GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prize for 2019: Call for Nominations


PLEASE NOTE: The nomination deadline is 31 January 2020.

The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with the Friends of Stefano Braccini to award a single yearly prize recognizing an outstanding Ph.D. thesis in the field of gravitational waves, the GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prize. Nominations for the 2019 GWIC-Braccini Thesis Prizes are now open.

Members of the gravitational wave community are invited to nominate students who have performed notable research on any aspect of gravitational wave science. Theses will be judged on 1) originality and creativity of the research, 2) importance to the field of gravitational waves and gravitational wave detection, broadly interpreted, and 3) clarity of presentation. Each winner will receive a certificate of recognition and a prize of US$ 1,000. We aim to award the 2019 prizes at the LISA Symposium in July 2020 in Glasgow, UK.

Eligibility: In this edition, prizes will be awarded on a calendar year basis for 2019. Theses should have been accepted by their institutions between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2019. It is expected that many of the nominations will come from the member projects of GWIC, but this is not a requirement. Nominated theses may be in any language. A committee selected from the gravitational wave community will evaluate the nominations and select the winner. The selection committee will make all determinations about eligibility.

Nominations: Nominations should be submitted by 31st January 2020. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination, preferably from the thesis advisor, and (iii) a supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work. The nomination and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and the student’s particular contribution. Please indicate clearly which year each nomination pertains to.

Electronic submission of the thesis and letters is strongly preferred, with the thesis and the letters in separate pdf files. Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to Martin Hewitson <martin.hewitson@aei.mpg.de>. All submissions will be acknowledged; if an acknowledgement is not received shortly after the deadline, please contact Martin Hewitson <martin.hewitson@aei.mpg.de>. Please also provide a contact email address, and current institution for the nominee in the nomination letter.

If electronic submission is impossible, please contact the Martin Hewitson <martin.hewitson@aei.mpg.de> for instructions concerning paper submission, or for any other concerns or queries.