.jpg?resize=1600x0)
Ruska Award for Microscopy Excellence
The Ruska Award was named in honor of Ernst Ruska, an inventor of the electron microscope, and his brother Helmut, who collaborated in the development of this powerful research instrument. The award recognizes excellence in the biological and physical sciences by student researchers using microscopy as the primary research tool. To qualify for this award, students must follow the Ruska Award Guidelines outlined below and present their work in the form of a PowerPoint presentation at the annual SEMS meeting. The presentation should be 12 minutes in length followed by a 3-minute question and answer period. The Ruska Award Committee will evaluate the scientific merit of the abstract, quality of the writing, quality of the micrographs, and the oral presentation.
For this year’s meeting, all Ruska participants will receive meeting registration and a certificate of participation. The first place Ruska Award winner will receive the Ruska Award plaque and $300.00.
History of the Ruska Competition
In 1970, the members of SEEMS wanted to select a name for our student award. They wanted to give the award a name that would be significant to both physical and biological electron microscopists. Dr. Roth suggested that they name the award the Ernst Ruska Award; he was asked to write to Ernst Ruska to get his permission to name the award after him.
Mr. Ruska wrote back, in German of course. Since Dr. Roth’s German vocabulary is limited to “gesundheit”, he asked a friend to translate the letter for him. In Mr. Ruska’s letter, he suggested that the society name the award after him and his brother, Helmut, who was a biologist. Dr. Roth wrote back and thanked the Ruska brothers for permitting the society to use their name.
When the time came to actually name the award, it was decided to name it the Ruska AWARD rather than the Ruska Brothers or the Ernst and Helmut Ruska Award due to the fact that the latter two or too cumbersome. They had planned to make the first award at our December meeting in 1971 which was scheduled to be held at Georgia Tech. That meeting was canceled due to a “heavy snow” that greatly limited the attendance at that meeting. Thus the first Ruska Award was made to Danny Akin in 1972. After making the first award, the society sent each of the Ruska brothers a plaque similar to the ones awarded to the students.
Everyone says how slow in progress the South is; however, it should be noted that our SEEMS Society gave the first Ruska Award in Ernst’s honor 17 years before EMSA recognized him and 18 years before the Nobel Prize Committee recognized him. So much for the South being behind the times.
Ruska Award Eligibility
- Applicant must be a member of SEMS. Click here: Membership Online Form to apply.
- Applicants must be, or have been, an undergraduate or graduate student during the academic year of the meeting. The applicant cannot be a previous Ruska Award winner.
- Students must present original research conducted by the student. The research may be co-authored by the student’s advisor.
- Applicants must submit an abstract by March 31, 2025. Guidelines are similar to the abstract guidelines in Call for Papers.
- Send questions to info@southeasternmicroscopy.org
Applicants must submit the following:
- The abstract
2. A Research Summary (2 pg max for text, 1 pg figures). The Research Summary MUST include Title, Author (s) name and affiliation, Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results,
Discussion, and References all within the 2-page limit. An additional page of micrographs or tables/charts related to the project should be included with a figure legend that describes each
micrograph or table. The Research Summary must be submitted via e-mail to info@southeasternmicroscopy.org before March 31, 2025.
3. A signed copy of the Ruska Award Checklist, signed by the student’s advisor, must be emailed to the Ruska Chairperson by March 31, 2025.
Ruska Award Method of Evaluation
The Ruska Award Committee will evaluate the research summary and oral presentation using the following criteria:
1. Submitted Text Scientific Merit
- Soundness of research proposal
- Experimental design and thoroughness of investigation (originality, correlated techniques)
- Validation of conclusions
- Application of microscopy and associated methods to answer experimental questions
Micrographs
- Presentation of specimen (fixation, quality of sectioning and staining)
- Instrumentation
- Photographic quality (aesthetics, density, contrast)
Quality of Writing
- Clarity
- Grammatical correctness
2. Oral Presentation
- Clarity
- Communication
- Quality of Presentation
- Response to audience questions
- Adherence to presentation time limit (12 minutes for the presentation and 3 minutes for questions)