Announcing Recipient of 2012 Anuradha Rao Memorial Award

We are delighted to announce that the 2012 Recipient of the Travel Award in memory of Anuradha is Jayeeta Basu, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Steve Siegelbaum’s lab at Columbia University.

Anuradha died on October 26, 2004 returning home from an SfN meeting in San Diego, when she was 44 years old. We love her and miss her still, and over the years have come to truly value the gift of having her in our lives even for that brief period of time. We give the Anuradha Rao Memorial Award every year to a promising young neuroscientist who demonstrates the potential to contribute to the field in a significant way, in the hope that others like her have the opportunity to move ahead in the field she loved. This year we received an unprecedented 130 applications from all over the world. We were moved to read the essays describing their passionate, painstaking journeys devoted to pushing the barriers of science. It was humbling and reassuring to know that brilliant young scholars are working on basic science that will ultimately be applied to better treat or prevent illness like cancer, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia.

We thank all the applicants for giving us the opportunity to read about their work, and wish them the very best in their future endeavors. We also thank Cell Press, especially Katja Brose and Emilie Marcus for continuing to provide their expertise, guidance and support, and Jared Graves for helping coordinate the process, so we can continue to give the award.

We thank all of you for your support through the years.

2012 Anuradha Rao Memorial Travel Award

Anuradha Rao was a Senior Editor at Neuron from 2001 to 2004.  Anuradha died unexpectedly shortly after the Society for Neuroscience meeting in 2004. To honor her memory, the Rao family has established the Anuradha Rao Memorial Travel Award. This award of $1000 is given annually to a graduate student or post-doc to cover expenses for travel to the Society for Neuroscience meeting.  To apply, please submit a short essay (500 words or fewer) describing your scientific background and career interests, and what you hope to gain from attending the meeting. Applications can be sent to neuron@cell.com. The deadline for applications is September 5th and awardees will be selected by September 20th.

Application for Anuradha Rao Memorial Travel Award 2011 now closed

We received a record number of very strong applications and thank all of the applicants. We are also very grateful to the Rao family for their ongoing support of this award and for their sustained commitment and enthusiasm for supporting young researchers in the field. Anu’s sisters and mother wrote of the award recently: “Today, Oct 26th, is Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights celebrating the triumph of good over evil and knowledge over ignorance. Today is also the anniversary of Anu’s passing, and it seems a fitting remembrance to commend Dr. Rubio and all the scientists who build the knowledge to triumph over ignorance. This award represents our family's effort to remember a brilliant young scientist with a thirst for knowledge and to pay our respects to the science that was so dear to her.”