Summary of BSP Divisional Guidelines

Summary of BSP Divisional Guidelines

All divisions follow the common SICB requirements for student eligibility and presentation evaluation, found here. Listed below are the guidelines that are specific to each division.

 

Division of Animal Behavior

The Division of Animal Behavior presents two Best Student Presentation Awards, one for the outstanding talk (the Marlene Zuk Award) and one for the outstanding poster presentation (the Elizabeth Adkins-Regan Award). A student who applies must be a member of the Division of Animal Behavior.

Candidates for DAB BSP awards may also be evaluated for the Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award. This third award may be awarded to the talk or poster presentation that exemplifies the strong inference approach in experimental design and execution.

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. All qualified entrants will be accepted in the competition. Poster entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. 

Talk Competition

Students interested in entering the Talk Competition for the Marlene Zuk Award should submit a one-page pdf version of a Talk 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 Talk as the presentation type. The 1-page DAB Talk Competition extended abstract is in addition to the normal abstract that SICB requires and must be submitted through the abstract submission form.

Guidelines for the 1-page Talk Competition abstract:

  1. Must have a title, your name, and your institutional affiliation.
  2. Use 12-point font, single spacing, and 1-inch margins.
  3. 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.

Before 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 talk competition. The committee will consist of the current officers of DAB (chair, program officer, secretary); a DAB member chosen at large; and either the DAB Student/Postdoctoral Affairs Committee representative, a recent Zuk Award winner, or a DAB member who has received their PhD within the past three years. This committee will select finalists for the Zuk Award using the rubric linked here.

The finalists for the talk 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 determine the  winner. If possible, the winner will be announced at the DAB social or at the Society members’ meeting.

Division of Botany

At each Annual Meeting there will be two Best Student Presentation awards; one for the outstanding talk presentation (the Rising Star of Botany award) and one for the outstanding poster presentation. A student who applies must be a member of the DOB.

Students interested in entering the Best Student Presentation Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Talk or Poster as the presentation type. All qualified entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular sessions at the meeting, and entered into the competition. Each presentation will be judged by a panel of DOB members, as assigned by the divisional Chair.

Division of Comparative Biomechanics

Two awards may be given in the Best Student Presentation competition at the SICB Annual Meeting: one for the best talk presentation, the Mimi A.R. Koehl and Steven Wainwright Award, and one for the best poster presentation, the Steven Vogel Award.

Talk competition. Students will compete for the talk prize in a single session at the conference. The DCB BSP committee will select up to 8 students to participate in this session, using the criteria described below to select finalists. 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 Members’ Meeting. 

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, using the criteria described below to select finalists. 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 Members’ 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. 

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.

On the content page that follows:

  • 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.

Selection of finalists for talk and poster competitions. Finalists for each competition will be determined by judging extended abstracts for two criteria: Is the writing clear and coherent? (5 points) And, is the figure clear, coherent, and relevant? (5 points)

Division of Comparative Endocrinology

Two awards will be given in the Best Student Presentation competition at the SICB Annual Meeting: one for the best talk, the Aubrey Gorbman Award, and one for the best poster presentation, the Lynn Riddiford Award. 

Best Student Talk: Aubrey Gorbman Award

All students competing for the Aubrey Gorbman Award will be grouped into a single talk session. A committee of five judges will select up to eight students for the talk competition. 

Selection criteria includes a review of the student’s abstract for:

  • clear relevance to the field of comparative endocrinology
  • significance to the field of comparative endocrinology
  • project status – projects that are near or at completion as evidenced by data analysis/interpretation are generally deemed more competitive than preliminary projects

Applicants not selected for the Aubrey Gorbman Award competition will be contacted by the divisional Program Officer and given the option of giving an oral presentation during a regular session or presenting a poster and entering the Lynn Riddiford Award Best Student Poster Competition.

The five-judge panel will attend all presentations and decide on a winner during the meeting. The winner will be announced at the DCE social.

Best Student Poster: Lynn Riddiford Award

The Lynn Riddiford Award competition for Best Student Poster Presentation will be open to all student applicants as long as their abstracts demonstrate clear relevance to the field of comparative endocrinology. All students competing for the Lynn Riddiford Award will be grouped into a single poster session. 

Applicants not selected for the Lynn Riddiford Award competition will be contacted by the divisional Program Officer and their poster will become part of a regular poster session.

Prior to the annual meeting, 5 or more anonymous judges will be selected to evaluate the posters in the Best Student Presentation session. If possible, the winner will be announced at the DCE social.

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 talk presentation. If a student is awarded either the top DCPB poster or talk 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.

