Young Investigator Award
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
Young Investigator Award Selection Committee
Chairperson | Term Ends |
---|---|
King, Jean A
Worcester Polytechnic Institute |
12/31/2026 |
Members | |
---|---|
Borrelli, Emiliana
Univ California Irvine |
12/31/2023 |
Behrmann, Marlene
University of Pittsburgh |
12/31/2023 |
Stern-Bach, Yael
Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
12/31/2023 |
Chen, Lu
|
12/31/2024 |
Gradinaru, Viviana
Caltech |
12/31/2025 |
Groc, Laurent
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique |
12/31/2025 |
Hofer, Sonja B
University College London |
12/31/2025 |