The International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation has instituted two Ph.D. thesis prizes, one in classical general relativity and one in quantum gravity. One prize in each category will be given at the tri-annual GRG conferences. Monetary value of each award will be $1,500. These prizes will complement the Gravitational Wave thesis prize awarded by GWIC whose funds are also administered by the Society.
The first of the two new awards, the Jürgen Ehlers thesis prize, is sponsored by Springer and will cover the areas of mathematical and numerical general relativity in a broad sense. The second, the Bergmann-Wheeler prize, is sponsored by Classical and Quantum Gravity and will encompass all approaches to quantum gravity.
The Society seeks nominations for both prizes. The deadline for receipt of the nomination packet is extended to September 30th, 2009. The nominator must be a member of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation and can make at most one nomination in each category. The nominee need not be a member of the Society but the official thesis defense must have taken place between September 1, 2006 and August 31st, 2009. The nomination package will consist of:
i) A nomination letter summarizing the main results and their importance and elaborating student’s role in case of joint work.
ii) A PDF file or four hard copies of the thesis (one for each committee member). Copies of published papers that constitute the thesis can be submitted in lieu of the thesis.
iii) A CV and the publication list of the nominee.
iv) An official University document showing the date of the successful Ph.D. defense.
v) One or two letters in support from experts if the nominator is a supervisor of the Ph.D. thesis.
The primary criteria for selection will be the high quality of scientific results, creativity and originality, and the significance of results for the broad area of the prize. The winner for each prize will be chosen by a committee of leading international experts in the field approximately six months before the GR19 conference in Mexico City. This will provide the winners ample time to plan travel to the conference. (In exceptional cases, the Executive committee of the GRG Society may allow the prize to be given in absentia.)
Electronic nominations are preferred. The nomination packet should be sent to:
Ms Randi Neshteruk <rxh1_AT_psu.edu>
Mailing address for hard copies:
Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos
104 Davey Lab, Penn State
University Park, PA 16802-6300
Further information can be found at
http://grg.maths.qmul.ac.uk/grgsoc/prizes.php