Overview:

Funded by the McPherson Eye Research Institute’s Cycle for Sight event, this competitive, annual award recognizes the outstanding work of our McPherson ERI member trainees while highlighting the breadth of research activities within the Institute. Applications are accepted starting in late September each year, with a submission deadline of November 1st. Recipients of this award will receive a small gift as well as the ability to cite the award on their CV.

This award is only open to Trainee Members whose direct principal investigator mentors are MERI members at an institution in Wisconsin (see eligibility criteria). If you are not already a trainee member, please submit a trainee membership application along with your award application.

Eligibility Requirements:

To be eligible to apply for a Distinguished Paper Award, you must…

• …be a McPherson ERI trainee member (if you are not already a trainee member, please submit a trainee membership application along with your award application. Further information about MERI membership is available here.)

• …be an undergraduate, graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, medical student or veterinary student whose direct PI mentor is a McPherson ERI member.

• …not have already won a Distinguished Paper Award while in your current training period (e.g., graduate school training, postdoctoral fellowship, etc.). However, you are allowed to re-apply for this award if you won it while in a previous training period (e.g., you won as an undergraduate, but you are now a graduate student).

• …submit a primary research article (preferred) or review article that (1) was published in a peer-reviewed journal within 18 months of the award due date, (2) features you as first author or co-first author, (3) was written mostly by you (not your PI). If you would like to submit a scholarly products other than a research or review article, please contact us for approval to apply.

• …allow us to publish your submitted lay-written paper description (see Submission Guidelines below for paper description requirements) on the McPherson ERI website.

• …agree to also present your published research at a McPherson ERI-sponsored event (e.g., our monthly seminar series or our Fall poster session) within 1–2 years of receiving your award.

Submission Guidelines:

To apply for a Distinguished Paper Award you will need to submit:

1. A McPherson ERI Trainee Membership application (if you are not already a McPherson ERI Trainee Member)

2. A PDF copy of your paper/scholarly product

3. Your CV or biosketch (two-page maximum)

4. A completed award application form, which will require the following:

(a) the signature of your McPherson ERI Principal Investigator

(b) A statement from your PI indicating your contribution/role on the paper/scholarly product (including a percentage estimate of your written contribution to the manuscript) and the impact/importance of the work (i.e., what is/are its major contribution(s) to the field?).

(c) A brief abstract of your paper (up to 250 words) written in LAY LANGUAGE understandable to non-experts. Your lay description should make clear (1) why the paper is outstanding in its field and (2) your specific contributions in conducting the research and writing the manuscript. Include your paper’s purpose, importance, impact, and how it relates to vision research. Avoid using jargon, acronyms, and technical terms that assume common expertise. (NOTE: The review panel is comprised of researchers from several scientific fields, and at any given time may include members from psychology, biology, pathology, veterinary medicine, computer science, biostatistics and medical informatics, engineering, ophthalmology and visual sciences, and many others. Referencing the research work you describe in your abstract, make it clear and understandable for readers who are not experts in your area, explaining how/why the work is important in a vision-related context. Make sure you convey the purpose and importance of your paper so that a researcher from any school, college, or department can understand it. Your ability to make your work accessible and understandable by a general audience is a key factor in the judging process. Points WILL be deducted from your score for use of jargon.)

All materials should be submitted to Wren Daniel (acdaniel@wisc.edu). When submitting, format your email subject line as follows: Distinguished Paper Award Application: [your last name], [your first name]