Young Investigator Award

Submissions Open: Mar 28, 2023, 08:00 AM, EST

Submissions Close: May 18, 2023, 05:00 PM, EST

Michael Yartsev, PhD, of the University of California Berkeley was awarded the Young Investigator Award in 2022.

The Young Investigator Award, supported by Sunovion, recognizes the outstanding achievements and contributions by a early career neuroscientist who has demonstrated scholarly independence.

Recipients receive a $15,000 award and complimentary registration, transportation (economy air or ground), and two nights hotel accommodations for the SfN annual meeting. The SfN president presents the prize at a lecture at the meeting.

For more information, please review the Awards and Prizes FAQs.

Nomination Criteria & Materials

Nomination Criteria:

Nominations must be made or endorsed by an SfN member.
Nominees do not need to be SfN members.
Self-nomination is not permitted.
No person may nominate more than one candidate.
Current SfN officers and councilors are ineligible for nomination.
Due to the potential conflicts of interest, members of the selection committee may not be the nominees and they cannot serve as nominators nor write letters of recommendation.

Nomination materials include the following:

One nomination letter and a maximum of two optional letters of recommendation

One must be from the nominee's current or previous mentor

Current CV, including date on which the advanced degree was awarded
A list of up to five of the nominee's most important published papers

Eligibility

Nominees must be actively engaged in research at the time the award is given.
Nominees must show evidence of heading an independent research laboratory.
Nominees must have received a PhD or MD (or equivalent) within the past 10 years.*
Post-docs are ineligible.

*Time taken off for child-rearing does not count in these totals. Part-time work and other special circumstances are evaluated at the discretion of the committee.

Past Awardees

2022: Michael Yartsev, PhD
2021: Nuo Li, PhD
2020: Viviana Gradinaru, PhD, and Weizhe Hong, PhD
2019: Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD
2018: Lisa Giocomo, PhD; Christopher Harvey, PhD
2017: Vivek Jayaraman, PhD
2016: Kay M. Tye, PhD
2015: Edward Boyden, PhD; Nachum Ulanovsky, PhD
2014: Diana Bautista, PhD; Feng Zhang, PhD
2013: Randy M. Bruno, PhD
2012: Rui M. Costa, DVM, PhD; Guo-li Ming, MD, PhD
2011: Loren Frank, PhD; Anatol Kreitzer, PhD
2010: Rachel Wilson, PhD
2009: Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD
2008: Bernardo Sabatini, MD, PhD; Hongjun Song, PhD
2007: Ricardo Dolmetsch, PhD; Michael Ehlers, PhD
2006: Ardem Patapoutian, PhD; Kimberly McAllister, PhD
2005: Takao Hensch, PhD
2004: Karel Svoboda, PhD
2003: David Bredt, MD, PhD
2002: Liqun Luo, PhD; Rafael Yuste, MD, PhD
2001: R. Clay Reid, MD, PhD; Anirvan Ghosh, PhD
2000: Earl K. Miller, PhD
1999: Morgan H. Sheng, PhD
1998: David J. Linden, PhD
1997: Marc Tessier-Lavigne, PhD
1996: William Zagotta, PhD
1995: Jeremy Nathans, MD, PhD; Susan K. McConnell, PhD
1994: Larry C. Katz, PhD; Daniel V. Madison, PhD
1993: Mark F. Bear, PhD; Robert C. Malenka, MD, PhD
1992: Robert M. Sapolsky, PhD; Susan G. Amara, PhD
1991: Dennis D. M. O'Leary, PhD; Richard L. Huganir, PhD
1990: Stephen E. Petersen, PhD
1989: Mark L. Mayer, PhD
1988: Richard W. Aldrich, PhD
1987: Jeff W. Lichtman, MD, PhD
1986: Stephen G. Lisberger, PhD
1985: J. Anthony Movshon, PhD; Carla J. Shatz, PhD
1984: Eric Knudsen, PhD; R. Scheller, PhD
1983: Martha Constantine-Paton, PhD