for the BSP oral competition session will be assigned by the DNNSB Program Officer to another session with an appropriate theme. Click here to view the DNNSB Best Student Presentation Rubric.Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology
Wake Award for Best Student Presentations Section 1. At each Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, the Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology (DPCB) will give a cash award and a certificate to the student(s) making the best presentation during the oral contributed paper and/or poster sessions. Certificates for honorary mention do not come with a financial award. Wiley-Blackwell also provides student winners with a one-year subscription to the journal Evolution. Section 2. The Rules governing participation in the Wake Award Competition shall be determined by the Division Executive Committee. The competition is open to SICB members who are high school students, undergraduates, and graduate students. Recent graduates who have received a Ph.D. within one year of the annual meeting are also eligible. Exclusion from the competition does not preclude the option to present in a regular session.Up to eight finalists for the oral competition will be scheduled to present during a single speakers session at the annual meeting. Each student will have 15 minutes which should be broken down into roughly 12 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for questions from the audience. Failure to leave time for questions will result in automatic disqualification.
There will be no preset number of posters that can be accepted for the poster awards session. All oral presentations and posters must include the SICB logo and the logo for the Wake Award. Click here to find the downloadable logos. All poster participants should prepare a five-minute presentation and be prepared to answer questions from a panel of judges who will identify themselves. A group of five finalists will be selected by the poster prize committee during the morning of the poster sessions based on poster layout and content presentation (without presenters in attendance). Judges will visit the posters of the finalists during the poster session to evaluate the presenter’s knowledge of the material covered in the poster. Section 3. The rules governing the competitions specify that a selection committee be appointed each year consisting of at least three members of the Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology.Division of Vertebrate Morphology
Two awards will be given from the Division of Vertebrate Morphology to recognize outstanding student presentations, one for outstanding oral presentation (D. Dwight Davis Award) and the other for outstanding poster presentation (Karel F. Liem Award). Students or new Ph.D.s who received the degree no more than 12 months before the meeting at which the paper is presented are eligible for consideration. Winners of each award will receive:- $150 award from Wiley-Blackwell
- a certificate from the Division of Vertebrate Morphology
- a complimentary subscription to the Journal of Morphology (Wiley-Blackwell).
Rules of the D. Dwight Davis Award for Best Oral Presentation:
The Rules governing participation in the Davis Award Competition are determined by the Division Executive Committee. The competition is open to SICB members who are high school students, undergraduates, and graduate students. Recent graduates who have received a Ph.D. within one year of the annual meeting are also eligible. Exclusion from the competition does not preclude the option to present in a regular session. Students interested in entering the Competition must submit a 1-page lay summary on or before the SICB-wide deadline for abstracts. This 1-page summary is in addition to the normal abstract that SICB requests. Upload your 1-page summary as a pdf via the regular SICB abstract submission form. Guidelines for 1-page summary.
- Provide a title, your name, current affiliation, and anticipated graduation date. If the degree is completed, also list the date and the institution where work was conducted.
- Use single-spaced, 12-point fonts with 1-inch margins.
- One small figure is required and must be embedded in the 1-page summary. The figure and caption should occupy no more than 25% of the page. Caption text can be a minimum 10 point font.
- Upload your 1-page summary as a pdf via the regular SICB abstract submission form.
The summary should be written in plain language and include details about the significance of the research question, methods, and outcomes. We are especially interested in new discoveries linking form and function, new hypotheses of morphological development and evolution, and novel applications of morphological sciences. Summaries will be judged by a panel of at least three members of the Division of Vertebrate Morphology. Eight finalists for the oral competition will be scheduled to present during a single speakers session at the annual meeting. Each student will have 15 minutes, which should be broken down into roughly 12 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for questions from the audience. Failure to leave time for questions will result in automatic disqualification. The award is made only on the decision of the Davis Oral Presentation judging committee appointed before the meeting by the Chair of the Division.
Rules of the Karel F. Liem Award for Best Poster Presentation:
There will be no preset number of posters that can be accepted for the poster awards session. All poster participants should prepare a five-minute presentation and be prepared to answer questions from a panel of judges who will identify themselves. Judges will visit the finalists’ posters during the poster session to evaluate knowledge of the material covered in the poster. The award is made only on the decision of the Liem Poster Presentation judging committee appointed before the meeting by the Chair of the Division.
