The Excellence in Mentoring Award recognizes outstanding mentorship within the earthquake science community that has led to progress in the SSA mission of “advancing earthquake science worldwide.” In doing so, SSA seeks to highlight mentoring as a core value that is central to our Society’s ongoing scientific progress.
The award is given to someone who provides exceptional mentorship at any career level (student, early career, mid-career, senior, emeritus) whose mentoring efforts clearly exceed what would normally be expected for someone in their role.
Award Criteria
This award seeks to honor nominees at any career level who have shown excellence in mentoring others in earthquake science and engineering fields supporting the SSA mission, exceeding expectations typical for someone in their role. This includes supporting people’s learning, development, and confidence, and creating opportunities for them to grow in the field. Strong nominees help build a diverse, welcoming, and thriving community of seismologists.
Mentoring refers to the sustained and meaningful guidance, support, and development that an individual provides to others—across all career stages—to help them grow, stay engaged, and succeed in the field of seismology and earthquake science. Effective mentoring is not about the number of mentees someone has, but about the demonstrable impact they have on their mentees’ careers or contributions to the community. A late-career advisor may have mentored many, while a student or early-career mentor may show outstanding effort within a smaller scope, and all are eligible for this SSA Mentorship Award.
Nominees may have supported mentees at any career stage and be at any stage in their own careers. Their mentorship should help people feel encouraged to enter the field or stay in it. This support often extends beyond academics, helping mentees navigate challenges, gain confidence, and feel like they truly belong. Nominees may have been involved in mentoring programs that have had a lasting impact on their institution or the broader community.
Nominees’ characteristics may include, but are not limited to, exceptional demonstration of some of the following:
- Supporting scientists in all stages through formal or informal advising;
- Broadening participation in earthquake science and engineering, especially among underrepresented groups;
- Fostering welcoming and supportive environments for mentees;
- Demonstrating a meaningful commitment to mentees’ development; or,
- Involvement in mentoring programs that have long-term or broad institutional or community-wide impact.
Award Eligibility
Open to all SSA members with the exception of members, member-elects, or officers of the SSA Board of Directors at the time of the nomination deadline.
This annual award is given to a single individual; organizations or groups of individuals are not eligible.
The awardee must be regular or honorary members of the Society in good standing, including student and early-career membership.
Nomination Procedure
The chief nominator must be an SSA member who is eligible to submit a nomination (not serving on the SSA Board or Mentoring Award Subcommittee). Nominations may be submitted by individuals who have been mentored by the nominee. Nominations may also be submitted by those who have observed the impact of the nominee’s mentorship on others.
Nomination packages must be submitted via email to awards@seismosoc.org and must include:
- A nomination letter no more than two pages long, specifically describing or enumerating the candidate’s mentoring contributions and impact.
- A CV or resume of the nominee as a supporting document.
- A minimum of two, but no more than four letters of support, no more than two pages long each, from mentees and/or colleagues. At least one of these supporting letters must be written by an SSA member. *
Additionally, please to include any supporting documentation demonstrating impact (e.g., program outcomes, mentee achievements, mentoring website or examples).
Any unsuccessful nomination may be considered again in the following year’s award cycle without resubmission of the nomination package if requested by a nominator before 30 September of that year. To be reconsidered in subsequent years (beyond the year immediately following the original nomination), a new nomination package must be submitted. This package should include:
- An updated CV or resume.
- Updated or new nomination and support letters.
A signed nominator disclosure form submitted by the chief nominator must be included with every submission. Click here to complete the Ethics Disclosure Form for Nominators.
*Please note that nomination letters may not be submitted by any members of the Excellence in Mentoring Award Subcommittee, Honors Committee or the SSA Board of Directors.
Awardee Selection
A subcommittee appointed by the SSA Honors Committee Chair will review all nominations. The subcommittee will submit a confidential recommendation letter to the Honors Committee Chair and Executive Director. This includes:
- Proposed recipient
- Justification of the selection
- Optional summary of how the nominee was selected over others
- Brief description of the review process (characterization of pool)
The SSA Board votes to approve or decline the recommendation. The Honors Committee does not evaluate the subcommittee’s decisions. All nomination materials and deliberations remain confidential.
The Award
No cash award is associated with this honor. The recipient receives an inscribed plaque.
Deadline and More Details
Nominations for all SSA awards should be sent to the SSA Secretary by 30 September, midnight PST. Electronic submissions should be e-mailed in .TXT, .PDF or .DOC files to awards@seismosoc.org.
For more information, see the SSA Honors Program guide.