Aubrey E. Harvey Award

The Aubrey E. Harvey Graduate Research Award was established by the family and friends of Dr. Harvey in recognition of his contributions to the graduate program at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Harvey was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry specializing in spectroscopic analyses of inorganic molecules. His appointment began as an Associate Professor in 1949 and he was promoted to Professor in 1961. In 1954 he became the Assistant Research Coordinator in the Graduate School, then the Associate Research Coordinator in 1969 and the Coordinator of Research in 1972 until his death in 1977.

The Harvey award is an annual cash award made to the graduate student who has performed the most outstanding research on the Fayetteville campus during the preceeding year. Graduate students who are currently enrolled or who have graduated during summer or fall of the current academic year (and have left the campus at the time of nomination) are eligible. The value of the award is currently $800. The Awards Committee has the discretionary power to divide the award between two recipients or to make no award.

The Awards Committee is charged with careful scrutiny of the work of all nominees and is particularly instructed to ensure that only works of national stature are selected. The competitiveness of a nomination is enhanced by complete and thorough documentation attesting to the significance of the research accomplishments and the independence of the graduate student in his or her performance.

The Committee will consider nominations presented in any appropriate format. Some of the items that would commonly be expected in a nomination would be i) a cover letter presenting information as to the significance of the work, ii) letters of evaluation by recognized authorities in the research area, and iii) copies of such documents as a thesis or dissertation, published papers, editor’s comments, meeting abstracts, etc. As the award is to a graduate student, material submitted should carefully describe the degree of the student’s independence in the conception and performance of the work. The award is based solely on research and is not related to course work performance, and/or effectiveness as a teaching assistant. Involvement in other activities is not of interest and only detracts from the nomination. Only a single copy of the nomination materials is needed and all supporting documentation will be returned to the nominator following presentation of the award.

Nominators must be members in good standing of the University of Arkansas Chapter of Sigma Xi. Nomination materials should be forwarded to the Chapter President. The annual deadline for nominations is March 21.

Nominators are reminded that under conditions of the Harvey Award recipients are required to be members of Sigma Xi. Persons not currently members may be nominated for the award provided that they have been nominated to Society membership during January of that year. If such a nomination is submitted, national regulations specify that the nominator and the seconder must be active members, i.e. have all current dues paid for the preceding calendar year.

Awardees attend the Annual Banquet during the spring semester as guests of the Chapter and it is at this occasion that the award will be presented. Unless the awardee is a student who has already left the campus, attendance at the Banquet is mandatory for the awardee and the nominator. The A.E. Harvey Graduate Research Award recipient will be expected to present a seminar on their research accomplishments to members at the final regularly scheduled meeting in May.