Award for Undergraduate Research

Call For Nominations: Deadline September 30, 2026

Purpose: To recognize the collaborative research of an outstanding undergraduate student/preceptor team in the field of inorganic chemistry, as broadly defined.

Up to one award will be given in each of three categories based on the institution of the preceptor:

  • Primarily Undergraduate Institution
  • Research-Intensive University (or other non-PUI college or university)
  • Corporate, National, or Federal Laboratory

Nature: The undergraduate student will receive $1,000 and a plaque; the preceptor will receive a plaque for permanent display at the preceptor’s institution. Up to a maximum of $1,000 will be reimbursed by the division for student and preceptor travel expenses to the meeting at which the award will be presented. The presentation will be given during an INOR-sponsored symposium in which the undergraduate awardee will present a talk on the recognized research.

Eligibility Conditions:

  1. The preceptor cannot serve as nominator, as the nominator needs to comment on the preceptor’s mentoring impact on the student
  2. The preceptor must be a current ACS and DIC membership status.  However, neither the nominator or the student is required to be member of ACS or DIC.
  3. The nominator does not need to be from the same institution as the student-preceptor team.
  4. The student must be within one year of graduation to be eligible.

Nominating Procedure: A nomination consists of a completed survey that will include the following documents:

  1. Curriculum vitae for student (1-page maximum) and preceptor (2-page maximum).
  2. One-page nomination letter that (i) discusses the impact/merit of research performed by the undergraduate nominee, explicitly detailing the student’s contribution; and (ii) describes the impact that mentoring by the preceptor had on the student and their research project.
  3. For the preceptor, a proof of current ACS and DIC membership status (copy of membership certificate, receipt and/or pdf snapshot of “My Account” from the acs.org showing active divisional membership in the DIC).

Submission: All documents should be assembled into pdf files according to the instructions listed in the survey. Please pay close attention to the file naming conventions. Accordingly, questions concerning the application process should be directed to the current Award Co-Chairs of the DIC

Establishment & Support: The award was established in 2010 by the ACS Division of Inorganic”