SfN, the Grass Foundation Establish Endowments for Lecture, Award

Washington, D.C. – Cementing a 47-year partnership dedicated to advancing the neuroscience research community, the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and the Grass Foundation have established two endowments to ensure long-term support for the Albert and Ellen Grass Lecture and the Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience.

“We are grateful to the Grass Foundation for these very significant commitments to support the Grass Lecture and Lindsley Prize in perpetuity,” said SfN President Diane Lipscombe. “It is so meaningful, as a community, to be able to celebrate preeminence in neuroscience and also to recognize the accomplishments of neuroscientists at the start of their careers. These awards serve to both highlight and to motivate outstanding neuroscience; past, present and future.”

The relationship between SfN and the Grass Foundation began in 1972 with the establishment of the Albert and Ellen Grass Lecture. Named after the two founders of the Grass Foundation, the lecture by a prominent neuroscientist is one of the most prestigious and well-attended events during the SfN annual meeting.

Since 1979, the Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience is an award presented immediately preceding the Albert and Ellen Grass Lecture. Named after one of the first researchers to study the brain using electroencephalography (EEG), the award recognizes a young neuroscientist’s outstanding PhD thesis in the general area of behavioral neuroscience. Some past awardees include Robert Sapolsky, Lizabeth M. Romanski, Michael Brainard, and more recently Bianca Jones Marlin.

“The Grass Foundation is excited to be celebrating our long-standing partnership with SfN by establishing these two endowments during SfN’s 50th anniversary year,” said Grass Foundation President Catherine Carr. “We believe our long-term commitment to supporting these events will enrich the neuroscience community for many years to come.”

The two Grass Foundation-supported endowments represent the largest SfN-managed endowment from a single partner. SfN manages four other endowments that each support an award presented at the annual meeting: the Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Mentoring supported by Bernice Grafstein, PhD; The Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience supported by The Swartz Foundation; the Julius Axelrod Prize supported by the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation; and the Jacob P. Waletzky Award supported by the Jacob P. Waletzky Memorial Prize Fund and the Waletzky Family. A fifth endowment, the Nancy Rutledge Zahniser Fund, supports up to five Trainee Professional Development Awards each year.