The Gravitational Wave International Committee (GWIC) was formed to promote international collaboration and cooperation in the construction, operation and use of gravitational wave detection facilities world-wide. To this end, GWIC has established an annual prize for the outstanding Ph.D. thesis based on research in gravitational waves (http://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/).
Nominations for the 2009 GWIC Thesis Prize are now open. Members of the broader gravitational wave community are invited to nominate students who have performed notable research on any aspect of gravitational waves 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 in the thesis.
Eligibility: The award is made on a calendar year basis. Theses should have been accepted by their institutions between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009 to qualify for consideration. It is expected that many of the nominations will come from the member projects of GWIC, but this is not a requirement. A committee representing the GWIC member projects will evaluate the nominations and select the winner. Nominated theses may be in any language. The selection committee will make the final determinations about eligibility.
Nominations: Nominations should be submitted to the selection committee chair (Martin Hewitson, martin.hewitson_at_aei.mpg.de) by January 15, 2010. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination, preferably from the thesis advisor, and (iii) an optional supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work. The nomination letter (and supporting letter if applicable) should describe the importance of the research and how it supports GWIC’s goals to promote construction and exploitation of gravitational-wave detectors, foster development of new or enhanced gravitational-wave detectors, and to support the development of gravitational-wave detection as an astronomical tool generally. The thesis and letters may be submitted in electronic form (preferred) or in hard-copy (five copies).
The GWIC Thesis Prize will be presented at the 19th International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation (GR19) (http://www.gr19.com/) in Mexico City, from 5-9 July 2010. The recipient will receive a certificate of recognition and a prize of $1,000. The nominator is responsible to ensure that travel funds will be made available to send the winner to the GR19 Conference to receive the prize.