[Image above] Credit: 401(K) 2012; Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
Young scientists, listen up—the U.S. State Department is seeking applicants to represent the country in the 2017 ASPIRE Competition.
ASPIRE is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education, an annual prize recognizing young scientists who demonstrate “a commitment to both excellence in scientific research, as evidenced by scholarly publication and cooperation with scientists from other APEC member economies.”
(Find list of APEC countries here.)
And this year, the theme for the ASPIRE prize is right up our alley—new material technologies. According to the website, “This interdisciplinary theme focuses on how advanced materials and processing technologies are used to drive scientific innovation.”
APEC defines young as under 40 years old–so if you’re a young scientist with excellent research experience, has published scholarly articles, and cooperated with scientists from other APEC countries, consider applying.
“The ACerS community has a number of outstanding early-career professionals who are excellent candidates for this award,” says Bill Fahrenholtz, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society (JACerS). “This is a fantastic opportunity to highlight emerging research topics in our field.”
Each APEC country is invited to nominate one scientist to compete for the grand prize of $25,000. In addition, the ASPIRE winner will also present her or his research at an award ceremony at a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, in May 2017.
But even if the U.S. nominee doesn’t receive the grand prize, she or he will still receive a $3,000 prize. Other finalists in the U.S. nominee search also receive cash prizes.
Head over here for all the details about how to apply—but hurry, applications are due February 24!