Since 2006, Sigma Xi has presented the Walston Chubb Award for Innovation to honor and promote creativity in science and engineering. The award carries a $4,000 honorarium and an invitation to give the Walston Chubb Award Lecture at Sigma Xi's annual meeting.

Eligibility
The award is open to any U.S. citizen. After 10 years, U.S. citizenship will no longer be required. Membership in Sigma Xi is not a requirement.

What Constitutes Innovation?
For the purposes of the award, innovation is defined as research into new areas of potential scientific importance, a novel approach to a long-standing problem in science or engineering or research that may create a new methodology of importance to science or engineering.

In addition, application of expertise and insights from one area to advance another scientific discipline, or creative solutions to an important interdisciplinary problem also qualify as innovations.

Awards are to be made no sooner than one year after the innovation has been reported in a peer- reviewed journal and research required for the basic functionality of the innovation completed.

Nominations
The deadline for submission of nomination materials is September 15 annually.

Nominations for the Walston Chubb Award should include:

• A current curriculum vita that follows the Sigma Xi Criteria for
  Curricula Vitae
• A letter of nomination that addresses the following:
  1. What specifically has the nominee contributed as 1) a new area of potential scientific importance, or 2) novel approach to a long-standing problem in science or engineering or research that may create a new methodology of importance to science or engineering, or 3) application of expertise and insights from one area to advance another scientific discipline, or creative solution to an important interdisciplinary problem also qualify as innovations.
  2. How has this innovation been recognized by others.
  3. Influence on education through publications, teaching activities, outreach, mentoring, etc.
  4. Ability of the nominee to give an address at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting that is dynamic, engaging, and readily understood by scientists across the disciplines.
• One or two additional letters of support of no more than one page each.

Walston Chubb
A retired consultant on nuclear materials and radiochemistry, Walston Chubb spent most of his career with Westinghouse working on nuclear reactor materials. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Rolla, he has published more than 40 scientific papers and holds 10 patents. He established an endowment fund at Sigma Xi to support this award.

Chubb Award Recipients
2008 Patrick Usoro
2007 Stan Ovshinsky
2006 Mark T. Holtzapple