Professional Awards
One of the aims of Iota Sigma Pi is to provide recognition to outstanding women in chemistry. Scroll down this page to read a summary of each award. Click on the titles below to download a description of each award and the cover page in Microsoft Word.
All nomination dossiers should be sent by the nominator to the Director of Professional Awards ispncprofessionalawards@gmail.com.
National Honorary Member
This is the highest honor that Iota Sigma Pi bestows on outstanding women chemists. This is a triennial award.
Criteria
The award is for exceptional and significant achievement in chemistry or an allied field of such nature as to merit international recognition. The nominee may be, but need not be, a member of Iota Sigma Pi. The award will be presented in 2026, but selected in 2025.
Conditions
Each active chapter shall be entitled to make one nomination. Individual members or chemists or groups of chemists may make independent nominations, if properly documented.
Dossier
The nomination dossier must contain:
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Brief biography, emphasizing significant contributions to chemistry and allied fields
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CV/resume including:
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educational background
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professional background (position held, dates, etc.)
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membership in professional societies
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area of specialization or research
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honors, awards, citations, etc.
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a list of publications
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other significant accomplishments
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Letters of recommendation from nominator and seconder
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Other supportive information (optional)
Cover Page
This form (attached) must be the cover page for all submitted dossiers.
Application Due Date
One copy of the nomination dossier must be sent electronically (preferably as a pdf) to the Director of Professional Awards at ispncprofessionalawards@gmail.com. Dossier should be sent by the nominator. Deadline for receipt of nominations is May 1, 2025.
Award
The recipient will be selected by the Professional Awards Committee and notified by July 15, 2025. The Award will consist of $2000, a certificate, and membership in Iota Sigma Pi with a lifetime waiver of dues.
Presentation
The award certificate will be presented at the Iota Sigma Pi Triennial Convention in 2026. The award recipient is expected to attend the Awards Banquet and to present a summary of her work at the National Convention in 2026. In rare cases, exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Director for Professional Awards and the President of Iota Sigma Pi.
Violet Diller Professional Excellence Award
The award is for outstanding contribution to chemistry and allied fields by a woman. This is a triennial award.
Violet Diller was a member of Radium Chapter. She served as National Treasurer of Iota Sigma Pi for two terms from 1969 to 1975. She then became the National President from 1975-1978 and Past President 1978-1981.
Criteria
Nominees will be judged on the significance of their accomplishments in academic, governmental, or industrial chemistry, in education, in administration, or in a combination of these areas. Achievements may include innovation design, development, application, or promotion of a principle or practice which has widespread significance to the scientific community or society on a national level. The nominee may be, but need not be, a member of Iota Sigma Pi. The award will be presented in 2026, but selected in 2025.
Conditions
Each active chapter shall be entitled to make one nomination, but individual members or chemists or groups of chemists may make independent nominations, if properly documented.
Dossier
The nomination dossier must contain:
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Brief biography of the candidate, emphasizing all significant contributions to chemistry and allied fields (refer to the above criteria)
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CV/resume, including:
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educational background
-
professional background (position held, dates, etc.)
-
membership in professional societies
-
area of specialization or research
-
honors, awards, citations, etc.
-
a list of publications
-
other significant accomplishments
-
-
Letters of recommendation from nominator and seconder
-
Other supportive information (optional)
Cover Page
This form (attached) must be the cover page for all submitted dossiers.
Application Due Date
One copy of the nomination dossier must be sent electronically (preferably as a pdf) to the Director of Professional Awards at ispncprofessionalawards@gmail.com. Dossier should be sent by the nominator. Deadline for receipt of nominations is May 1, 2025.
Award
The recipient will be selected by the Professional Awards Committee and notified by July 15, 2025. The Award will consist of $1500, a certificate, and membership in Iota Sigma Pi with a lifetime waiver of dues.
Presentation
The award certificate will be presented at the Iota Sigma Pi Triennial Convention in 2026. The award recipient is expected to attend the Awards Banquet and to present a summary of her work at the National Convention. In rare cases, exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Director for Professional Awards and the President of Iota Sigma Pi.
Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award
The nomination shall be for research achievement, and the specific research for which the candidate is named must be designated by the nominators. This is awarded annually.
