Nominations sought for Higuchi faculty awards

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Office of Research seeks nominations for the 2018 Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, which are the highest honors for faculty accomplishments in research, scholarship and creative activity. 

In 1981, the Research Achievement Award was established by Takeru Higuchi, Regents Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; his wife, Aya Higuchi, and KU Endowment. Designed to recognize significant research achievement conducted at KU or other Regents institutions, these awards were first presented in fall 1982. Each award of $10,000 may be expended over five years in support of activities in the form of research materials, summer salary, fellowship matching funds, equipment, research assistants or any other purpose that is consonant with the advancement of the individual's research program. Each award will be presented to a Kansas Board of Regents faculty member by Chancellor Douglas A. Girod upon recommendation of the vice chancellor for research. The awards were established in four categories of scholarly and creative achievement to honor four KU benefactors: Balfour Jeffrey, Olin Petefish, Dolph Simons and Irvin Youngberg. 

The Balfour Jeffrey Research Award in the field of the humanities and social sciences will be given in recognition to an individual who may be described as having had a major and substantial effect and who has been of national and/or international interest. This individual’s research should be characterized either as profoundly seminal in nature or as representing a productive record of significant research and expanding intellectual or societal insights.  

The Olin Petefish Research Award in the field of basic sciences will be given in recognition of an individual who may be described as having had a major and substantial effect and who has been of national and/or international interest. This individual’s research should be characterized as either profoundly influencing later development in a field or as representing a productive record of significant research that has illuminated basic processes or basic phenomena. The Olin Petefish Research Award will be given for work in the basic sciences in fields such as physics, chemistry, the biological sciences, basic behavioral sciences and mathematical sciences.

The Dolph Simons Research Award in the field of biomedical sciences will be given in recognition of an individual who may be described as having had a major and substantial effect and who has been of national and/or international interest. This individual’s research should be related to biomedical problems and characterized either as profoundly seminal in nature or as representing a productive record of significant research. The Dolph Simons Research Award will be given for biomedical research in areas such as those related to medicine, pharmacy, the biological and behavioral sciences, bioengineering and veterinary medicine.

The Irvin Youngberg Research Award in the field of applied sciences will be given in recognition of an individual who may be described as having had a major and substantial impact and whose work has been of significant relevance to the state of Kansas. This individual’s research should be characterized either as profoundly seminal in nature or as representing a productive record of significant research.  The Irvin Youngberg Research Award will be given for work in the applied sciences such as engineering, agriculture, business, economics and other scientific areas of an applied nature.

Nomination requirements:

• Eligibility is limited to tenured faculty members employed at any of the six Kansas Board of Regents institutions.  
• A substantial portion of the work for which the individual is nominated must have been completed at the nominee’s Kansas Regents institution.  
• Nominations of co-investigators or research teams will not be accepted.
• Only complete nomination materials will be considered.

General conditions for Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards:

• Nominees will be considered in all categories for which they may be eligible.
• The nomination committee may choose not to recommend that an award be made in a category in a given year. 
• All nominations remain active for three years.  
• In order to remain active during the second and third years of eligibility, nominators must annually provide an updated candidate CV, and if there are additional noteworthy scholarly accomplishments over the past year please provide these in a letter. The materials must be received by the annual nomination deadline.
• After three years, a new nomination package must be submitted in order for the nominee to remain in consideration for an award.
• Past recipients may be nominated for an award after 10 years have passed. Nominations for an additional award will be judged only on the additional body of research, scholarly and creative activity produced since the previous award.
• The awards committee reviews applications for the Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards and provides a list of eligible candidates along with comments on their candidacy to the vice chancellor for research, who ultimately chooses award recipients.

Nomination materials:

• A letter of nomination (maximum five pages) outlining the accomplishments of the nominee based on the criteria for the awards. This letter should detail the nominee’s seminal contributions to his or her field, concentrating on contributions that occurred while on the faculty of his or her Regents institution. The panel that reviews nominations consists of faculty researchers from a number of academic disciplines, so the letter of nomination should use language understandable to those outside the nominee’s area of expertise.
• Letters from 3-5 references. These references should have no close academic or personal connection with the nominee (such as former professors or students, former or current colleagues, co-authors, etc.), nor should they be associated with any Kansas Regents institution.  
• A current curriculum vitae of the nominee.

Nominations containing complete information in one pdf file must be submitted online by April 2. Winners will be announced in fall 2018.

For questions, contact Teresa Kopsa, KU Office of Research, tkopsa@ku.edu.