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American Society for Photobiology

Promoting the Photobiological Sciences

Awards

(Revised November 2024)

AWARDS COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOBIOLOGY 

(ASP AWARDS COMMITTEE)  


SECTION I. LIST OF AWARDS, AWARD REQUIREMENTS, SELECTION PROCESS   
  SECTION I.A. AWARDS UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AWARDS COMMITTEE:

  1. ASP Research Award
  2. ASP New Investigator Award
  3. ASP Editor’s Student Research Award
  4. ASP Urbach Student Travel Award

SECTION I.B. ADDITIONAL AWARDS (NOT UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AWARDS COMMITTEE)

  1. ASP Lifetime Achievement Award
  2. ASP Photon Award
  3. ASP Photocite Awards A and B

SECTION I.C. SELECTION PROCESS    
SECTION I.A. AWARDS UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AWARDS COMMITTEE

ASP Research Award

Recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions with major impact in the fields of photomedicine, photobiology, photochemistry, and/or photophysics. 

The award is $1,000.00 plus travel (total $1500.00)  a plaque and a certificate.

The Awards Committee is charged with selection of the recipient based on nominations by the Committee and by ASP members and on the criteria below:

  1. The candidate must have made major research contributions to photobiology.
  2. The candidate must have at least 10 years of post-graduate (PhD or MD) research.
  3. For equivalent candidates, preference is given to the candidate who has contributed most to the ASP (e.g., publications in Photochemistry and Photobiology, meeting attendance, service on committees).
  4. The nominator must be an ASP member.
  5. The recipient must be an ASP member at the time of award acceptance.
  6. The recipient will be expected to present an award lecture at the ASP Biennial meeting (and will be notified of the award in time to make appropriate travel plans).

Nomination Package:

i. A signed nomination letter by an ASP member describing the candidate and major accomplishments that justify consideration for this award
ii.An updated CV of the candidate,
iii,Up to two additional letters emphasizing the impact of the candidate’s research.
iiii, The nomination package will stand for three years and can be updated yearly by the nominator. After three years, a new nomination package must be submitted.

  1. ASP New Investigator Award

Recognizes promising quality research in the fields of photomedicine, photobiology, photochemistry, and/or photophysics performed at a relatively early stage in an investigator’s career. 

The award is $1,000.00 plus travel (total $1500.00), a plaque and a certificate.

The Awards Committee is charged with selection of the recipient based on nominations by the Committee and by ASP members and on the criteria below:

  1. The candidate should typically be nominated within the first ten years of obtaining the terminal academic degree. In exceptional cases, senior scientists new to the photosciences will be considered.
  2. The nominator must be an ASP member.
  3. The recipient must be an ASP member at the time of award acceptance.
  4. Prior service to ASP is not necessarily a qualification for this award but can be taken into account.
  5. The recipient will be expected to present an award lecture at the ASP Biennial meeting.

Nomination Package: 

i. A signed nomination letter by an ASP member describing the candidate and major accomplishments that justify consideration for this award. Group/joint nomination letters are acceptable. The nomination letter should address research accomplishments and likelihood of continued excellence of the candidate
ii. An updated CV of the candidate

  1. ASP Editor’s Student Research Award

Honors an individual who has published outstanding research as a first author in Photochemistry & Photobiology (P&P), the official journal of ASP, within three years of being nominated for the award.

The Award is $600.00 towards travel expenses to the ASP Biennial meeting, a plaque and a certificate.

The Awards Committee is charged with selection of the recipient based on nominations by the Committee and by ASP members and on the criteria below:

  1. The candidate may be self-nominated or nominated by another member of the ASP.
  2. The candidate must have been a graduate or undergraduate student at the time of submission of the article.
  3. The individual must be an ASP member at the time of award acceptance.

Nomination Package:

i. A PDF file of research paper published in P&P indicating first authorship
ii. A brief letter of support written by the research advisor detailing the research contributions the applicant made as a graduate/undergraduate student.
iii. Documentation of student status at the time the original manuscript was submitted to P&P. This can be in the form of a school transcript, school ID or verification of student status in the letter of support from the research advisor.
iiii. An updated CV of the candidate

  1. ASP Urbach Student Travel Award

Established in memory of Fred Urbach, ASP past-President. The award is intended to assist ASP associate members (e.g. students and post-docs) with travel expenses in order to present a poster or talk of their work at the ASP meetings.