Agnes Fay Morgan was a founding member of Iota Sigma Pi, a member of (Hydrogen Chapter, and the first national Permanent Historian from 1927 until her death in 1968. She earned the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry at the University of Chicago and spent most of her professional life at the University of California at Berkeley, from 1915 until her retirement in 1954. She organized there the first department of Home Economics and remained its chairman from 1918 to 1954. Her teaching and research dealt with the chemistry of foods and nutrition, particularly with the distribution and functions of vitamins and their interrelationships with hormones. The effect of heat and other denaturing processes on proteins was first reported by her, as well as the relationship of pantothenic acid to adrenal function. She was long concerned with the development of food and nutrition research in the Agricultural Experiment Stations and was one of the organizers of the regional cooperative research projects.
Dr. Morgan received the Garvin Medal from the American Chemical Society in 1949, the Borden Award from the American Institute of Nutrition in 1954, and Fellowship in that institute in 1959. In 1954, Dr. Morgan received the ΙΣΠ National Honorary Member Award. She was elected Faculty Research Lecturer on the Berkeley campus in 1951 and received the LL.D. degree from the University of California in 1959. In 1961 the Regents of the University of California named the Nutritional Sciences laboratory at Berkeley the Agnes Fay Morgan Hall. She died in 1968.
Criteria
The field must be chemistry or biochemistry. The nominee shall be a woman chemist or biochemist not over forty years of age (less than 41) at the time of her nomination. The nominee may be, but need not be, a member of Iota Sigma Pi.
Conditions
Each chapter shall be entitled to make one nomination, but individual members or chemists or groups of chemists may make independent nominations, if properly documented.
Dossier
The nomination dossier must contain:
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Biography of the candidate, including date of birth and a description of research achievement, indicating the specific research for which the candidate is being nominated, and the significance of the research
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CV/resume, including a list of publications
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Letters of recommendation from nominator and seconder
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Other supportive information (optional)
Cover Page
This form (attached) must be the cover page for all submitted dossiers.
Application Due Date
One copy of the nomination dossier must be sent electronically (preferably as a pdf) to the Director of Professional Awards at ispncprofessionalawards@gmail.com. Dossier should be sent by the nominator. Deadline for receipt of nominations is February 15 of each year. and the award will be announced by April 15 of each year.
Award
The award will be announced by April 15 of each year. The award will consist of $1000, a certificate, and membership in Iota Sigma Pi with a waiver of dues for one year.
Presentation
The award certificate will be presented at the Iota Sigma Pi Triennial Convention in 2023. The award recipient is expected to participate in the Convention, to attend the Awards Banquet at Convention, and to present a summary of her work at the National Convention. In rare cases, exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Director for Professional Awards and the President of Iota Sigma Pi.
Centennial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
This award is given for excellence in teaching chemistry, biochemistry, or a chemistry-related field by a women scientist whose primary duties are teaching undergraduates. This is awarded annually.
Criteria
The Award is given to a female educator for excellence in teaching chemistry or a chemistry-related discipline at an institution of higher learning who either (a) holds a teaching position at an institution that does not have a graduate program in her department or (b) holds a teaching position that is for teaching undergraduates > 75% of her time at an institution that does have a graduate program in her department. The nominee may be, but need not be, a member of Iota Sigma Pi.
Conditions
Each chapter shall be entitled to make one nomination, but individual members or chemists or groups of chemists may make independent nominations, if properly documented.
Dossier
The nomination dossier must contain:
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CV/resume that contains educational background, teaching experience and accomplishments and any outreach activities
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Letters of recommendation from nominator and seconder
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Additional letters of support from students are encouraged
Cover Page
This form (attached here) must be the cover page for all submitted dossiers.
Application Due Date
One copy of the nomination dossier must be sent electronically (preferably as a pdf) to the Director of Professional Awards at ispncprofessionalawards@gmail.com. Dossier should be sent by the nominator. Deadline for receipt of nominations is February 15 of each year.
Award
The award will be announced by April 15 of each year. The award will consist of $1000, a certificate, and membership in Iota Sigma Pi with a waiver of dues for one year.
Presentation
The award certificate will be presented at the Iota Sigma Pi Triennial Convention in 2023. The award recipient is expected to participate in the Convention, to attend the Awards Banquet at Convention, and to present a summary of her work at the National Convention. In rare cases, exceptions may be made at the discretion of the Director for Professional Awards and the President of Iota Sigma Pi.