E.E. Just Lecture

About the Award

The purposes of this award are to honor early 20th century biologist Ernest Everett Just, who made seminal contributions to cell and developmental biology, and to recognize the outstanding scientific achievements of a U.S. researcher belonging to an historically excluded racial or ethnic group. For more information on the life and accomplishments of E.E. Just, please see a 2019 article by Professor W. Malcolm Byrnes of Howard University: https://doi.org/10.1002/mrd.23270. The E.E. Just awardee is selected by the ASCB Minorities Affairs Committee (MAC).

Historically excluded racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. biomedical workforce include Black/African Americans, Latinx/Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and people indigenous to U.S. Pacific Island territories. In addition, the MAC recognizes that exclusion and under-representation are contextual. Therefore, the E.E. Just Award selection committee considers the nominator’s description of the nominee’s eligibility, which may include belonging to a group not mentioned above, but which is excluded or under-represented within the nominee’s own personal or professional context.

Award Details

The awardee receives a plaque, a $1,000 stipend, complimentary meeting registration and abstract submission, and gives the E.E. Just Lecture at Cell Bio 2024.

Who is Eligible

Nominators and self-nominators must be ASCB members, but the candidate need not be. Current voting members of the MAC are not eligible.

Selection Criteria

  • Candidate’s Research Impact: Significance of contributions to the field as exemplified by best science and scholarship
  • Candidate’s history of research funding at the highest level: Federal and competitive non-federal research funding
  • Candidate’s national/international recognition in science in his/her field
  • Candidate’s demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM

How to Apply

Applications for the 2024 award will be accepted April 15 through May 15.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: If you are nominating another person please obtain all required documentation from the candidate prior to proceeding.

  • A biosketch that follows the NIH (or similar format), no longer than 5 pages.
  • A narrative statement of no more than 2 pages that addresses how the candidate’s achievements have contributed to the advancement of at least 3 of the 5 core elements of the ASCB mission statement, with one of the elements addressing the nature of this award. The statement should be written by the candidate.
  • Two letters of support, neither longer than 2 pages.

 

Nominees for and recipients of ASCB honorific awards and prizes are expected to exemplify and to continue to exemplify the highest standards of professional conduct. Letters of support should explicitly address whether a nominee’s professional conduct over their career embodies the principles and expectations noted in ASCB’s Mission Statement, the Community Code of Conduct, the Honorific Code of Conduct and the Workforce Diversity Statement.

As a founder of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA https://sfdora.org/), the ASCB does not use journal impact factors or other journal-based metrics in the evaluation process for its award candidates. The ASCB looks at an individual’s research contributions and impact on the field, rather than the prestige of the journals where work is published.