During the abstract submission process, students interested in entering the DCPB Best Student Presentation poster or talk 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 either Poster or Talk as the presentation type. Poster and talk entrants will be scheduled as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. The winners of these competitions will be notified after the meeting.

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. Although there is no prescribed number of entrants allowed in either the Talk 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.

Guidelines for submission of DCPB BSP competition materials

The 2-page PDF document should be prepared in 12-point Times New Roman font, single-spaced, with 1-inch margins.

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 1-page 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.

BSP competition abstract: This extended abstract should be pitched more broadly and 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. 

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 talk presentation and one for the best poster presentation. To be considered for an award, the student must be a member of the Division of Ecoimmunology and Disease Ecology. A student awarded either the poster or the talk presentation award is not eligible for future DEDE Best Student Presentation awards. The DEDE Chair will oversee the judging of the student competition and select a pool of judges from among the membership. To be considered for an award, the student must indicate their interest in joining the talk or poster competition by checking the appropriate box upon submission of the abstract for the annual meeting and following the guidelines below.

Best Student Poster Presentation Award. To be considered for the DEDE Best Student Poster Presentation Award, students must submit their standard Presentation Abstract on the SICB website by the posted society-wide deadline for abstracts. No late submissions will be accepted.

Best Student Talk Award. In addition to the standard Presentation Abstract required to be submitted to SICB, students entering the BSP Talk Competition must submit a 1-page DEDE Competition Abstract during the abstract submission process. Students MUST submit both their standard SICB Presentation Abstract (by standard registration practices on the SICB website) AND their extended DEDE Competition Abstract by the posted society-wide deadline for abstracts. No late submissions will be accepted. 

The Competition Abstract allows students to address the criteria for selecting finalists (below) more fully than would be possible in the standard SICB Presentation Abstract alone. Formatting guidelines for the competition abstract:

  • Include abstract title, name, and affiliation.
  • Use 12-point fonts with 1-inch margins.
  • One small figure may be embedded in the Competition Abstract, as long as the entire document is still 1 page.
  • The extended abstract must be saved as a pdf file.

Criteria for selection of BSP Finalists 

Eight finalists will be selected for the BSP Talk Competition, allowing all talks to be presented in a single session at the annual meeting. A larger pool of finalists will be selected for the BSP Poster Competition, although the number will depend on total submissions.

Finalists for both competitions will be chosen by a panel of 3-5 judges, to be appointed by the DEDE Chair, and will be based on the following criteria: 

  • Are the motivations for undertaking the project and relevant background information clear? 
  • Are the research questions and hypotheses clearly written and logical?
  • How well do the research questions fit in DEDE?
  • Does the abstract present finalized results, indicating a finished or nearly finished project? Projects in the early stages of execution are unlikely to prove competitive. Note that this does not refer to a student’s entire dissertation or thesis, just the project being presented.
  • How well does the abstract frame the significance of the project in advancing knowledge in ecoimmunology and disease ecology?

Division of Ecology & Evolution

The DEE Raymond B. Huey competition for Best Student Presentations (poster and talk) 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 poster or talk 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. 

Criteria for Selecting Finalists to Compete at SICB. Finalists will be selected for the Huey Competitions based on the following criteria.

1) Research fits with the Huey Award guidelines. We look for research that:

      a. tests big ideas,
           b. is a new synthesis of formerly separate areas,
      c. applies ecology and evolution to global problems 

2) Research fits with the Huey ideal of strong inference science, which champions elegant experimental designs and tests of multiple alternative hypotheses.
3) Clarity of the abstract and how well it “points out the significance of the work in plain language.”  

A student who applies must be a member of the Division of Ecology & Evolution. If, in the opinion of the judges, none of the talks 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 presentations identified as competing for the prize must be attended by at least two judges.

Candidates for DEE BSP awards may also be evaluated for the Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award. This may be awarded to the talk or poster presentation that exemplifies the strong inference approach in experimental design and execution.

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 talk and one for outstanding poster presentation. 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. All eligible poster entrants will be scheduled in the competition as part of the regular poster sessions at the meeting. 

Talk Competition. Students interested in competing in the Talk Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral as the presentation type. A committee of 4-5 judges, organized by the DEDB Chair, will select up to eight students for the talk competition session based on the submitted abstracts. Although there are no special instructions for submitted abstracts, the following questions will be considered when selecting abstracts for the Talk 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?

DEDB will group the finalists competing for the BSP in a single talk session. Each finalist will have a 15-minute time slot in the DEDB BSP session to present and answer questions from the audience, and judges will attend the entire session and determine the winner. 

