The Carl Gans Awards, administered by the Division of Comparative Biomechanics, are named in recognition of Carl Gans’ scientific career and editorial contributions to animal morphology, biomechanics, and functional biology. Annually, two awards may be given, one in each of these categories: (1) to an outstanding young investigator for distinguished contributions to the field of comparative biomechanics, and (2) to an investigator at any career stage for a significant contribution to the literature of comparative biomechanics published in the preceding five calendar years, including, but not limited to, research papers, review articles, and published books. For the young investigator award, eligible candidates are those who have completed their doctorate within the past seven years. A maximum of one award from each category may be given per year.

Candidates must be members of SICB and may either apply directly or be nominated. Recipients of the Bartholomew Award may not receive the Gans Award. Young investigator candidates and candidates for individual literature contributions can be nominated a maximum of three times.

To select a winner for each award, the Chair of the DCB shall appoint a Gans Award Committee consisting of 3-5 members of SICB and the DCB to serve as judges. The Chair of DCB will designate one of the members as the Chair of the Gans Award Committee. Committee members will normally serve for one year, with potentially one member returning each year.

To fill the committee, members will have the opportunity to self-nominate, and the DCB chair will make invitations in the following order until three to five positions have been filled:
(1) One returning member of the previous year’s committee; proceed to the next step if and only if (a) a returning member has accepted the position or (b) all returning members have been invited and none accepted, (2) One student or post-doctoral researcher; proceed to the next step if and only if (a) a student or post-doctoral researcher has accepted the position or (b) all such members on the list have been invited and none accepted, (3) One member who self-identifies with regards to any and all dimensions of diversity; proceed to the next step if and only if (a) member self-identified with regards to any and all dimensions of diversity has accepted the position or (b) all such members on the list have been invited and none accepted, (4) One citizen of a country other than the USA; proceed to the next step if and only if (a) one citizen of a country other than the USA has accepted the position or (b) all such members on the list have been invited and none accepted, (5) One member from the list of all DCB members who self-nominated.

Our goal is to have at least one representative from each of these five groups on the GAC; one person may represent more than one of these groups.

The Committee may recommend approval of a maximum of one candidate per award to the Chair of the DCB. The committee may decide not to recommend an award in either one or both categories.

Depending on the availability of funds, the Chair of DCB may authorize whole or partial reimbursement of appropriate expenses incurred by the awardee(s) in attending the annual SICB meeting. The awardee(s) will be presented with a plaque or certificate, and the winner of the Young Investigator Award shall give a featured lecture at the Annual Meeting of SICB. Depending on available funds, the Chair of DCB may also augment awards to further the following themes: (1) field and laboratory work in comparative biomechanics, (2) collaborative work with scientists in Israel, (3) travel to visit Ben-Gurion University (Sde-Boqer Campus) and the Gans Library, and to conduct fieldwork in Israel, and (4) support of collaborative international research. These research themes are in recognition of Carl Gans’ efforts to promote and foster international collaborations among scientists, as well as his ability to show that all animals are interesting.

Nominations for the two awards can be submitted via:
https://sicb.burkclients.com/divnew/gansyoung.php
https://sicb.burkclients.com/divnew/gans.php

For any questions about the Gans Awards, please contact the chair of DCB at chair.dcb@sicb.org.

Past Winners