Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award - The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

HomeDistinguished Scientific Achievement Award

Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award

The nomination material is reviewed by the three-person Scientific Achievement Subcommittee. The Committee Chair and members of the Subcommittee are not eligible to win the award. The Subcommittee makes recommendations to the Board of Directors for final approval. If a member of the Board is nominated for the award in that year, that Board member will abstain from the vote.

This award recognizes professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of sexual science. In line with SSSS’s goal to advance the field as a scientific discipline, the award is presented to honor scientific contributions reflected in such professional activities as research, education, or therapy. The notion of scientific contribution is intended to be interpreted broadly to include activities such as publishing materials for the public, developing therapeutic or educational programs, and providing service to the public or the profession.

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In the year a Distinguished Scientific Achievement recipient is named, the recipient receives:

Commemorative plaque
$500 award
Up to $1,000 reimbursement for travel to the SSSS Annual Conference to attend the conference, accept the award, deliver a plenary address, and engage with the attendees*
Two nights' accommodation at the conference host hotel*
Complimentary conference registration*

*If travel is not required to attend the conference (e.g., the winner lives in the conference city or SSSS holds a virtual conference), travel and hotel will not be provided, but complimentary conference registration will remain in place.

Conditions on Accepting the Award

Attend the SSSS Annual Conference to receive the award, deliver a plenary address, and engage with conference attendees.

Nomination Period

The nomination period is open from January 1 - March 15 each year.

Nomination Guidelines and Process:

Because the award is presented to recognize scientific work in the field of sexuality, it is not necessarily restricted to members of SSSS. However, the nominator must be a SSSS member.

The nominator bears responsibility for recruiting individuals who support the nomination and for collecting and submitting the complete evidence file for the nominee.

The nominator must complete an online form and attach the following documents (pdf):

Nominee's current CV
Two letters of support describing the nominee's contributions to the field of sexuality. The letters of support can be from two SSSS members or from a SSSS committee and one additional SSSS member.

Primary Review Criteria

Impact of the nominee's body of scholarly work
Depth and breadth of the scholarly work
Influence of the work on research, theory, policy, and/or practice
Novelty and innovation of the scholarly contributions
Scholarly productivity (with recognition that "productivity" looks different depending upon context (e.g., a large collaborative research lab versus a faculty member who works with just a few graduate students), and format (e.g., articles versus books)
Extent to which the nominee acknowledges, includes, values, and/or amplifies diverse voices and strengths in sex science

Secondary Review Criteria

The following secondary criteria will be used if the Subcommittee cannot come to consensus based on the primary critieria:

The nominee's membership status and active involvement in SSSS.
The nominee's likely ability to effectively present their scholarly work in a clear and engaging plenary talk at the SSSS Annual Conference.

Questions? Contact SSSS at TheSociety@SexScience.org.

Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award Recipients

John Bancroft, MD
Frank Beach, PhD
Harry Benjamin, MD
Lori Brotto, PhD, R Psych
Vern Bullough, PhD
E. Sandra Byers, PhD
Donn Byrne, PhD
Mary Calderone, MD
Eli Coleman, PhD
George W. Corner, PhD
Aaron Devor, PhD
Lisa Diamond, PhD
Anke A. Ehrhardt, PhD
Albert Ellis, PhD
David Finkelhor, PhD
William Fisher, PhD
John Gagnon, PhD
Paul Gebhard, PhD

Cynthia Graham, PhD
Richard Green, MD, JD
Allan Guttmacher, MD
Henry Guze, MD
Harry Harlow, PhD
Carl Hartman, MD
Elaine Hatfield, PhD
Julia Heiman, PhD
Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH, CS
Janet Shibley Hyde, PhD
Kamala Kempadoo, PhD
Douglas Kirby, PhD
Robert Kolodny, MD
Hans Lehfeldt, MD
Sandra Leiblum, PhD
Harold Lief, MD
Floyd M. Martinson, PhD
Virginia Masters, MA
William Masters, MD

H.F.L. Meyer-Bahlburg, Dr.rer.nat
John Money, PhD
Donald L. Mosher, PhD
Charlene Muehlenhard, PhD
Letitia Anne Peplau, PhD
Jim Pfaus, PhD
Wardell Pomeroy, PhD
Ira L. Reiss, PhD
Jan Raboch, DrSc
Margaret Rosario, PhD
Michael Ross, PhD
Stephanie Sanders, PhD
William Simon, PhD
Leonore Tiefer, PhD
Deborah Tolman, EdD
Martin Weinberg, PhD
Beverly Whipple, RN, PhD
William Yarber, HSD