AAI Lancefield Mid-Career Achievement Award

  2025 Nominations Are Open August 6—September 18, 2024

The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and the AAI Committee on the Status of Women (CSOW) are pleased to announce the launch of a new awards program specifically for mid-career women immunologists: The AAI Lancefield Mid-Career Achievement Award.

The AAI Lancefield Mid-Career Achievement Award is named after Rebecca C. Lancefield, the first woman to serve as AAI President. This award recognizes and further encourages the research and leadership achievements of women in immunology. The Lancefield Award annually honors one outstanding mid-career investigator for research and leadership within the field.

Recipients of the Lancefield Award will receive a $5,000 cash award, AAI annual meeting registration at the early rate, travel support to attend the AAI annual meeting, and an invitation to participate as a table leader during the CSOW-sponsored Careers in Science Roundtables held during the AAI annual meeting. The award recipient will present their research in an award lecture preceded by the award presentation.

Eligibility

A nominee must be a Regular AAI member* who is an exceptional investigator and identifies as a woman. They must be engaged in active research as a principal investigator (or equivalent role) and must be within at least seven but no more than 15 years of starting their first independent faculty/scientist position at the time of the award being granted**. The most competitive nominees will have significant accomplishments in both research and service, including teaching, leadership, mentorship, and administration. Eligible candidates may have any affiliation, including institutions in academia, government, industry, or non-profits. Eligibility of the nominee will be checked at the time of nomination and before presentation of the award. Posthumous awards will not be considered.

Candidates must be nominated by Regular AAI members in good standing.* Members may not nominate themselves. Members of the AAI Council and AAI Committee on the Status of Women may neither nominate nor recommend candidates, nor be nominated themselves.

* Member dues paid through the end of 2025; 2024 dues must be paid by the time of submission and 2025 dues must be paid by November 30, 2024.

** For eligibility for the 2025 award (for which nominations are accepted August 6, 2024 to September 18, 2024), nominees must have begun their first independent positions between January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2017.

Nomination Instructions

Please submit your nomination as a compiled PDF file by clicking the Submit Nomination button below. Please be aware that the single, combined PDF must be no larger than 100MB and no longer than 100 pages. Packages that are not complete or do not comply with the stated instructions will not be considered.

Note: Service history, including teaching, leadership, mentorship, administration, and advocacy are considered during the nominee review process. Please ensure that any service history that may not be included in the nominee’s CV is included in the nomination letter and/or letter of recommendation.  

Please include the following in the nomination package:

1. One nomination letter of not more than two (2) pages submitted by a Regular AAI member in good standing. The letter should address the nominee’s qualifications in reference to their accomplishments in either research or service. Include the nominee’s complete and current contact information (Full name [first, middle initial, last], title and affiliation, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address) and the year of the nominee’s first independent faculty/scientist position. The nomination letter must be from one individual and not include multiple endorsements within it. It should reflect the observations and opinions of the author. Please refrain from extensive reliance on quotations and observations of others. This letter must be signed.
2. One letter of recommendation of not more than two (2) pages will come from an individual that can address accomplishments or service of the nominee that the nomination letter does not. The second letter may come from anyone, AAI member or not, in a position to speak to these accomplishments. The letter must be from one individual and not include multiple endorsements within it. This letter must be signed and included in the package.
3. The nominee’s curriculum vitae, including education and fellowships (institution, dates, degrees), important awards, relevant employment history, and selected bibliography (complete citations with titles).

Submit Nomination

Nominations will be accepted beginning August 6, 2024. Complete nomination packages must be received by 11:59 PM Eastern on September 18, 2024. Packages must be submitted through the link above. AAI will not accept materials sent separately or through regular mail. Final award decisions are at the discretion of AAI.

AAI reserves the right to limit the number of nominations considered for any one candidate. In most cases, no more than two will be accepted, in order of their receipt. Please direct inquiries to awards@aai.org.

Previous nominations for this award may be renewed. Original nominator should direct an email to awards@aai.org, identifying the previous nominee, name of award, and year in which original nomination package was submitted to AAI.