The Office of Graduate Fellowships and Award Administration is pleased to announce that nominations are now being accepted for the 2020 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award.
This award is presented to individuals who have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. Two awards are given annually in two different broad areas on a rotational basis. These areas include: biological sciences; social sciences; mathematics, physical sciences and engineering; and humanities and fine arts.
The 2020 fields of competition will be Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering and Social Sciences:
- Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering: mathematics, statistics, computer sciences, data processing, systems analysis, chemistry, earth sciences, physics, geology, meteorology, astronomy, metallurgy, geophysics, pharmaceutical chemistry, aeronautical, architectural, biomedical, ceramic, chemical, civil, and electrical engineering sciences; environmental health engineering; geological, mechanical, mining, nuclear, and petroleum engineering.
- Social Sciences: agricultural economics, geography, anthropology, archaeology, economics, education, sociology, government (political science), demography, and psychology. Please note that for purposes of this competition, history is classed within the humanities and is not a field of competition for 2020.
If a dissertation is multi- or interdisciplinary in nature, a significant portion of the work must be comprised by at least one of the 2020 fields of competition.
Two awards, each consisting of an award of $2,000 and a certificate of recognition, will be presented at the CGS Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon on December 3, 2020, in Washington, DC. Reasonable travel expenses of the recipients will be covered by CGS.
Penn State nominations are to be submitted via InfoReady no later than May 29, 2020 and will be reviewed by an internal committee. From the pool of nominations, one entry will be selected in each area and forwarded to the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award selection committee for their consideration. Please note that individuals must be nominated for this award by their member institution via The Graduate School. Nominations submitted directly to the Council of Graduate Schools will not be considered.
To be eligible, students must have completed all degree requirements including their dissertations. The effective date of the degree awarded, or the completion of doctoral degree requirements and dissertation, must lie in the period of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020, inclusive. If a nominee is selected as a finalist, the dissertation will need to be in or added to the ProQuest depository.
Please contact the Office of Fellowships and Awards Administration gsfellowships@psu.edu if you should have any questions.
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