Division of Invertebrate Zoology

At each annual meeting of the SICB, the Division of Invertebrate Zoology may give awards for best talks and posters contributed by students. A first and second prize may be awarded in both talk and poster categories. Among those students competing for the best talk and poster presentations, one may be designated to receive the “Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award,” detailed below.

Mary Rice Award for Best Student Talk

Students should indicate their interest in competing in the Best Student Talk Award by checking the DIZ Best Student Presentation box and selecting Oral as presentation type on the Abstract/Transmittal Form.  Finalists will be selected based on their abstract by a committee appointed by the DIZ Division Chair, using the following criteria:

  • clear relevance to the field of invertebrate zoology
  • significance and potential to advance our understanding of invertebrate zoology
  • project status – projects that are near or at completion as evidenced by data analysis/interpretation are generally deemed more competitive than preliminary projects

DIZ will group finalists competing for the BSP in a single talk 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 members’ 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. All qualified poster entrants will present at the meeting in a single poster session. The winner(s) will be selected by a 3 judge committee and informed after the meeting.

Adrian M. Wenner Strong Inference Award

The selection of the talk 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:

  • Chamberline, T.C. 1890 (reprinted in 1965). The method of multiple working hypotheses. Science 148: 754-759.
  • Platt, J.R. 1964. Strong Inference. Science 146: 347-353.
  • Wenner, A.M. 1989. Concept-centered versus organism-centered biology. Integrative and Comparative Biology 29: 1179-1199.

The Wenner Award is judged using a separate rubric based on the list below. All talk and poster competition finalists will be considered for this award. To receive the strong inference award, the paper or poster must explicitly apply the following steps:

  1. Clearly state an initial hypothesis.
  2. Explicitly designate alternate hypothesis(es).
  3. Devise crucial experiment(s) with alternative possible outcomes that will as nearly as possible exclude one or more of the alternative hypotheses.
  4. 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 talk presentation, and one for outstanding poster presentation. A student who applies must be a member of the DNNSB. 

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. All students checking this box will be entered in the Poster Competition. 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. 

Talk Competition. Students applying for the Talk Competition should check the Best Student Presentation box on the Abstract/Transmittal Form and select Oral as the presentation type. No special DNNSB Talk 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 included in a single, DNNSB talk 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. 

The criteria considered by the committee for selection as a finalist in the Talk Competition are:

  • How understandable is the background that motivated the experiments?
  • How clearly stated are the hypotheses?
  • How close to completion is the work?
  • How novel or transformative is the work?
  • How potentially useful are the findings to researchers working in other systems?

Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology

Wake Award for Best Student Presentations

At each Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, the Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology (DPCB) will award the student(s) making the best presentation during the talk and/or poster sessions. Students submitting to the Wake Award BSP competition should check the Best Student Presentation box when submitting the Abstract form and indicate either a talk or poster format. 

Talk Competition. Abstracts submitted to the Wake Award talk competition will be judged by 4-5 DPCB officers and officers-elect. Judges will consider the following questions when evaluating abstracts: Is there a clear statement of the question and a logical and well-described gap in knowledge this research will fill? Is there a clear summary of the research approach? Is there an informative summary of results and conclusions? Does the research advance the field of phylogenetics and comparative biology? Up to eight finalists for the talk 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 loss of all points associated with the Q&A portion of the judging rubric.

Poster Competition. 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. Judges will visit each poster participant during the poster session to evaluate the presenter’s knowledge of the material covered in the poster. 

Division of Vertebrate Morphology

Two awards will be given from the Division of Vertebrate Morphology to recognize outstanding student presentations, one for outstanding talk (oral) presentation (D. Dwight Davis Award) and the other for outstanding poster presentation (Karel F. Liem Award). The awards recognize significant conceptual, observational, and experimental contributions to the field of vertebrate morphology. Acceptable standards of visual aids and oral presentation shall be required for consideration. Spectacular presentation techniques will not by themselves qualify a presentation for an award.  Consistent with society-wide BSP guidelines, abstracts do not need to be single-authored, but it is expected that the first author is also the presenting author, and that same author is responsible for the majority of the concept and the work.

Dwight Davis Award for Best Talk. The Rules governing participation in the Davis Award Competition are determined by the Division Executive Committee. 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, and are evaluated based upon the following criteria: 1) verification of eligibility to compete, 2) completeness of the research, 3) contribution of the first (student) author relative to other co-authors. Up to eight finalists for the talk competition will be scheduled to present during a single session at the annual meeting. 

For the talk, 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 a reduction in the total score. The award is made upon the decision of the Davis Award judging committee. 

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 students wishing to compete can be accepted into the competition, though the committee reserves the right to exclude posters that are outside of the scope of the competition, described above. 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 upon the decision of the Liem Poster Presentation judging committee. 

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