Muller Award

Award Guidelines

This award, the most prestigious in the IFES community, recognises an emerging scientist for a recent and original work in the field of field emission, field ionization, or related phenomena. This includes, but is not limited to, technique development, applications or theory development. This prize is highly competitive and the winner is selected during the APT&M conference, at the conclusion of a 2-stage selection process.

Candidates to the E.W. Müller Outstanding Emerging Scientist Award must be PhD students, or must have obtained their higher degree within the two years preceding the APT&M meeting.

All candidates must submit an abstract to APT&M according to the normal process on the conference website. To be considered for the Müller Award, candidates must also, separately, upload their paper and the following documents on the International Field Emission Society website http://fieldemission.org/form.php (click on Müller Award, note that you will need to create an account to log in):

1. Short CV (1 page, with a high-resolution passport-style photo)

2. Support letter from the supervisor of the candidate (this should be the main supervisor of the work that was conducted, and may be a present or previous supervisor). The supervisor’s letter should certify that the candidate was the principal investigator of the presented work (1 page)

3. An overview of the presentation/paper, describing the work, and its significance, especially in the context of the IFES community (1 page)

4. A scientific report of the work to be presented in the Müller competition (<4000 words without figures and references. It may be a published paper, an unpublished draft, a compilation of work published elsewhere, or a paper that will be submitted as a part of the APT&M conference proceedings). If it is the latter, the applicant should separately submit this paper to the conference proceedings. The paper will not be published by IFES as a part of the Müller Award process unless the candidate themselves submits their paper to the proceedings.

A preselection of 6 finalists will be chosen by the Müller Award Panel, appointed by the IFES Steering Committee, which represent a broad cross-section of the IFES membership. The criteria for the selection are:

1. Scientific quality of the paper and relevance to the field of the IFES community

2. Novelty

3. Quality of the writing of the paper

4. Track record of the candidate

Finalists must present their papers in person on the first day of the APT&M meeting in order to receive their award. All candidates are expected to attend and participate in the entire meeting. The criteria for the selection of the winner are:

1. Scientific quality of the presentation/paper

2. Novelty

3. Quality of the writing of the paper

4. Quality of the oral presentation and handling of questions (note that this includes presentation timing)

The winner will be chosen by the Müller Award Panel at the APT&M meeting.   

Note that the candidates must also submit the abstract of the presentation to the APT&M website before the abstract submission deadline. Candidates that are not selected for the finale will be considered for an oral or poster presentation in the regular sessions of the meeting.

For further information or clarification, please email arun.devaraj@pnnl.gov