Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Sponsored jointly by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, these dissertation awards are made annually to individuals who, in the opinion of the Award Committee, have completed dissertations representing original work that make an unusually significant contribution to their disciplines.

UB has been invited to submit one nomination in the field of Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering and one nomination in the field of Social Sciences. A selection committee will decide on the nomination to be put forward from UB for each category.

Two CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, each consisting of an award of $2,000 and a certificate of recognition, will be presented at the CGS Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon in December 2024, in St. Louis, Missouri. Reasonable travel expenses of award recipients will be covered.

There are two broad fields of competition for the 2024 dissertation awards. Under each broad field, we provide a non-inclusive list of fine fields that are considered to belong to the broader fields under consideration.

• Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering: mathematics, statistics, computer sciences, data processing, systems analysis, chemistry, earth sciences, physics, geology, meteorology, astronomy, metallurgy, geophysics, pharmaceutical chemistry; aeronautical, architectural, biomedical, ceramic, chemical, civil and electrical engineering sciences; environmental health engineering; geological, mechanical, mining, nuclear, and petroleum engineering.
• Social Sciences: agricultural economics, geography, anthropology, archaeology, economics, education, sociology, government (political science), demography, and psychology. Please note that for the purposes of this competition, history is classed within the humanities and is not a field of competition this year. There is no call for nominations for this category as the winner of the Outstanding Dissertation Award will be submitted.

If a dissertation is multi- or interdisciplinary in nature, a significant portion of the work must be comprised by at least one of the 2024 fields of competition.

The effective date of the degree awarded, or the completion of doctoral degree requirements and dissertation, must lie in the period of July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024.

This year, the Graduate School is accepting nominations from the following fields of competition:

• Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering

A complete nomination package includes the following four components in the order of:

1. A completed nomination form.
2. An abstract of the nominee's dissertation (not to exceed five double-spaced pages). Appendices containing nontextual material, such as charts or tables, and/or references may be included in additional pages (not to exceed five pages). All pages should be numbered, and each should bear the name of the nominee.
3. Three letters of recommendation evaluating the significance and quality of the nominee's dissertation work. One of these letters is to be from the nominee's dissertation supervisor, another from a member of the nominee's dissertation committee, and the third from a person of the nominee's choice.
4. The nominee's curriculum vitae (not to exceed five pages).