The Student Travel Grants/Awards Committee is pleased to announce that the winners of the Student Travel Grant to attend the CRYO2009 have been selected as below.

Winners:
Bhyan, Salma Begum (Japan)
Hao, Baotong (China)
Jiang, Jing (USA)
Kaneko, Satoshi (Japan)
Malekzadeh, Saeid (Iran)
Okawa, Taku (Japan)
Kanias, Tamir (Canada)
Abazari, Alireza (Canada)
Stadnick, Hart (Canada)
Tanaka, Hiroko (Japan)
Unhale, Sanket Anil (USA)
Boroda, Andrey Victorovich (Russia)
Zhurova, Mariia (Canada)

Deadline to participate in the Student Presentation Awards (PLS Crystal Award and Poster Award) competition has been extended. Now, we are accepting the entry to the Student Presentation Awards by indication for the entry to the competition when she/he submits an abstract(s). Please note that the abstract must be submitted by May 20.

Rules for Student Awards-CRYO 2009

STUDENT AWARDS PROGRAM

Purpose
The purposes of the Student Awards Program are: (1) to promote the participation of students in scientific research and dissemination of such knowledge in cryobiology, and (2) to improve scientific exchange and communication for young international cryobiology researchers. The Student Awards Program is one of the Society for Cryobiology's outreach programs, and serves to achieve the Society's goal ("...to improve scientific understanding in cryobiology, and to disseminate and apply this knowledge for the benefit of mankind.")

Student Grant/Awards Program
The Society for Cryobiology currently has three student awards:

Student Travel Grants offer travel grants to encourage promising students to attend the society's annual meeting.
The Peter L. Steponkus Crystal Award recognizes outstanding student research that is orally presented at the society's annual meeting.
The Best Student Poster Award recognizes outstanding student research that is presented as a poster at the society's annual meeting.

Student Travel Grant
Students are eligible for up to two (2) Travel Grants in a student lifetime, however preference is given to first time applicants. To be eligible for the student Travel Grant, the applicant must meet all requirements listed below:

The applicant is a full-time student in an undergraduate or graduate degree program, conducting scientific research in the field of cryobiology, or has completed her/his degree within one year of the date of the Annual Meeting.
The applicant is a member in good standing of the Society for Cryobiology and has not received two Travel Grants previously.
The applicant will present a paper accepted for oral or poster presentation at the Annual Meeting. The applicant is the first author and the paper represents her/his own independent research, performed while a student.
The applicant's paper is submitted for either the Peter L. Steponkus Crystal Award or the Best Student Poster Award.
Application forms must be completed and submitted electronically by the specified deadline.

The travel grants will be awarded according to the applicant's eligibility, need and scientific merit of research.

Supervisor's membership status or standing will not be a factor in considering a student application.
A student is limited to a maximum of two grant during her/his entire student life.
The maximum grant will be US$1,500 to a student.
In any particular year, at least half of the grants (not the $ amount) will be given to applicants from continents other than the one where the annual meeting will be held.

The Student Awards Committee will evaluate travel grant applications and work with the Society's Executive Committee and the Board of Governors to make the final decision. The awarding process will follow the procedure below.

All applications should be sent to the meeting organizers electronically by the specified deadline. The organizers will forward the applications to the Chairman of the Student Awards Committee after the cut off date for accepting applications.
Within one week, the chairman will forward all applications to each of the committee members and ad hoc committee members for evaluation.
Committee members will evaluate and give a score to each application (in a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 as the highest possible score). Scores of applications will be added, applications will be ranked, and a cut-off score will be decided by the committee members according to the availability of travel funds.
For second award applicants, the committee chairman will subtract 1 point from each of the judges scores per applicant, and the results will be added and added to the ranking of first time applicants.
The committee chairman will then submit the award distribution result to the Society's Executive Committee and the Board of Governors for final approval.
Upon approval, an announcement will be made June 10^th.

Student Presentation Awards (Crystal Award and Poster Award)
Students who attend the society's annual meeting are required to participate in one of the two research competitions: the Peter L. Steponkus Crystal Award and the Best Student Poster Award. The PLS Crystal Award will be given to the best oral presentation. Both competitions are open to all student attendees. The research work must be the student's own independent research, completed while a student, and presented by the student at the annual meeting.

To participate in the competition, a student needs to:

Complete and submit the application form to the organizers of CRYO 2009 electronically by May 10^th.
Elect to participate in only one competition (either the PLS Crystal Award or the Poster Award, but not both).
Register and submit separately her/his abstract to the local Annual Meeting Organizing Committee.

For the PLS Crystal Award competition, submitted presentations will be pre-judged to assure the highest possible rigor and quality of the contestants.

For pre-judging, "extended abstracts" of all student presentations will be forwarded to members of the Annual Meeting Scientific Committee and the Student Awards Committee. The format for extended abstracts is in the application form.
Presentations will be scored using a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 to be the highest possible score. Scores of presentations will be added and presentations will be ranked.

The Student Awards Committee will then coordinate with the local Annual Meeting Organizing Committee to schedule oral presentations. Preferably, all the PLS Crystal Award presentations will be scheduled in a single scientific session.

Five to seven active SFC members in good standing will be selected by the Student Awards Committee to serve as judges for the PLS Crystal Award competition before the annual meeting, presentations for the Peter L. Steponkus Crystal Award will be judged on the scientific merit and delivery of the presentation, including but not limited to:

Significance and impact of the research findings
Originality of the approach and creative use of innovative methods
Clarity of presentation and proper use of visual materials
Student's response to questions

Each judge will score presentations on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 to be the highest possible score, and shortlist her/his top three presentations. The results from judges will be tallied and deliberated among the judges and members of the Student Awards Committee to select a winner for the PLS Crystal Award.

The Best Poster Award competition will be evaluated in two phases by a separate team of 5 to 7 judges. Presentations will be judged on the scientific merit and student's response to judge's questions. Emphasis will be placed on the originality of the research and the significance and impact of the research findings. During the initial phase, presentations will be scored by each judge on a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 to be the highest possible score. Short-listed presentations will then enter into the second phase of evaluation. The results of the second phase evaluation will be tallied and deliberated among the judges and members of the Student Awards Committee to select a winner for the Best Poster Award.

Student Awards Application Form Download
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