The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) are pleased to announce a call for nominations in the third edition of the Polish-American Scientific Award (PLUS).

The aim of the award is to strengthen and emphasize the benefits of cooperation between scientists in Poland and the United States. The award is presented to a pair of scientists — one working in Poland, the other in the USA — for their outstanding scientific achievements that are the result of their cooperation.

To be eligible for the award a scientist must be nominated. All active members of the Polish or American scientific community (including business R&D) can nominate a candidate. It is also permissible to self-nominate. The award can be presented in all realms of science, excluding the arts. The award is in the sum of $5,000 for each laureate.

Each nomination shall refer jointly to a team of research collaborators, one member working in Poland and one member working in the United States, regardless of their nationality.

Nominations should contain the following:

• Acknowledgement of the joint scientific achievement made by collaborations between the two candidates in the sense of the award
• Curricula vitae of both scientists and a list of publications relevant to the joint achievement
• One letter of support for the nominees (in case of self-nominations-two)—the author of which should not be the nominator nor the nominees.

If you submitted a nomination for the previous award cycle and would like to have that nomination be considered again, please simply notify us. Any additional/updated materials can also be sent.

Nominations shall be submitted in English in electronic version by the closing date of December 31, 2017 to one of the following addresses:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science: diplomacy@aaas.org

The Foundation for Polish Science: plusaward@fnp.org.pl

The contest is carried out by a joint committee of AAAS and FNP including external members. The results of the third edition will be announced in 2018. Because of the rotational nature of the award, the coming edition will be presented in Washington DC, in the fall 2018.

The first winners of the Poland–U.S. Science Award were world-renowned scientists – Prof. Mariusz Jaskólski of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, and Dr. Alexander Wlodawer of the National Cancer Institute, USA. The Jaskólski – Wlodawer team received it for structural studies on proteins of medical relevance, which have contributed to the development of new therapies to cure human diseases, such as AIDS or leukemia in children.

In 2016 the competition won Prof. Ryszard Kierzek from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań and Prof. Douglas Turner from the University of Rochester. Because of their scientific work, it has become possible to predict the structure of any RNA based on its sequence. Their research also elucidated RNA folding rules and the use of modified oligonucleotides to modulate biological activity of photogenic RNAs.

For more information please address:

Grażyna Żebrowska: zebrowska@fnp.org.pl or Katarzyna Pronobis at FNP: +48.22.845.95.09, pronobis@fnp.org.pl,

Hend Ghobrial at AAAS: +1.202.326.6655.

PLUS Award website: link.