Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award Rules

The Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Awards are given to recognize exemplary research by AAS Undergraduate and Graduate Student Members who present posters at meetings of the AAS. Awardees are honored with a Chambliss medal or, in the case of honorable mention, a certificate.

Rules

1. Only poster presentations submitted by the on-time abstract deadline are eligible for judging. Late abstracts are ineligible.
2. Participants must indicate during the abstract-submission process that they want their poster considered for the Chambliss student award.
3. Student presenters must be members of the AAS. If you're not already a member, you must submit your membership materials to join the Society (application and dues) no later than the 3rd Wednesday of October (for winter AAS meetings) or the 3rd Wednesday of March (for summer AAS meetings), by 11:59 pm Eastern time. Note: undergraduate members of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) who formally affiliate with AAS are eligible to enter the Chambliss competition [updated May 2023].
4. To be eligible for an award, work featured on a poster must have been done within the past year and while the presenter was an undergraduate or graduate student; high-school students are ineligible.
5. Undergraduate and graduate-student posters will be judged separately; winners will be chosen in each category.
6. ​​​​The poster competition will consist of two rounds: an initial online review which precedes the AAS meeting, and a finalist round which will take place in-person at the AAS meeting. [Updated October 2023]
7. The first (online) round of the competition requires Chambliss contestants to upload their completed posters three weeks before the AAS meeting. An initial team of volunteer reviewers will select a cohort of Chambliss finalists.
8. Chambliss finalists will be invited to attend one of two special Chambliss poster sessions on the first and second day of the meeting; contestants will choose which session best fits their schedule. Chambliss Award winners and Honorable Mention recipients will be selected from among the Chambliss finalists who present in-person. (Note: All student poster presenters will still be scheduled to present at a normal poster session, regardless of whether they are selected as Chambliss finalists or not.)
9. Students who have won Chambliss medals in a given category, i.e., undergraduate or graduate, are not eligible to enter the Chambliss competition again in that same category. Runners-up, i.e., students who have been cited with honorable mentions, remain eligible to compete in the same category again.

Judging

1. Judges for the Chambliss competition consist of volunteers who will be drawn from the broad AAS membership, not just those who work in a matching subject area; students should not expect judges to be experts on their topic.
2. Advanced graduate students (e.g., those who have finished their coursework, who have passed their qualifying exams, and/or who are working on their dissertation research) are eligible and encouraged to judge undergraduate entries.
3. Judges must identify themselves as such when evaluating iPosters (i.e., judges may not choose to remain anonymous).
4. Judges' scores will not be shared with other judges or with students. AAS staff will tally judges' scores and choose student winners in both the undergraduate and graduate student categories.

Deadline

The deadline for entering a poster in the Chambliss student-award competition is the same as the meeting's on-time abstract deadline, which is usually around 1 October for winter meetings and around 1 March for summer meetings (check the appropriate meeting page); late papers are not eligible.

The deadline to submit Society membership materials (application and dues) for nonmembers is no later than the 3rd Wednesday of October (for winter AAS meetings) or the 3rd Wednesday of March (for summer AAS meetings), by 11:59 pm Eastern time. Note:  undergraduate members of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) who formally affiliate with AAS are eligible to enter the Chambliss competition [updated May 2023].

Student contestants must submit their completed iPoster presentations three weeks before the AAS meeting to participate in the Chambliss competition. Only those who meet this deadline and are selected by the online review team will be invited to compete in the in-person Chambliss finalist round at the AAS meeting. In addition to the Chambliss competition, all poster presenters will be scheduled to present at a normal poster session, regardless of whether they are selected as Chambliss finalists or not. [Updated October 2023]

Application

Applicants for this prize must indicate during the poster abstract submission process that they would like to be considered. Please visit the submission site for the winter or summer meeting at which you intend to present.

Award

The award winners will be announced shortly after the meeting on the AAS website and on AAS social media.

Awardees are honored with a gold-plated brass Chambliss medal (76 mm, 240 g); runners-up, if any, receive a certificate of honorable mention.

The Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Awards do not come with a monetary prize.