The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2013 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2013 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize are now open. Both prizes recognize outstanding PhD theses in the general area of gravitational waves. To better serve the community, GWIC and the Friends of Stefano Braccini have moved to coordinate the two Prizes. From now on, there will be a common call for nominations, and all theses submitted will be considered for both awards by a joint selection committee. Two winners will be selected, with the GWIC Thesis Prize emphasizing the impact of the research on the field of gravitational wave science, while the Braccini Thesis Prize will be awarded with an emphasis on innovation.
Members of the gravitational wave community are invited to nominate students who have performed notable research on any aspect of gravitational wave 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. Each winner will receive a certificate of recognition and a prize of US$1,000.
Since 2010, GWIC has recommended the GWIC Prize Thesis for the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. Beginning in 2013, the Braccini Prize winner will also be recommended to Springer. If accepted, the winner will receive an additional €500 from Springer upon publication.
Eligibility: Both prizes are award on a calendar year basis. Theses should have been accepted by their institutions between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2013. It is expected that many of the nominations will come from the member projects of GWIC, but this is not a requirement. Nominated theses may be in any language. A committee selected from the gravitational wave community will evaluate the nominations and select the winner. The selection committee will make all determinations about eligibility.
Nominations: Nominations should be submitted to the selection committee chair (Andrea Possenti) by 15 January 2014. 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 and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and how it supports GWIC’s goal to support the development of gravitational-waves as an astronomical tool.
Electronic submission of the the thesis and letters is strongly preferred. Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to gwic-braccini-prize@oa-cagliari.inaf.it, with a copy to stan@ligo.caltech.edu. Please note the following two restrictions on the names of files which can be handled at these addresses:
i) The filename cannot contain more than 1 dot (i.e “.”). A file like mythesis.pdf is ok, while a file like my.thesis.pdf will be rejected.
ii) The filename cannot contain blank spaces, i.e. a file like “my thesis.pdf” will be rejected.
If electronic submission is impossible, please contact stan@ligo.caltech.edu for instructions concerning paper submission.