PLEASE NOTE: The nomination deadline has been extended to 31 January 2017.

The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2016 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2016 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. There is 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.

GWIC is privileged to nominate both thesis prize winners for publication in the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. If accepted, each winner will receive an additional 500 Euros from Springer upon publication.

Eligibility: Both prizes are awarded on a calendar year basis. Theses should have been accepted by their institutions between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2016. 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 by 31 January 2017. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination, preferably from the thesis advisor, and (iii) a supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work. The nomination and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and the student’s particular contribution.

Electronic submission of the thesis and letters is strongly preferred, with the thesis and the letters in separate pdf files. Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to the Stan Whitcomb (stan[AT]ligo.caltech.edu). All submissions will be acknowledged; if an acknowledgement is not received shortly after the deadline, please contact the GWIC Secretary (gwic-exsec[AT]gravity.psu.edu).

If electronic submission is impossible, please contact the GWIC Secretary (gwic-exsec[AT]gravity.psu.edu) for instructions concerning paper submission.

PLEASE NOTE:  The nomination deadline has been extended to 15 February 2016.

The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2015 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2015 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. There is 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.

GWIC is privileged to nominate both thesis prize winners for publication in the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. If accepted, each winner will receive an additional 500 Euros from Springer upon publication.

Eligibility: Both prizes are awarded on a calendar year basis. Theses should have been accepted by their institutions between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2015. 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 (Maura Mclaughlin) by 15 February 2016. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination, preferably from the thesis advisor, and (iii) a supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work. The nomination and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and the student’s particular contribution.

Electronic submission of the thesis and letters is strongly preferred, with the thesis and the letters in separate pdf files. Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to Selection Committee Chair (gwic-braccini-prize AT mail.wvu.edu, with a copy to the GWIC Secretary (at stan AT ligo.caltech.edu). All submissions will be acknowledged; if an acknowledgement is not received shortly after the deadline, please contact the GWIC Secretary (gwic-exsec AT gravity.psu.edu).

If electronic submission is impossible, please contact the GWIC Secretary (at gwic-exsec AT gravity.psu.edu) for instructions concerning paper submission.

The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2015 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2015 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize will soon be open. Both prizes recognize outstanding PhD theses in the area of gravitational waves. 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.

GWIC is privileged to nominate both thesis prize winners for publication in the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. If accepted, each 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 2015 and 31 December 2015. 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.

A second announcement with instructions about how to submit nominations will be issued at the beginning of December.

I am pleased to announce that the joint selection committee for the GWIC Thesis Prize and the Stefano Baccini Thesis Prize have made their decision.

The 2014 GWIC Thesis Prize is awarded to Leo Singer for his thesis “The needle in the 100 deg^2 haystack: The hunt for binary neutron star mergers with LIGO and Palomar Transient Factory.” Dr. Singer received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology and was nominated by his adviser, Prof. Alan Weinstein. Dr. Singer’s thesis addresses the most challenging problem of joint observation of binary neutron star coalescence events by gravitational wave and electromagnetic detectors. It has two main aspects: (1) A new framework for near real-time sky localization scheme for gravitational waves (BAYESTAR), and (2) the development of wide-field searches for optical afterglow of GRBs using the Palomar Transient Factory telescope.

The 2014 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize is awarded to Yan Wang for his thesis “On inter-satellite laser ranging, clock synchronization and gravitational wave data analysis”. Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. from the Leibniz University of Hannover, and was nominated by his adviser, Prof. Karsten Danzmann. Dr. Wang’s thesis covers a diverse set of topics related to space-based gravitational wave detection using interferometric instruments such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and its brethren. The largest part of the thesis develops algorithms to synchronize clocks and improve the ranging accuracy via post-processing, thus significantly improving the ranging precision.

Leo and Yan will receive their awards at the Amaldi meeting in Gwangju, Korea, June 21-26.

There were 15 theses nominated for the two prizes. Links to the winning theses and a list of all nominated theses can be found at
https://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/
I would like to thank Archana Pai (chair of the selection committee) and the entire selection committee for their diligent service to the community. They are listed at the bottom of the page with all of the nominated theses:
https://gwic.ligo.org/thesisprize/2014/

The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2014 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2014 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize are now open. Both prizes recognize outstanding PhD theses in the area of gravitational waves. This call for nominations covers both prizes. A joint selection committee will select two winners, 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 USD 1,000.

GWIC is privileged to nominate both thesis prize winners for publication in the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. If accepted, each winner will receive an additional 500 EUR 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 2014 and 31 December 2014. 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 (Archana Pai) by 15 January 2015. The nomination package consists of (i) the thesis, (ii) a letter of nomination, preferably from the thesis advisor, and (iii) a supporting letter from another scientist familiar with the work. The nomination and supporting letters should describe the importance and novelty of the research and the student’s particular contribution.

Electronic submission of the the thesis and letters is strongly preferred. Electronic copies of the nomination materials may be sent to , with a copy to . All nominations will be acknowledged.

If electronic submission is impossible, please contact for instructions concerning paper submission.

The Gravitational Wave International Committee is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2014 GWIC Thesis Prize and for the 2014 Stefano Braccini Thesis Prize will soon be open. Both prizes recognize outstanding PhD theses in the area of gravitational waves. 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.

GWIC is privileged to nominate both thesis prize winners for publication in the book series Springer Theses. Subject to certain qualifications, Springer Theses publishes exceptional Ph.D. theses in the physical sciences in their entirety. If accepted, each 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 2014 and 31 December 2014. 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.

A second announcement with instructions about how to submit nominations will be issued at the beginning of December.