SABER is excited to announce the new Excellence in Biology Education Research Early Faculty Award. This award will be given annually to a junior faculty member who is a member of SABER in recognition of their distinguished contributions to biology education research. The award is intended to recognize excellence in biology education research and promote junior faculty who are contributing to the discipline. The awardee will receive a $500 honorarium.

We are grateful to Jeremy Hsu and Codon Learning for providing the seed funding for this award.

For the 2025 competition, only self-nominations will be accepted. In future years, we anticipate accepting both self-nominations as well as nominations made by others. 

Award nomination submission deadline: June 20, 2025

Eligibility:

The applicant must:

• Be a junior faculty member. Junior faculty is defined as someone who holds 1) a faculty position at the rank of assistant professor or equivalent, 2) has never held a rank above assistant professor (or equivalent), 3) has held their current rank for less than 8 years, and 4) whose tenure and/or promotion portfolio is not being reviewed internally by their institution (or whose tenure and/or promotion decision has not been announced yet) at the time of the application deadline. 

• Be a member of SABER and have held SABER membership for at least three of the past four years.

• Have been a first, co-first or senior author on at least two presentations at national and/or regional SABER conferences in the past four years.

• Have a record of peer-reviewed biology education research publications.

• Not be a past winner of the Excellence in Biology Education Research Early Faculty Award. Applicants not selected for the award may re-submit while eligible.

Nomination documents:

Applicants will submit the following:

1. Completed application form
2. A curriculum vitae (no more than 15 pages)
3. A research statement (no more than three pages, excluding references) that documents the applicant’s contributions to biology education research. This statement should also describe the significance, importance, and impact of their work. Candidates are encouraged to review the scoring rubric when writing their statements.
4. A statement (no more than one page) that describes the applicant’s responsibilities and institutional context and provides context for their contributions in biology education research. Candidates are encouraged to review the scoring rubric when writing their statements. The applicant should include the following information:    
   • Teaching load for each year of their employment (number of courses per year, number of students per class, number of teaching assistants per class, types of classes (labs, majors, non-majors, upper or lower division)
   • Percent of time allocated to research
   • If they have graduate programs in biology/biology education research at their institution (or any involvement with graduate students in biology education research)
   • If they have mentored postdoctoral scholars in the past 
   • If they have mentored undergraduate students in biology education research and how many each year.
5. A list of people within the biology education research community that would constitute a conflict of interest for the selection committee, as per the criteria listed below. 

1. The member is applying for the award.
2. The member is at the same institution or is in consideration for a position at the same institution of any of the applicants.
3. The member is a family member, partner, or close friend of any of the applicants.
4. The member is a current research collaborator with any of the applicants.
5. The member has published articles with any of the applicants within the last 48 months.
6. The member serves or served as a mentee with or mentor for any of the applicants (including at the undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral levels).

Award nomination submission deadline: June 20, 2025

Submit a Nomination