To recognize student excellence in geoscience research and presentation at the AGU National meetings. On occasion, awards are also given for Western Pacific Geophysics Meetings, and Outstanding Student Poster Awards for the Ocean Sciences Meetings.

No registration is necessary. You are automatically considered for an Outstanding Student Paper Award if you are a current student member at the time of the meeting and have submitted an abstract as first author by the required deadline. The mode of presentation (oral or poster), day and time assigned, will be determined by the Program Committee.

Note:

The AGU Meetings Department is responsible for every aspect of the abstract submission process. For more information on abstract submission, check the AGU Meetings site at http://www.agu.org/meetings/ or e-mail MeetingInfo@agu.org.

Each AGU primary section (e.g., Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeosciences, Geodesy) or focus group is invited to participate. Participation is totally voluntary. Each section or focus group selects its own organizing chairperson, who will appoint at least two judges per session. Participating sections or focus groups have six weeks after the meeting date to forward their selections to the AGU.

Recipients will be notified by e-mail, and will have their names, section affiliation, institution and title of paper or poster published in a future issue of Eos. A certificate of excellence signed by the appropriate AGU section president will be sent via post to each recipient.

Evaluations are based on timing, clarity of expression, effective use of illustrations, organization, and logic. All of these are primarily or completely under your control.

Oral Presentation. You should be audible from the rear of room, with reasonably clear enunciation and absence of "um," "er," "you know," etc. Use your time effectively. Your introduction should not take half the time with your results crammed into the last minute. Points may be deducted for running more than a minute over the maximum time, and extra credit may be given if your talk ends early with time for questions. Practice your presentation often enough to have the timing right. Slides/viewgraphs should be legible from the back of room, labeled well, and not overcrowded. The main point of the figure should be obvious without explanation. Your presentation should not have too many slides, large data tables, or multiple graphs on one figure. You should be able to comprehend any questions presented to you from the judges and respond with poise.

Poster. Again, you should speak clearly. You should explain the poster logically, starting with background and going on to results and conclusions. Your poster should be logically arranged, not just a lot of figures tacked up in disorder. Figures should be neat and legible. The title should be easily legible from 10 feet away, and there should be an abstract or some short summary for people who just want to read. Your presentation should contain a summary diagram or list of conclusions. The figures should be designed to be informative in a poster context, not just copies of something for publication. Extra credit might be given for a visually catchy setup and use of color. You should be able to handle your poster presentation without assistance; points might be deducted if you turn to your advisor for help.

Oral Presentation. The arrangement should be logical; it should explain the problem to be addressed, describe methods (briefly), present results, and draw explicit conclusions. Points might be deducted for diverging into unnecessary details. The purpose of your study should be clear, not just a description of data. At least one conclusion should be reached and substantiated by the data. Your study may not be Earth_shaking, but it should contribute something new to the field such as useful new data, a new model, or a test of an old model. There should be evidence of familiarity with the work of others.

Poster. Same criteria as above. Data should be enough to support conclusions but not more; a few results that show the trend are better than trying to show every single piece of data. Either verbally or visually, there should be a statement of the problem and of the conclusions.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact e-mail: outreach@agu.org, or Fax: +1.202.328.0566.