The award will consist of a cash award determined by the availability of funds and t he number of applications.

The Awards Committee is charged with determining the candidates who meet the requirements below for the Urbach Student Travel Award:

  1. A letter of support from the advisor on signed letterhead
  2. The letter should include the following items:
  3. Attestation that the candidate is in good standing in the advisor’s group
  4. Support from the advisor for the candidate to attend, and present a poster or talk of their work at, the ASP meeting
  5. A brief statement describing the relevance to photobiology of the candidate’s work and the benefit to the candidate to attend the ASP meeting
  6. PDF is the preferred format for the letter

The candidate is strongly encouraged to become an Associate Member of the ASP.

The advisor must be an ASP member in good standing.


   SECTION I.B. ADDITIONAL AWARDS

  (NOT UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AWARDS COMMITTEE)

  1. ASP Lifetime Achievement Award

Recognizes the illustrious career of a senior researcher whose work has significantly advanced any of the research areas encompassed by the ASP.

The Award should only be given when a suitable candidate is agreed upon by the ASP Awards Committee and is not necessarily given every year. A suitable candidate is one who has devoted substantial time and effort on behalf of ASP over an extended period of time (i.e. greater than 10 years). The award should consist of:

  1. A framed certificate
  2. A suitable gift ($300-$500 value such as a sundial or kaleidoscope).
  3. A plaque with the recipient’s name, name of the award, year of the award, and the words “On behalf of the Membership of the American Society for Photobiology,” and the ASP logo.

The past‑President, President, and President-elect can nominate candidates for consideration by the ASP Council. The ASP President will select the recipient from the candidates supported by ASP Council, and notify the Awards Committee of the final decision.
 

  1. ASP Photon Award

Established to honor members who have made exceptional contributions and who have served the ASP above and beyond the call of duty. These contributions include service on the ASP Council or as an Officer, contributions to the ASP’s publication efforts, or any other service to the ASP deemed exemplary by members of the Council.

The award can be a plaque or statue (such as of the sun god “Ra”), and is to be awarded on an ad hoc basis. At the Winter Council meeting, the past-President, current President, and President-elect, together with Council members, will identify and discuss deserving candidates for this Award. The ASP President will select the recipient, and notify the Awards Committee of the final decision.

  1. ASP Photocite Awards A and B

Both awards will be selected by the Editor-in-Chief of Photochemistry and PhotoBiology (P&P), and reported to the ASP Council for final approval. Given to the author of an original research article in P&P published within four years of the award that received the most hetero-citations (citations by others) during that period.

The award is a personalized plaque.

The recipients will be determined using data supplied by the publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, Inc.    
  

SECTION I.C. SELECTION PROCESS:

  1. Applications will be solicited for each Award Category listed in Sections I.A. and I.B.
  2. Submission deadline for all applications will be 2 months prior to the ASP meeting
  3. Applications will be assembled by the Chair and distributed to the committee
  4. Each committee member will also receive a corresponding scoresheet for each award category (example below) 
  5. Three weeks after receipt of the application package, committee members will send scores to the chair
  6. The scores will be anonymized and a composite score sheet for each award category will be created showing the aggregate scores for each candidate. These scores will be communicated back to the committee
  7. Categories without a clear winner based on aggregate scores will be discussed by the committee via web-conference to decide on a sole or joint prize
  8. The results of the selection process will be communicated to the President one month prior to the meeting

SECTION II. COMPOSITION AND SERVICE OF THE AWARDS COMMITTEE

SECTION II.A. SELECTION OF STANDING MEMBERS

The standing members are five (5) ex officio members who have designated roles in the ASP organization. To ensure continuity in tradition, the standing members have a four-year term, thus serve in two consecutive rounds of award selection for ASP.

  1. Current chair of the awards committee
  2. Editor-in-Chief of Photochemistry and Photobiology
  3. Current President of ASP
  4. Immediate past President of ASP
  5. President-elect of ASP

SECTION II.B SELECTION OF ROTATING MEMBERS (up to 10):

  1. A rotating member must be a current ASP member with an active and reputable research/education program.
  2. The rotating membership shall reflect diversity in career stages, scientific disciplines, geological locations as well as underrepresented groups.
  3. Upon recommendation of the standing members, the rotating members will be invited by the Award Committee Chair, and officially become a committee member upon acceptance.
  4. The rotating members have a two-year term, and serve in one selection process for ASP. The rotating membership may be extended.