Nomination & Eligibility | Sammy Kuo Awards

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute recently honored the Sixteenth Annual Sammy Kuo Prizes in Neuroscience.

Established by the Sammy Kuo Memorial Fund, the awards encourage meritorious neuroscience research at the postdoctoral and graduate levels at Stanford, and serve as an inspiration as well as a profound reminder of the impact translational research has on patients and their families.

Prizes were awarded for the best neuroscience papers published since July 1, 2023 by Stanford graduate students or postdocs.

Any member of the Stanford neurosciences community may nominate a graduate student or postdoc. Regardless of the nominator, a letter should be provided by the nominee's PI. Corinna Darian-Smith, the committee chair, can provide assistance with requesting letters from a nominee's PI, if required.

Eligibility Criteria

• Nominees must be first author (or co-first author) on a neuroscience paper, reporting original research performed at Stanford, published between July 1, 2023 and the present (E-publication online is OK). The paper must be published, and not a preprint; if a paper has already been accepted by a journal but is not yet available, please include a copy of the acceptance by the journal as part of your nomination note.
• Nominees must have completed all aspects of the work as a member (grad student or postdoc) of a laboratory affiliated with Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and must have been a graduate student or postdoc at Stanford as of October 21, 2022.
• Finalists must attend the 2024 Wu Tsai Neuro Symposium on Oct. 2024 to receive the award.
• Nominators may only submit one paper per nominee. Co-first authors may be co-nominated.
• Self-nominations are not accepted.

Review Process and Selection Criteria

Applications will be evaluated by a committee of faculty (one 3-person sub-committee for grad applications and one 3-person sub-committee for postdoc applications).  Three finalists for each award will be notified privately in late September 2024, and the winner and the other finalists will be announced at the 2023 symposium in October 2024.

Nomination Materials

To nominate a graduate student or postdoc, submit the following:

1. A pdf of the published research paper
2. A nomination note from the PI, briefly summarizing the significance of the work and the student/postdoc’s contribution. The PI must confirm that the work was performed at Stanford in her/his laboratory

Nomination Form

Contact

If you have any questions about the Sammy Kuo Awards or nomination process, please contact Zulema Garibo or committee chair Corinna Darian-Smith.