E.E. Just Lecture

About the Award

Nominations/Applications for all 2026 awards are now closed.

Self-Nominate

Nominate a Colleague

The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) presents the E.E. Just Award 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 a historically excluded group. The awardee is selected by the ASCB MAC Committee.

The MAC recognizes that exclusion and underrepresentation are contextual. Therefore, it considers the nominator’s description of the nominee’s eligibility. That may include Black/African Americans, Latinx/Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, people indigenous to U.S. Pacific Island territories, or individuals in a group not mentioned above who have been excluded or underrepresented within the nominee’s own personal or professional context or experience.

*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.

Award Details

The awardee receives a medal, a $1,000 prize, complimentary meeting registration and abstract submission, and gives the E.E. Just Lecture at the annual Cell Bio meeting.

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

How to Apply

Candidates may either self-apply or be nominated.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

If nominating someone

1. Letter describing the candidate’s background, contributions, and qualifications for receiving the award, no longer than 2 pages.
2. Letter of support also describing the above, no longer than 2 pages.

If self-applying

1. Narrative statement describing your background, contributions, qualifications for receiving the award, and demonstrated commitment to ASCB’s values, no longer than 2 pages.
2. A letter of support endorsing your application, no longer than 2 pages.
3. Biosketch (NIH format or similar) no longer than 5 pages.

Please Note

1. ASCB wants to ensure that the pool of award candidates is as diverse and inclusive as possible. The demographic questions are for internal reporting only and are not viewable by award reviewers. The questions are not mandatory, however we would appreciate your responses so that we can assess our level of inclusivity.
2. As a founder of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) ASCB does not use journal impact factors or other journal-based metrics in the evaluation process for its awards. ASCB looks at an individual’s research contributions and impact on the field, rather than the prestige of the journals where work is published.

All Recent Awardee Photos