This award is given by the ESA National Office to outstanding Ph.D. students. There are six annual awards, one given to a graduate student from each Branch to promote interest in entomology at the graduate level and to support attendance at the ESA annual meeting. Each award consists of an all-expenses-paid trip to the ESA national meeting, a $100 cash prize, and a certificate. Expenses paid include reimbursed airfare, free hotel arrangements and meeting registration, and a per diem allowance. These annual awards are presented during the ESA annual meeting. In addition to the prizes offered by the ESA, SEB will also present the awardee representing SEB a $200 cash prize and an award plaque at the SEB annual meeting.
Eligibility
Nomination Requirements
Evaluation Procedure
Previous Winners
Deadline
Submit a Nomination
Eligibility
The nominee must be a current ESA-SEB student member and have demonstrated excellence in their graduate program, e.g. scholarship, research, teaching, presentations, awards, and extracurricular activities. The student must be pursuing a Ph.D. degree with a major in entomology or not have graduated more than one year prior to presentation of the award; which takes place at the branch meeting. Application for student or regular ESA membership must have been made prior to January 1 of the year the award is granted. An active member returning for graduate study is eligible, if membership status changed from active to student within two years of resuming studies.
Nomination Requirements
Each entomology department or sub-department in the Branch can nominate one student who is eligible. Nominations with supporting information are sent to the ESA-SEB Student Awards Committee Chair.
Nominations must be accompanied by the following information:
- Cover page with the year and name, address, telephone number, and email address of nominee
- Letter of nomination from the department administrator or graduate advisor
- Curriculum vita including the information in the CV Template
- Thesis and dissertation research abstracts (two page limit)
- Letter of Recommendation - written by a graduate faculty member familiar with the student’s work -The letter should evaluate the student’s scholastic achievements and contributions to their institution, research field, and the science of entomology. No additional letters should be included, as they will not be considered.
Evaluation Procedure
Members of the ESA-SEB Student Awards Committee individually evaluate nominees for the John Henry Comstock Award by the deadline. Each committee member submits a ranked list of nominees with evaluations to the committee chair. If there is no clear awardee, the two top-ranked nominees, as averaged from the committee member lists, are reevaluated. Chair determines the awardee and sends the required information to ESA National Office.
Deadline
Nomination packets must be submitted by December 13th annually at 11:59 PM EST. This deadline refers to receipt by the awards administrator of a complete package in a readable format. Therefore, early submission is highly recommended. All submissions must be placed through the Awards submission site.