Overview
For the awards, all nomination materials, including reference letters, must reach the appropriate awards committee Chair by email by either the March 1st or October 1st deadline, as indicated for each award, each year. Self-nomination is not permitted for most awards.
For the awards evaluated by the NTC Awards Committee, (i.e., the Pioneer, Early Career, Distinguished Service, and Chapter of the Year awards), anyone can nominate candidates.
Nominations for all other awards must come from individuals belonging to specific NTC groups or activities and be submitted to the award nomination contact for each award.
Nominations
Nominees must be IEEE members, (except for the T-NANO and IEEE Nanotechnology Magazine (INM) Best Paper Awards.) The NTC Award Eligibility and Selection processes comply with the procedures and regulations established in IEEE and Society/Council governing documents, particularly with IEEE Policy 4.4 on Awards Limitations, which require that previous award winners are not eligible for substantially the same achievements. (IEEE Policies 4.4: An individual shall receive only one award for a given achievement, unless the significance merits a higher award, which may be given in the following year or thereafter.) In some cases, the nominee must (also) be a NTC "participant."
In all cases, the nominations and supporting documents are reviewed by an Awards Evaluation Committee. The Chair and committee members must be IEEE members and have the highest professional qualifications (preferably IEEE Fellow status). Additionally, committee compositions must reflect geographic, gender and technical diversity, ("technical" as per the NTC areas of interest.) In general, the Committee Chair is appointed by the President, with advice from the appropriate Vice-President, (Publications, Technical Activities or Education,) or the Nominations & Appointments Chair (for the NTC Awards Committee.) The Evaluation Committee chairs then form the committees with Presidential approval. These committees generally consist of the Chair plus three members, governed by Roberts' Rules of Order. Specifically, two constitutes a quorum and the Chair has no vote unless by secret ballot or if the vote can change the outcome. Term limits for both committee members and chairs are one year, renewable for a second year at most, (except for the NTC Awards Committee.)
Conflict of Interest
Conflict of Interest (COI) concerns must be disclosed and addressed in accordance with IEEE Policies 9.9 A, B. and C. Any real and perceived COI shall be avoided. Anyone with a COI shall recuse themselves from nominating, endorsing, discussing, and evaluating. Individuals serving on any board or committee involved at any stage of the recipient selection or approval process for an award shall be ineligible to receive, or act as a nominator or reference for that award. NTC Executive Committee (ExCom) members cannot serve on Award Evaluation Committees, or participate in the final ExCom approval discussion of any award for which they were the nominator, provided a reference, or are a potential recipient, in accordance with these COI rules.
Evaluation Committee Procedures
The Evaluation Committee procedures follow. Each member of the Committee evaluates each nomination on all criteria specified for the award on the basis of the importance and relevance to nanotechnology-based communities across the entire nanotechnology field. The range of the score by each member of the committee is from 0 to 5. The Chair generates a scoring table (with averages) for each nomination to be distributed to the members of the Committee. The Committee considers the scoring table of each nomination and ranks the top 3 candidates by majority decision. (The Committee Chair does not vote, except to break ties.) Upon completion of this process, the Committee Chair sends the ranked list to the NTC ExCom for its consideration and final approval of the award at its Spring (February or May) or Fall (November) meeting.
Presentation
All awards are presented by the NTC President (or his/her delegate) at the Award Ceremony at the annual IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology (NANO) banquet (except for Best Chapter.) Early Career and Pioneer Awardees must attend and other Awardees (or at least one representative for group awards) are expected to attend to receive their award, but no travel or accommodation support is provided. (In unusual circumstances, the award might be the award can be deferred for one year or awarded by mutual agreement at the IEEE Nano-Materials and Devices Conference (NMDC) instead.)
