Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology

Nomination packages must be received by ESA headquarters by June 1. 
 

The annual amount of this award will be based on interest from the endowment (may vary from year to year), and a plaque will be presented at the ESA Annual Meeting.

The nominee must be a current ESA member, and must be able to demonstrate through their projects or accomplishments an ability to identify problems and develop creative, alternative solutions that significantly impact entomology. The nominee may belong to any area of entomology, but must be a practicing entomologist. Professionals working within public- or private-sector organizations are eligible.

Nominations can be made by anyone.  Please note there is a maximum of two self-nominations allowed per year. All nominators and nominees will be required to sign the professional conduct disclosure form during the application process. View additional information on the professional conduct disclosure.

Nomination packages for this award must include:

1. CV-Related Items - Nominators must provide a CV which includes the below sections.  For a full listing of what should be included in each of the sections click here.

• Section 1 - Background Information
• Section 2 - Research
• Section 4 - Extension/ Outreach
• Section 5 - Service

2. Other Items -

• Up to two letters of nomination/recommendation that evaluate and appraise the nominee's accomplishments and which describe the nature of the innovation and its relevance.
• A brief summary, no longer than three pages, of the professional’s work to include the area of focus, the innovative approach, the results or outcome, and the significance.

All nomination packages must be submitted electronically according to the following specifications:

Page Limits

• Page Limits – The entire nomination package must not exceed 20 pages total. This include letters of nomination or recommendation and publication lists. 

File Specifications

• Only the following file formats will be accepted: PDF, TIF graphic files, or JPG graphic files. Please make sure scanned images can be clearly read on a computer screen.
• Font size for text may not be smaller than 10 point.
• The nomination site requires all documents to be uploaded individually.

Submission Methods

Nomination packages must be submitted online via the 
Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology Nomination Website 

View a video tutorial on the ESA application site

Nominees/candidates will be judged by the Nan-Yao Su Judging Panel using the following criteria for a total of 100 points:

1. Nominees must demonstrate the following(80 points total)

• In-depth knowledge of their fields of study (16)
• Ability to identify a problem of significant importance (especially if that particular problem has been overlooked by many)  (16)
• Ability to recognize a novel pattern from existing information (transformation)  (16)
• Ability to develop alternative solutions or divergent thinking for a problem -- in other words, to "think outside the box” (16)
• Ability to connect thoughts that previously have been isolated (synthesis)  (16)

2. Candidates should have the following desirable personality traits(20 points total)

• Intellectual curiosity, openness to new information and experiences (4)
• Tolerance of ambiguity (Recognizing patterns in confusing or ambiguous data) (4)
• Love of problem solving  (4)
• Passionate, yet still objective and honest in the judging of their own work  (4)
• Willingness to take risks  (4)

Notification
The awards administrator will notify all candidates and their nominators, where applicable, with the results of their application approximately two months after the application/nomination submission deadline.

Any candidate nominated but not selected may be renominated no more than two times within the two-year period after their intial submission. Nomination packages will be retained for two years by the awards administrator. Nominators must send a letter of renomination to the awards administrator by the nomination deadline. Previously submitted documentation will be used for the evaluation process unless the nominator submits new or updated documents. The renomination email must contain this additional documentation. New or updated documents must follow the electronic submission requirements noted above.

See the full list of winners