2024-2025 UIC Research and Scholarship Annual Award Competition

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Overview of the competition Heading link

The Research and Scholarship Annual Award competition celebrates the efforts and commitment of individuals who are making exceptional progress advancing knowledge in their areas of research and scholarship. These individuals inspire and promote continued excellence at UIC.

One Distinguished Researcher and one Rising Star Awardee will be selected from each of the following categories:
- Basic Life Sciences
- Clinical Sciences
- Natural Sciences & Engineering
- Social Sciences
One Distinguished Scholar and one Rising Star Awardee will be selected from the following category:
- Humanities, Arts, Design, & Architecture
One Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year will be selected.
One Faculty Mentor of the Year will be selected.
One Champion of Research Support Award – New this year!

The Distinguished Awards will be given to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their fields, whereas the Rising Star and Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year Awards will be bestowed on individuals who show exceptional promise to become future leaders. The Faculty Mentor of the Year Award will recognize an individual who serves as an outstanding knowledgeable, empathetic guide and leverages their experience to inspire and support mentees in achieving their goals. The Champion of Research Support Award will recognize a staff member who provides outstanding support to the UIC research enterprise. All awardees will be recognized at a ceremony in spring.

Note: Nominations must be submitted through the OVCR online portal.

Award Details Heading link

Important Dates

Notices of Intent to Nominate (optional, not binding): Friday, November 15, 2024, 11:59 PM Central Time
Nominations and Letters of Support: Friday, December 20, 2024, 11:59 PM Central Time
Awards announced: March, 2025
Award celebration: April, 2025

Eligibility

The information below is a summary provided for quick reference. For full details on nominee and nominator eligibility, see the program guidelines document.

Nominee Eligibility

All faculty (i.e. tenured, tenure-track, research-track, clinical-track, including research assistant professors) with a full-time appointment at UIC may be nominated for Rising Star, Distinguished Researcher/Scholar or Faculty Mentor, pending additional criteria below.
All faculty nominees must have been in a faculty role at UIC for at least the past 3 consecutive years as of the nomination deadline date.
Distinguished Researcher/Scholar nominees will be evaluated on their full body of work, with emphasis placed on significant contributions made over the past 3 years.
Rising Star nominees must be within 12 years of their terminal degree (no earlier than 2012), with at least the last 3 years in a faculty role at UIC. (Historically, Rising Star eligibility has been limited to individuals within 10 years of their terminal degree. Due to the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the eligibility window will be relaxed starting in 2022 and gradually phased back to 10 years. Please see the table below for the eligibility window for each year.)
For the Postdoctoral Scholar award, a nominee must have been appointed as a postdoc at UIC for at least the past 1 year as of the nomination deadline date. Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year must have a current appointment as a Postdoctoral Research Associate or Postdoctoral Fellow (or equivalent).
Rising Star and Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year nominees will be evaluated on their full body of work, including work performed as a trainee.
For the Champion of Research Support Awards, the nominee must be employed in a Civil Service or Academic Professional role at UIC for at least 3 consecutive years at full-time or 6 consecutive years at 50% time (or higher) as of the nomination deadline date. The nominee must not hold a faculty title.

Nominator Eligibility

Nominations can be submitted by anyone from the UIC community who is knowledgeable about a successful UIC researcher/scholar/supporter.

Self-nominations are accepted for the Rising Star, Distinguished Researcher/Scholar, Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year and Champion of Research Support Awards. However, reviewers tend to view self-nominations as less compelling than those submitted by an enthusiastic colleague.
Nominations for the Faculty Mentor of the Year Award must be submitted by a current trainee (e.g. postdoc, graduate student, etc.). No self-nominations will be accepted for this award type.

Nomination Guidelines

The information below is a summary provided for quick reference. For full details of the nomination process, see the program guidelines document.

Nomination Process

All documents will be uploaded in the nomination portal.

Nominators are encouraged to submit a Notice of Intent by November 15, 2024. This notice is a short web form, asking only for the name, affiliation and basic contact information of the nominator and nominee. The Notice of Intent is optional and is not binding, but it greatly aids the Office of Research Development in planning for the review process.

Nominators will request and collect two letters of support and will include these in the application package. We strongly encourage nominators to confirm that references are willing to provide letters before the December 20, 2024 deadline.

Nomination Guidelines

In addition to providing basic contact information about the nominee, nominators must upload the following documents:

I. Narrative statement. This document should be 2 pages in length, single-spaced, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins.

Nominations will be reviewed by multidisciplinary panels, therefore, care should be taken to explain achievements in ways that can be appreciated by non-specialists in the field. For example, consider providing context for the individual’s publication record, such as the typical number of publications for the given career stage, the prestige of the journals, conventions for authorship in the individual’s (sub)field, etc. Make clear how the individual’s work compares to what is typical for someone in his/her (sub)field and career stage.
For Distinguished awards, nominators should describe the impact of the individual’s work over his/her career, with a focus on one or two accomplishments and major breakthroughs achieved within the past three years. Nominators may also describe how these research accomplishments have contributed to the research excellence at UIC.
For Rising Star and Postdoctoral Scholar awards, nominators should describe the impact of the individual’s work so far, with a focus on potential to become a leader in his/her field in the relatively near future. Nominators may also describe the potential impact on research excellence at UIC.
For Faculty Mentor awards, nominators should describe the extent to which nominee has demonstrated outstanding knowledgeable, empathetic mentorship and has leveraged their experience to inspire and support mentees in achieving their goals. The narrative statement should describe the activities, philosophies and characteristics of the nominee that make this person a truly exceptional mentor to trainees.
For Champion of Research Support awards, nominators could describe the nominee’s exemplary contributions to the university’s research goals through support activities. Examples of such activities include (but are not limited to) proposal development, administrative support and management of research facilities/equipment/instrumentation.

