The R. G. “Bob” Boutilier New Investigator Award is to encourage and honor CSZ members within seven years of receiving their first academic or professional appointment. The individual must have made significant contributions to zoology (defined broadly) and to be considered a “rising star” in their field.
Terms of Reference
Objectives
The R. G. Boutilier New Investigator Award is to encourage and honor CSZ members within seven years of receiving their first academic or professional appointment. Additional time past seven years may be granted by the selection committee for non-sabbatical leaves of absence if adequate justification is provided by the nominator.
Award
A scroll and a cash award or reimbursement of expenses not to exceed $1000. The individual will be requested to make a Plenary presentation at the annual conference the year of their selection.
Source of Prize
Funded through CSZ general revenues.
Frequency of Availability
Maximum of one per year. This award will not necessarily be made each year.
Nomination Procedures
Nominations/Applications are to be made to the Chair of the Recognition Committee (the Past-President).
A nominee/Applicant must be a CSZ Regular Member in good standing at the time of their nomination.
Nominations can be made by a Regular CSZ member or by the Chairs of the CSZ Sections. If by a Section Chair, discussions should be undertaken at their May Section Meeting and only one Section nominee per year will be accepted. All nominations/applications will be held for one additional year only, irrespective of the continued eligibility of the nominee/applicant (although a fresh nomination/application may be submitted if the nominee/applicant is still eligible). A Section may make a new nomination each year, regardless of whether a previous nomination remains in the competition. Any eligible CSZ member may apply for the award without a separate nominator.
A complete nomination file will be submitted by the nominator, and include:
A letter from the nominator (either an individual or Section Chair) regarding the reasons for the nomination,
An up to date CV of the nominee, and
Letters in support of the nomination from no more than three individuals other than the nominator.
For applications, the applicant shall
Submit a letter outlining their application and highlighting their suitability for the award, and the names and contact details of the writers of the letters of support,
Submit an up-to-date CV, and
Request that up to four letters of support be forwarded to the Chair of the Recognition Committee; the Chair is under no obligation to follow up letters that are not submitted on time.
Candidate packages for evaluation should clearly explain how the applicant meets one or more of the criteria below:
1. The quality and significance of the individual’s contributions to their field, which could include any of the following:
Peer reviewed articles, text books, monographs, government reports
Contributions to policy development and implementation
Invitations to speak at conferences and other venues
Evidence of novel findings that change the field
Evidence of pioneering new methodologies, or new approaches that show significant promise in advancing the field
Evidence that the nominee has played a critical intellectual role in the case of collaborative work.
Evidence that the individual is a “rising star” and that their contributions are becoming more significant
2. Leadership in their sub-discipline
Membership and/or leadership in societies or organizations promoting their field
Journal editing roles, e.g. collation of journal Special Issues
Independence as a researcher
3. HQP training
Evidence of training and mentorship through co-authorship and through success of trainees in diverse roles (including academia, government, administration, education and outreach)
4. Outreach
Examples of effective outreach to and through science and lay venues
Evidence of a culture of communication of their discipline to venues beyond scientific publications
Application Deadline
Review of applications will begin June 1.
Awardees
2023 – Ken Jeffries, University of Manitoba. Using transcriptomics to understand the effects of environmental stress on aquatic ectotherms.
2022 – Em Standen, University of Ottawa. Constraint and resilience: a study in animal motion.
2021 – Erika Eliason, University of California, Santa Barbara. The beauty and the heartbreak of studying Pacific salmon.
2020 – Kyle Elliot, McGill University. Energetics as a basis for movement ecoloy.
2019 – Carol Bucking, York University. Using integrative and comparative approaches to understand the ecophysiology of digestion in fish.
2018 – Stephanie J. Dewitte-Orr, Wilfrid Laurier University. Modulating innate antiviral immunity at the cellular level using double-stranded RNA in rainbow trout.
2017 – Graham Scott, McMaster University. Living the high life: integrative functional mechanisms of high-altitude adaptation.
2016 – Jay Treberg, University of Manitoba. From environmental challenge to electron transfer efficiency and back again: metabolism at the centre of it all.
2015 – Keith B. Tierney, University of Alberta. How aquatic vertebrates cope with ever changing environments.
2013 – Chris Martyniuk, University of New Brunswick. Generation Omics: Hip or hype for exploration of vertebrate reproduction.
2012 – Suraj Unniappan, York Univiersity. Neuroendocrine regulation of energy homeostasis: nesfatin-1 – from genes to physiology.
2011 – Ryan Norris, University of Guelph. Linking periods of the annual cycle in migratory animals.
2010 – Brent Sinclair, University of Western Ontario.
2009 – Jeff Richards, University of British Columbia.
2008 – Glenn Tattersall, Brock University.
2007 – T. Ryan Gregory, University of Guelph. The evolution of genomes at large.
2006 – Armando Jardim, Institute of Parasitology. Molecular escorts: getting nascent polypeptides to their organelles.
2005 – Martin Grosell, University of Miami. Intestinal anion exchange – a novel aspect of marine teleost osmoregulation.
2004 – Matt M. Vijayan, University of Waterloo. Stress axis in fish: mechanisms of action and inaction.
2002 – Greg Goss, University of Alberta. Of pHish and pHrogs: Regulation of pH in animals.