The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award is presented by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy to scientists and engineers, at mid-career, for exceptional contributions to the development, use, control, or production of energy in basic and applied research supporting the Department of Energy and its mission to advance the national, economic and energy security of the United States. (This is broadly interpreted as encompassing all science and technology supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and its programs.)

Nominations for the Lawrence Award are solicited annually in each of the following seven fields:

The nomination materials will be peer reviewed by panels representing each of the above seven categories. If worthy candidates are identified in the peer review, a selection recommendation will be forwarded to the Secretary of Energy. The final selection of any awardees is made at the discretion of the Secretary of Energy.

Recipients must be in the middle of their careers (defined as within 20 years of receiving their terminal degree, typically a Ph.D. or M.D.).
The award is given for an outstanding contribution of an exceptionally creative or innovative character. Such achievements typically (i) demonstrate significant innovation and discovery; (ii) are identifiable as transformative; (iii) hold prominent scientific or technical leadership; and are (iv) distinguishable from an evolutionary collection of steady, long-term, career-integrated contributions.
Recipients must be citizens of the United States.
Recipients are recognized only for achievement in research principally funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Individuals nominated will be judged primarily on the scientific impact and technical significance of their work relative to its discipline and/or related mission.
Business management and stewardship acumen, while valued, is not a significant qualification factor used when evaluating a nominee’s worthiness.

Nomination is made by a letter of justification, a statement explaining the nominee’s connection to DOE support, a separate bibliography comprising no more than five significant publications related to the achievement, and a curriculum vitae. Please omit any secondary publications and non-archival materials from this bibliography. Do not include complete articles by the nominee.

Indicate clearly the category in which the person is being nominated (Chemistry, Materials Research, Environmental Science and Technology, Life Sciences, Nuclear Technologies (Fission and Fusion), National Security and Non-Proliferation, High Energy and Nuclear Physics). Please also note that any individual’s nomination is limited to a single category.

A nomination must be accompanied by at least three and not more than six letters of support from individuals who are familiar with the work.

A suggested citation, thirty-five words or less, summarizing and highlighting the nominee’s achievement, must be submitted. The citation should make clear the specific reason for making this award to the nominee. The award citation may be based on this summary.

Submission of all nomination materials, including letters of support, in PDF format, is made online at http://www.orau.gov/lawrence. This nomination system enables browsing, selection and uploading of previously prepared files and includes an automated solicitation feature for the required letters of support.

Nomination materials and support letters for the 2009 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Awards are due by April 1, 2009. No materials will be accepted after the submission deadline has passed.

Call for Nominations

When issued, a call for Lawrence Award nominations is publicized by the U.S. Department of Energy and its programs through a news release and outreach to the basic and applied research and development communities at National Laboratories, universities, and scientific professional societies.
Questions about the E.O. Lawrence Award may be
addressed to lawrence.award@science.doe.gov.

Merit Review and Selection

To be considered for selection, a nominee must meet all eligibility criteria and have a nomination package comprising all required nomination materials. To assess eligibility, a review of all nomination packages will be conducted by the Office of Science, Lawrence Award Program Manager (or designee). The nomination materials uploaded and received through the electronic submission process will provide the sole basis for the reviews. Only those nominees meeting all such requirements will be advanced for merit review.

Merit Review

The merit review will comprise a thorough, consistent, and objective examination of applicants based on pre-established criteria by persons, selected by Federal Officials, who are independent of the nominees and who are knowledgeable in the field of endeavor for which the nomination is made. There will be a separate review panel for each award category. The identity of all reviewers shall remain anonymous, and all nomination and review materials shall remain confidential. All merit reviewers serve as evaluators and their recommendations are not binding. Each nominee will be evaluated by no fewer than three reviewers. Based upon the selection criteria, the merit reviewers shall document each nominee’s strengths and weaknesses and express reservations or qualifications, as necessary. As part of their evaluation, each reviewer within a panel shall also provide their overall assessment of the nominees in the form of a rank ordering. The review panel members must utilize PeerNet® to document their findings and when making their evaluations. After the members of a given review panel have completed their initial evaluations, the DOE program official responsible for the merit review will convene a meeting of the review panel to discuss their findings. At the conclusion of the meeting, the members of the review panel will have an opportunity to revise their individual evaluations, if appropriate, but a panel wide process to achieve a consensus nominee ranking shall not be permitted. Reviewers with a conflict of interest may not participate in the merit review of a nominee. DOE employees must comply with regulations governing conduct of employees codified in 10 CFR Part 1010 and Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch at 5 CFR Part 2635.

Selection Criteria

The award is given for an outstanding contribution of an exceptionally creative or innovative character. Such achievements typically (i) demonstrate significant innovation and discovery; (ii) are identifiable as transformative; (iii) hold prominent scientific or technical leadership; and are (iv) distinguishable from an evolutionary collection of steady, long-term, career-integrated contributions. The nominee will be judged primarily on the scientific impact and technical significance of their work relative to its discipline and/or related mission*, using the following criteria:

Consider, for example, the influence that the achievement has had on the direction, progress, and thinking in relevant scientific and technological fields of research and/or mission area. How has the achievement generated and fostered new valuable results; how does the scientific/technical innovation and originality rank with respect to its field; what impact has the discovery had on DOE mission areas and how is it identifiable with the DOE and its components?

Consider, for example, the impact, quantity and quality of the body of cited work, patents, or widespread application that directly resulted from the nominee’s achievement. Has the achievement been recognized through other notable awards received by the nominee or others working in the same or related discipline?

*(Business management and stewardship acumen, while valued, is not a significant qualification factor used when evaluating a nominee’s worthiness.)

Federal Officials will review the nomination packages and the reviewer’s final evaluations, summarize each reviewer’s independent evaluation of, and recommendation regarding, the nominations submitted. For each award category, the Federal Officials will prepare a detailed analysis summarizing the relative strengths and weaknesses of each nominee provided by each reviewer. Using this analysis, the Federal Officials will prepare a Selection Statement identifying those nominees, if any, being recommended for an award. The Selection Statement will document the rationale supporting the recommendations. The final selection of any awardees is made at the discretion of the Secretary of Energy.

Nomination Materials Preparation

In this section, please find some suggestions regarding the content for the nomination and supporting letters. Given the breadth of the award categories, these suggestions are notional, and the actual format and content (aside from the required eligibility information) is solely at the discretion of the individual authors. Overall, the nomination materials should convey a clear and concise message of worthiness (in context of the selection criteria) to the review committee. Make sure that the factual content of the materials can readily be used to conduct a clear, uniform, and unbiased review. It is useful to clearly identify the nominee’s connection to DOE support. The submitted nomination materials will provide the sole basis for the reviews. Please note that detailed contact information for the authors selected to submit supporting letters is required when making the nomination application.

Nomination

In the nomination letter, please make clear, as concretely as possible, the major scientific/technological results that the candidate has produced and what their subsequent impact has been.

Supporting Letter

In general, the supporting letter should reflect and reinforce the nomination, serving to add perspective and context, as appropriate. Please outline the candidate's major scientific/technological results, and describe where and how they have had an impact. Briefly identifying how you know the nominee and their work is also beneficial.

Curriculum Vitae