Deadline for receipt of all application materials: April 16 2021

Award Description:  The CSEE Excellence in Doctoral Research Awards aims to showcase excellent student research from within the society. Successful applicants will have conducted high-quality research that addresses fundamental questions or is of an applied nature in the fields of ecology and/or evolution. In addition to demonstrated scholarship and merit, the selection committee will aim to promote diversity in science through the lens of CSEE’s Diversity and Inclusivity Statement, and to balance field of study and institutional representation. Awards will be given to five candidates each year.  They consist of a $500 cash award, up to $1000 allowance to cover expenses associated with attending the 2021 CSEE meeting in August 2021, and an invitation to present their research in our Graduate Student Award Symposium at the annual CSEE meeting.

Eligibility: Applicants must have been (i) registered in a Ph.D. program at an advanced stage of their dissertation (typically the final two years) and (ii) a member of CSEE at the time of application. There is no citizenship or residence requirement. Successful applicants are expected to attend the CSEE annual meeting and to present their work as part of the CSEE Graduate Student Awards Symposium (exceptions will be considered on an individual basis). Applicants from last year who were not selected for the award but still meet the eligibility criteria are encouraged to re-apply. Applicants must support the goals of the CSEE Diversity and Inclusivity Statement.

Materials: Applications must include the following sections:

• Applicant information form
• Thesis Summary (300 words maximum): A summary of your thesis (i.e., thesis abstract). You may use subheadings for different thesis chapters if desired. The applicant should make it clear how their research advances the state of knowledge in their field.
• Other Relevant Activities (300 words maximum): In this section, describe any professional and extracurricular activities that demonstrate your communication, and leadership skills including mentorship, academic and civic engagement, community outreach and/or involvement with EDI initiatives.
• Select Awards and Contributions (1 page maximum): Using three headings, highlight (i) awards that you have received, (ii) talks or posters that you have given and (iii) papers you have published. Do not include papers that are in preparation, submitted, or being revised for a journal (including preprints)—only include manuscripts that are published or have been given final acceptance and are ‘in press’. If in press, provide the manuscript number. The applicant must remove their name from all publications and replace it with “Applicant”, in bold.
• Letter of support (1 page maximum) from your PhD advisor or a committee member. Letters should speak to the criteria listed above and should clearly state that the applicant is close to completion of their thesis. Letters must not contain the name of the applicant but rather non-identifying terms such as “The Applicant”, or similar. For example, “The applicant has been a member of my lab…”. In addition to commenting on the candidate’s accomplishments and research potential, letters of reference must specifically address the candidate’s commitment to CSEE’s Diversity and Inclusivity Statement.

Sections 1 through 3 should be submitted as a single pdf file with the filename “<lastname_firstinitial>_CSEE_PhDaward.pdf” to cseestudent@gmail.com (e.g., Smith_J_CSEE_PhDaward.pdf). The letter of support should be submitted directly from the referee to the same email address and should have the same format as the application with “_Letter” added to the end (e.g., Smith_J_CSEE_PhDAward_Letter.pdf). All materials are due by the deadline indicated above. We will respond to each email to confirm receipt within one week.

The name (first or last) of the applicant must not appear anywhere within the application other than the file names. This anonymization is meant to reduce bias during the evaluation process. Failure to properly anonymize applications could result in disqualification.

Other Important Information
Successful applicants will give a 30-minute talk (23 minute talk and 7-minute question period and transition) in the Graduate Student Award Symposium and will not be able to give a separate talk during the conference. Awardees can present a poster if space is available. Successful applicants must respond to accept the award and confirm their registration within one week of notification. Successful applicants will be may ineligible for Student/Post-doc travel awards as they are already given a stipend.

Three prizes were awarded for each of the best oral and poster presentations. In each category, the first prize is $500, second prize $300, and third prize $200. As well, the $500 New Phytologist Prize is offered by the New Phytologist Trust for an outstanding student presentation in botany. Oral and poster presentations were judged together for this award.

Award winners:

•  Talk 1^st prize (tie) & New Phytologist Prize: Anna Hargreaves – Queen’s University, “What range-edge population dynamics reveal about current and future range limits”
• Talk 1^st prize (tie): Sarah Neima – Mount Allison University, “Radiotelemetry of migrating Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) reveals new information on movement patterns, duration of stay and habitat use in the upper Bay of Fundy”
• Talk 2^nd prize: Gina Conte – University of British Columbia, “How predictable are the genetics of adaptation?”
• Talk 3^rd prize: Brock Harpur – York University, “Recognizing the signs of balancing selection in the honey bee genome”
• Poster 1^st prize: Josée-Anne Otis – Trent University, “Ecological niche differentiation along the genetic gradient by hybridization of eastern wolf and coyote in Northeastern America”
•  Poster 2^nd prize: Sarah Loboda – McGill University, “Ecological and evolutionary responses of arctic flies to recent climate change at Zackenberg, Greenland”
• Poster 3^rd prize: Gareth Hopkins – Utah State University, “Tidal newts: evolution in a stressful environment”

Honorable mentions – Oral presentations:

• Nathan Upham – Field Museum of Natural History, University of Chicago, “Testing for adaptive radiation and ecological constraint in a major lineage of rodents (Hystricomorpha, Caviomorpha)”
• Elsa Anderson – DePaul University, “Nest site selection of Red-headed Woodpeckers across three spatial scales in an urban environment”
• Gabriel Pigeon – Université de Sherbrooke, “Importance des effets cohorte chez une population d’ongulés alpins”
• Marius Roesti – University of Basel, “The genomic signature of parallel adaptation from shared genetic variation”
• Catherine Dieleman – University of Western Ontario, “Climate change drives a shift in peatland ecosystem plant communities: implications for ecosystem function and stability”

Honorable mentions – Poster presentations:

• Lily Hou – University of Toronto, “Automated tracking of wild hummingbird mass and energetics over multiple time scales using radio frequency identification technology”
• Haydee Peralta -University of Calgary, “Symbiotic communities across the expanding range of the mountain pine beetle”
• Meredith Doellman -University of Notre Dame, “Genomic consequences of adaptation to a novel host in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus“
• Julie Gibelli -Université de Montréal, “Slow learners exhibit more plasticity in their level of boldness in male but not female zebra finches”
• Brittany Cole -University of Prince Edward Island, “A comparison of beach and dune habitat on a common coastal plant”