PICR Outstanding Master's Student Award

Purpose:

The PICR Outstanding Master’s Student Award was developed to annually recognize an outstanding master’s student trainee within the Institute based on research excellence. An annual award of $1,000 will be presented to an MS graduate student who has exhibited outstanding commitment, creativity, and excellence in cancer research, with a focus on making a meaningful impact on the field and has promise for a productive career in the field. The award will be presented to the trainee at the PICR spring awards ceremony.

1. Only research completed by the trainee while a master’s student at Purdue University will be given major consideration in evaluating Evidence of excellence of work completed elsewhere will be considered supportive of the trainee’s nomination.
2. Criteria of particular significance in evaluating nominations will include evidence of:
   1. Research Excellence: The recipient should demonstrate outstanding achievement in cancer research, displaying a deep understanding of the scientific principles and methodologies relevant to their work.
   2. Innovation and Originality: The award will be granted to a trainee who exhibits imagination, originality, and intellectual curiosity as demonstrated by identification, design, and conduct of the trainee’s research problem.
   3. Communication Skills: The ability to effectively communicate complex scientific concepts to both scientific and non-scientific audiences is essential. The recipient should be able to articulate the significance of their work and its potential implications.
3. The Master’s student thesis research must be under the direction of a faculty mentor who is a member of one of the programs of the Purdue University Institute for Cancer Research and graduated in August or December 2023, or planning to graduate in May or August 2024.

Nomination Procedure:

1. Nominations should be submitted as a single PDF filehere by March 26, 2024.
2. The Cancer Research Training and Education Committee will serve as the selection committee for the
3. Nominations will include in the following order:
   1. Nomination cover page (template is on the next page)
   2. A letter of nomination from the trainee’s major faculty member indicating justification of the nomination and describing the significance of the research efforts upon which the nomination is based; (limit 3 pages). Include any grant writing, leadership or other relevant activities.
   3. The trainee’s CV or resume including a summary of professional activities, presentations, grant writing activity, and any reprints of other publications from the trainee’s work graduate school transcript (unofficial),
   4. A summary of the trainee’s research project and its significance, professional goals and aspirations for the future, written by the trainee (limit 2 pages).