Deadline: August 18, 2023

The SIMB Diversity Travel Award has been established to promote diversity and to increase the participation of underrepresented minority groups in the Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) amongst the graduate students making presentations at the RAFT® Meeting. Recipients of this award must be:

• A U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• A female and/or an underrepresented minority (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander)
• A current graduate student or a graduate student at the time the abstract was submitted
• The presenting author of an abstract accepted for presentation (poster or oral session) at the RAFT® Meeting.

Each winner receives a certificate, $500 to help cover travel to the meeting and a one-year student membership in SIMB. The awards will be presented by the President of SIMB at the Meeting Banquet and the winners will be recognized at the Diversity Session. Attendance at the RAFT® Meeting Meeting is required for receiving this award. Should an awardee be unable to attend the RAFT® Meeting, the award will be presented to an alternate previously identified by the committee who also meets the criteria. Award winners are not eligible to apply for this award again.

Deadline: August 18, 2023

Initiated in 2015, the David Perlman Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the area of Industrial Fermentation, Process Development and/or Manufacturing. They should be visionaries, exhibit leadership qualities, and have pioneered efforts in industrial microbiology and/or biotechnology. While desirable, a strong publication or patent record is not to be used as the sole criteria for selection of the award winner since industrial “How To” publications are limited. For this award, “Excellence” should be defined, at least in part, as focused on the process and its commercial success. Also for the purpose of this award, Fermentation is broadly defined as “bioprocessing”, to include the use of cells (or enzymes and other subcellular entities and organelles) regardless of source, e.g. bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, mammalian, insect, etc., living or not, free or immobilized and “green technology” including retrofitting existing processes (organisms or enzymes) and de novo bioprocesses to achieve greater environmental sustainability.

Successful candidates are required to present a plenary lecture at the RAFT® Meeting and the President must explain that with the notification. The award consists of a plaque and an honorarium of $1000 which will be presented at the bi-annual RAFT® Meeting sponsored by the SOCIETY. The awardee’s travel, meeting registration, meals and hotel expenses will be reimbursed by the SOCIETY. In the event that no nominations are received or if the nominees are judged to be unqualified either by the awards committee or the BOD, then no award will be given.