DPF Meenakshi Narain Mentoring Award Grant

DPF Meenakshi Narain Mentoring Award Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: American Physical Society (APS)
Amount: US $5,000
Last Updated: March 11, 2026

Summary

The DPF Meenakshi Narain Mentoring Award, established by the American Physical Society, honors exceptional mentorship in particle physics. Inaugurated in 2015 and dedicated in 2023, it recognizes contributions from mentors who impact early career physicists, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. The award includes a $5,000 monetary prize and a certificate, with travel expenses for the ceremony covered. This initiative boosts mentorship and acknowledges significant contributions to the field.

Overview

The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. The Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) of the American Physical Society established an award in 2015 to honor exceptional mentoring, broadly defined, in particle physics and to be bestowed annually. This award was dedicated in honor of Prof. Meenakshi Narain in 2023. With the generous support of colleagues and family, and a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation, an endowment in honor of Meenakshi Narain has been established to provide a monetary prize for the mentoring award beginning with the 2023 award. This APS Unit Award is intended to recognize DPF members who have had an exceptional impact as mentors of particle physics scientists and students. This mentoring could be through teaching or research or science-related activities and is meant to recognize current achievements as well as those spanning a career. The award consists of a certificate indicating the citation chosen by the selection committee, to be awarded at the next DPF Meeting, and a monetary prize of $5,000. The endowment will also reimburse reasonable travel expenses for travel to the award ceremony.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Examples of contributions honored by this award include:Exceptional mentoring of early career particle physicists;Sustained commitment to mentoring early career particle physicists from traditionally under-represented backgrounds;A leadership role in developing early career research and career development activities. You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member.