II. Nominee’s curriculum vitae or resume. This document should be no longer than 5 pages. This document should be formatted as a traditional resume or CV, not as a federal agency-specific biosketch.
Items to include as appropriate to the nominee’s field of research/scholarship/employment:

For Rising Star and Postdoctoral Scholar nominees, date of PhD or other terminal degree;
Include the dates and type of appointment for all listed institutions;
List of completed, current and pending extramural research/scholarly support with a 1- 2 sentence description – including total project cost – of each project and the nominee’s role in the project (i.e. principal investigator, co-principal investigator);
Presentation of research/scholarship in professional settings such as a conference speaker/lecturer (please indicate keynote, plenary, or invited) or installation/exhibit;
List of relevant publications (within the past 10 years);
List of outreach and engaged/public scholarship. Note: The resume/CV may not exceed 5 pages.
For the Faculty Mentor of the Year award, no CV is required. In place of the CV, the nominator should provide a list of previous trainees and past trainee outcomes. In the list, specify the nominee’s role in the mentoring relationship (e.g. primary faculty advisor, secondary mentor, mentoring committee member, etc.).
For the Champion of Research Support award, either a business-style resume or an academic CV is acceptable. In either case, the document may not exceed 5 pages.

III. Two letters of support from individuals other than the nominator who are familiar with the nominee’s research/scholarship/work and who have expertise necessary for judging the nominee’s contributions. Each letter of support should be no more than 2 pages in length, single-spaced, 12-point font, with 1-inch margins.

Writers should note their relationship to the nominee.
Nominators will collect the 2 letters of support and upload these documents to the application portal. Letters of support are due at the same time as the rest of the nomination package (December 20, 2024, 11:59 PM Central Time).
Letters can be either internal or external to UIC; however, reviewers tend to place higher value on external letters, especially for Distinguished Researcher/Scholar nominees.
Although letters may come from former or current collaborators, reviewers expect letters from impartial leaders in the field who have not collaborated with the nominee – this is especially true for Distinguished Researcher/Scholar nominees.
For the Faculty Mentor of the Year award, the letters of support must come from current or former mentees/trainees (e.g. postdoc, graduate student, etc.) other than the nominator. Letters should include specific examples of how the nominee’s mentorship positively impacted the letter writer. Additional letters in support of a candidate for Faculty Mentor of the Year award can be included in the optional supplemental information document (5-page limit, see Item 4 below for additional information).

IV. OPTIONAL – No more than 5 pages of other materials supporting the candidate’s achievements, e.g., press clippings, award announcements, or news items. Additional letters in support of a candidate for Faculty Mentor of the Year award can be included in this document. Please collate and upload as a single, flat PDF file.

Checklist

Full Nomination Checklist

The brief checklist and important dates below are provided for quick reference. For full details, see the program guidelines document.

Cover form — enter information directly in the nomination portal
Narrative statement (2 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
Nominee’s CV (or Trainee outcome summary) (5 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
Letter of support 1 (2 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
Letter of support 2 (2 pages) — upload document in nomination portal
Optional supporting materials (5 pages) — upload document in nomination portal

Important Dates

Submit a notice of intent to nominate (optional, not binding) by November 15, 2024.
Submit a nomination statement, nominee’s CV/resume, 2 letters of support and optional other supporting documents by December 20, 2024.

Review Process

The information below is a summary provided for quick reference. For full details, see the program guidelines document.

UIC faculty members will review nominations for all categories and make award recommendations to the Vice Chancellor for Research based on the following selection criteria:

Distinguished Researcher/Scholar, Rising Star and Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year Awards

Extent to which nominee’s recent research/scholarship charts (or has the potential to chart) significant advances to the field (i.e. new innovation, discovery, or methodology)
Extent to which nominee’s recent research/scholarship has been recognized by
- Colleagues in national and/or international venues such as professional conferences or symposia (i.e. presented, cited, or invited to keynote), installations or exhibits and/or
- Extramurally funded research support
- Publications in peer reviewed journals
- Outreach and engaged/public scholarship
Extent to which nominee’s recent scholarship has contributed (or has the potential to contribute) to applications beyond research journals and academia (such as impact to society directly).
Extent to which letters of support reflect a significant impact of the nominee’s research contributions in the respective field(s) of research.

Faculty Mentor of the Year Award

Extent to which the activities, philosophies and characteristics of the nominee make this person a truly exceptional and empathetic mentor to trainees.
Extent to which letters of support reflect a significant positive impact of the nominee’s mentorship on trainees.

Champion of Research Support Award

Extent to which nominee has provided outstanding support to the UIC research enterprise.
Extent to which nominee’s exemplary contributions led to accomplishment of the university’s research goals.
Extent to which letters of support reflect a significant positive impact of the nominee’s work on the UIC research enterprise.

Pending review of nominations, the Vice Chancellor for Research reserves the right to not make an award in any given category.