Congratulations to the 2010 EOL Rubenstein Fellows!

For a full list of Fellows, their specialties, and their affiliations please visit our 2010 EOL Fellows page.

EOL Rubenstein Fellows are selected on the basis of stellar achievement, promise for continued accomplishment, and their ability to catalyze research communities to contribute to EOL. One of the hallmarks of the Fellowship program is the diversity of its participants. This first group of Fellows hails from around the world and their research specialties cover taxa from echinoderms of Panama to spiders of western India to sub-Saharan amphibians. Half of the Fellows will focus on marine species, reflecting EOL’s current theme of marine biodiversity. Successful candidates were chosen from 85 applicants, all of whom proposed valuable research.

Funded by a generous gift by David M. Rubenstein to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Rubenstein Fellows Program provides partial stipend or salary support (up to 50% in one year) for early career scientists to serve species-level information through the Encyclopedia of Life.

The next EOL Rubenstein Fellows competition will be held in Late summer/Fall 2010. Please check back for more details.

Program Overview

The Rubenstein Fellows will be selected through an international competition administered by the Species Pages Group of the EOL. The first competition will be held in Fall 2009, with Fellows commencing on or after January 1, 2010. Additional competitions are expected in following years. Overall we anticipate funding at least 60 Fellows over four years.

As EOL will be entering a Marine Theme, we expect many of the awarded fellowships to address marine species.

Rubenstein Fellows will be often be disseminating results of their own research as well as assisting their mentor and others in their research community to do the same. The focus of a project may be taxonomic, regional, or thematic (for example, marine conservation, host-parasite interactions, or invasive species). Note that these awards are not intended to sponsor primary research activities, but to be complementary with them. Thus Fellows may review and summarize but should not expect to collect or analyse new data using EOL support.

This international competition follows the EOL Fellows Pilot program, currently serving eight fellows associated with the Smithsonian Institution.

NEW! See the Fellows FAQ page for assistance with your EOL Fellows application.

Qualifications

EOL Fellows applicants may be technicians, masters students, PhD students, or post-doctoral fellows.

Each fellow will be required to have a mentor, an expert on the organisms for which the fellow will be assembling information. Fellows will use EOL support to complement their research and/or their mentor’s.

Application process

Each applicant shall submit:

1. Application package, which includes cover pages, a two-page project description (literature citations can be on a third page) and a budget
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Signed letter of support from their mentor

Send all materials to fellows_program@eol.org. In the subject header, please write "Fellow Y, X" where Y = family or last name, and X = first name or given name.

Download the Application Package

Applications must be received no later than 30 September 2009.

Cover pages

Applicants should provide contact information and summarize critical information from the project description and budget.

Project description

The project description should indicate how the support will increase the fellow's and/or their mentor's ability to disseminate authoritative information about species via Encyclopedia of Life website http://www.eol.org. The description should clearly describe why this information is valuable for scientific or other specific audiences, list the applicant's planned activities, and be as specific as possible about the nature of the planned content.

Activities that can be supported include:

• identifying existing databases for inclusion in EOL
• reviewing and writing text
• taking or assembling photographs
• developing bibliographies
• developing keys or other identification resources
• digitizing paper-only resources
• managing digital classifications and synonymies
• developing or improving range maps
• curating and translating species pages
• coordinating a community of experts using LifeDesks or other platforms

Contributions of text and/or images for 350 species or more are suggested. The amount and kinds of information for each species may vary according to the goals of the project, however the number of taxa and volume of content will have substantial weight in the review process. Fellows may enrich EOL pages that already feature materials from other contributors, but emphasis should be placed on developing pages that currently lack content. Higher taxon pages may be developed but species pages are much more important.

Applicants are encouraged to browse EOL species pages and the Biodiversity Heritage Library and explore EOL content partners in order to familiarize themselves with existing resources. Project descriptions should demonstrate awareness of current material available on EOL as well as the ability to target gaps in EOL. Participation by the applicant or mentor in EOL, as curators or prior contributors, will demonstrate to the selection committee that the project is dedicated to the vision of EOL.

EOL fellows are expected to recruit members of their community as EOL contributors or curators. Demonstrated involvement with peers, existing databases, or professional societies are a plus. Any association with a Biodiversity Synthesis Center workshop should be highlighted.

Please browse the EOL Fellows Pilot Program profile pages for sample project descriptions.

Literature cited may be listed on the indicated page additional to the two-page limit.

Budget

Applicants may apply for up to 30-50% of their salary or stipend for one year, not to exceed $20,000. The funding may be spread out over one year or be concentrated for part of a year (for example, as a summer or semester project). Start dates may vary, but may not precede January 1, 2010 nor begin later than October 2010.

EOL Fellows are expected to be successful, early career scientists with work in addition to EOL. Therefore, EOL Fellows funding must be matched or exceeded by an external source (50-70% of salary or stipend for the given year). Examples of suitable matching funds include NSF Fellowships, institutional fellowships, and part-time work or contracts. Indicate the source of matching funds, and if currently under consideration, the date of expected notification. Matching funds need not be directly related to the EOL request, and may precede or follow or be simultaneous with the proposed fellows award period.

Salary or stipend request should be consistent with that expected from the matching funding. Benefits are not provided.

Small travel and equipment requests (up to $5000) will be considered separately from the stipend request. Equipment such as cameras will be owned by the fellow or their institution following the EOL Fellowship.

Letter of support

Applicants should request a letter of support, not to exceed one page and on institutional letterhead, by the mentor that indicates their willingness to serve as a mentor with the responsibilities described below. These letters may be sent as digital documents (e.g. PDFs) to fellows_program@eol.org.

Award Details

Funding may be administered through the mentor’s institution either as a contract or fellowship depending on the fellow's situation. Mentors will be required to ensure appropriate expenditure of the funds. The mentor must ensure that the source of matching funds is aware of the fellows’ receipt of EOL funding.

Accepted projects will be funded only upon receipt of documentation of matching funding. Fellows may not work more than full-time while completing an EOL Fellowship.

EOL fellows and mentors must attend a 2-day Fellows Orientation Workshop in February 2010. Expenses will be paid by EOL and should not be in the proposal budget. This workshop will be held at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. In extreme circumstances remote attendance via teleconference may be possible. Failure to attend or participate may result in withdrawal of funds.

EOL fellows are expected to curate other contributors’ content on EOL within their domain of expertise.

By signing the letter of support, the EOL fellows’ mentor commits to review the fellow's work, curate EOL pages within their expertise, and assist recruitment of colleagues in their field by co-authoring invitations.

Fellows may be asked to share their experiences in the program through posters, on the EOL website, and in magazine or web articles. A revised version of the project description will be posted publicly along with the fellow's profile and picture.

Fellows and mentors will be surveyed regarding their experiences with EOL and its tools. A major goal of the fellows program is to help EOL develop effective ways of engaging and supporting the scientific community.

Unless otherwise declared to be public domain, new content (images and text) generated by a fellow engaged in supported activities is owned by the fellow and expected to be shared with EOL under an accepted license.

Questions regarding the EOL Fellows competition may be directed to the EOL Fellows Coordinator at fellows_program@eol.org.