Announcing the 2019 Award Winners

May 29, 2019

Each year, Sigma Xi recognizes distinguished achievements in science and engineering through its Prizes and Awards program. The Society is pleased to announce the 2019 award winners. 

Winners with an asterisk (*) next to their name will be featured speakers at the Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference, which will be held November 14–17 at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Evan Ferguson Award for Service to the Society

The award recognizes outstanding service to the Society and its mission. The recipient will be recognized with her name added to a plaque at Sigma Xi headquarters and a lifetime subscription to American Scientist magazine.

Linda H. Mantel
Retired, Past Member of the Sigma Xi Board of Directors, Past President of the Columbia-Willamette Chapter

Walston Chubb Award for Innovation

The award honors and promotes creativity in science and engineering. It carries a $4,000 honorarium. 

Esther Takeuchi*
Distinguished Professor, The State University of New York
William and Jane Knapp Chair in Energy and the Environment, Stony Brook University
Chief Scientist in the Energy and Photon Sciences Directorate, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Young Investigator Award

The award is available to active Sigma Xi members within 10 years of his or her highest earned degree at the time of the nomination. The honor recognizes excellence in research and includes a certificate of recognition and a $5,000 honorarium. 

Ariana Sutton-Grier*
Associate Research Professor at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland

John P. McGovern Science and Society Award

The award recognizes achievement by a scientist or engineer that transcends their career as a researcher. Recipients of this award represent a broad spectrum of individuals whose varied activities supported research, the communication of science, and the impact of science on society. The award carries an honorarium of $5,000 and a commemorative medal. 

Ashanti Johnson*
CEO/Superintendent of Cirrus Academy, a statewide science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics charter school system in Georgia 
Special Assistant to the President (STEM Initiatives) at Morris Brown College

William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement

The prize is awarded to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to scientific research and has demonstrated an ability to communicate the significance of this research to scientists in other disciplines. The prize consists of a bronze statue, commemorative certificate, and an award of $10,000 from which the Procter prize recipient receives a $5,000 honorarium and designates a younger colleague, usually in the same field of research, to receive a $5,000 award from Sigma Xi’s Grants in Aid of Research program. 

Ben Santer*
Atmospheric Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Gold Key Award

The Gold Key Award is the highest honor bestowed by Sigma Xi. It is presented to a member who has made extraordinary contributions to his or her profession and has fostered critical innovations to enhance the health of the research enterprise, to cultivate integrity in research, or to promote the public understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition. The award is a medal in the shape of the Sigma Xi key. 

Gordon E. Moore
Cofounder of Intel
Cofounder of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

*=Speaker at the Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference