Establishment of Awards

Distinguished Achievement
Established and presented in 1978, this award is presented to an active older individual to call attention to the obvious, but often overlooked, fact that older individuals can live full, productive, useful lives.

Denham Harman Research Award
This award, which was established in 1978, is named after Dr. Denham Harman, one of the co-founders of AGE. The award honors a person who has made significant contributions to biomedical aging research.

Walter R. Nicolai Award
Through the generosity of the Paul F. Glenn Foundation, this award was established in 1982 in the name of Walter Nicolai (a long-time board member of AGE who was killed in a skiing accident in 1982) for meritorious research by a graduate or medical student in the area of biomedical gerontology.

Paul F. Glenn Award
To award a post-doctoral candidate who has made special contributions to biomedical aging research. This award was established in 1985 to honor Mr. Paul F. Glenn for his long-term active support of biomedical aging research through the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research.

Exceptional Mentor in Aging Award
Established in 2020, this award honors those that have made significant contributions to the training of students, postdocs and scientists in the field of aging through exceptional mentoring. The person honored by this award has successfully guided and shaped the careers of individuals in the field of aging.

James Joseph / Mark Smith Award
Dr. James Joseph was the Director of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the USDA-ARS Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tuft’s University.  His research interests focused on nutrition, neuroscience and aging where he was internationally recognized for his work with fruits (blueberries), vegetables and nuts and their ability to slow or reverse age-related declines in motor and cognitive function.  He was also an outstanding mentor, a Fellow of the American Aging Association, a Past-President and long-time board member of AGE.  Dr. Mark Smith was a Professor at Case Western Reserve and a prolific scientist studying Alzheimer’s disease.  Along with international recognition for his research, he also won multiple awards for teaching and mentoring, including the highest honors given by the University to a faculty member.  Mark Smith was a Fellow of the American Aging Association and the Executive Director of AGE. This award is presented to someone that emulates those two researchers both in research and their commitment to training and mentoring.

Women in AGE Awards for Mentoring and Scientific Achievement
Established in 2022, the Women in AGE awards were created to celebrate and support the achievement of women researchers and those supporting women in aging research.

Travel Awards

Those students who whose need assistance whose work is of a quality that their attendance warrants subsidization.

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Exceptional Mentor in Aging Award 

One of the primary missions of American Aging Association (AGE) is to promote junior investigators in the field of aging. The field has benefited and continues to strengthen with the positive and nurturing environments provided by outstanding mentors. This award honors those that have made significant contributions to the training of students, postdocs and scientists in the field of aging through exceptional mentoring. The person honored by this award has successfully guided and shaped the careers of individuals in the field of aging. 

Criteria

• The nominee and nominator must be current members of the American Aging Association.
• The nominator must be >5 years beyond training if trained in nominee’s laboratory; no time limit applies if the nominator has been trained independent of the nominee. 
• The nominator must convey why the nominee was/is a great mentor not only to the nominator but more broadly. 
• The nominee must have trained individuals who have had or are currently significantly impacting the field [publications, awards, grant support, impact on curricula (course design, workshops), meeting organization, ‘biology of aging influencer’, or other impactful influence on aging research-related activities]. 
• The career trajectory of former trainees will be considered, thus CV’s of the nominator together with supporting letters and CVs from current or former trainees must be included. 

Nominations for this award have passed.

Established in 1978 this award was named in honor of Dr. Denham Harman, a co-founder of AGE and honors a person who has made significant contributions to biomedical aging research.

All members of the American Aging Association are eligible to nominate individuals for the Denham Harman award.

Materials required for nomination include a nomination letter outlining why this individual is deserving of the award, a current CV of the individual and at least two supporting letters. Before nominating a person, please take a look at the website for the list of past awardees. Please note that if an individual has received the Denham Harman Award previously, the nomination will have to justify the contributions of this person since the last award. 

Nominations for this award have passed.

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Fellows

An individual may become a Fellow following nomination by another Fellow. Before nominating a person, please take a look at the website for the current fellow listing. Criteria for Fellowship include major contributions to biomedical aging research as recognized by the Awards Committee including:

• Five years of continuous membership, or three years if also serving on the Board of Directors or as an Officer of AGE (President, Secretary, Treasurer, EC member)
• A minimum of five first or senior authored primary papers in peer-reviewed journals describing original investigations relevant to biomedical aging
• Active engagement in the field of aging

The nomination application consists of:

• A nomination letter describing the nominee’s qualifications and required criteria
• The nominee’s CV. No self­ nominations will be accepted.

Nominations for this award have passed.

 

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Distinguished Achievement

Established and presented in 1978, this award is presented to an active individual to call attention to the obvious, but often overlooked, fact that older individuals can live full, productive, useful lives.

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Women in AGE Awards for Mentoring and Scientific Achievement

Established in 2022, the Women in AGE awards were created to celebrate and support the achievement of women researchers and those supporting women in aging research.

1)    Women in AGE Mentoring Award –  The Women in AGE Mentoring Award recognizes a woman whose efforts have encouraged women in aging research. Mentoring efforts may be demonstrated by such things as the number of women mentored in academic, government, or industry positions; assisting students in presenting and publishing their work, finding financial aid, and providing career guidance; providing psychological support, encouragement, and strategies for maintaining work-life balance for early-career professionals in aging research; and continued interest in the individual professional advancement of women scientists.

Criteria

• Self-nominations are not allowed.
• The nominee and nominator must be current members of the American Aging Association.
• The nominee must identify as a woman.
• Letter from nominator (<1 pg) about what makes the nominee an exceptional mentor to women. May include up to three additional letters (<1 pg each) from previous mentees, with details about the nominees exceptional mentoring of women.
• Application should be supplemented with the nominee’s mentoring track (5-10 years listing of previous mentees and students).

The winner of the Women in AGE Mentoring Award will be given a plaque and be invited to a future AGE meeting to speak on the Women in AGE panel with free registration.

2)    Women in AGE Scientific Achievement Award – The Women in AGE Scientific Achievement Award is given to early-career researchers who self-identify as women, and who have made substantial contributions to scientific discovery in aging research and the literature, sometimes despite challenges relating to resources, location or language skills. 

Criteria

• Self-nominations are allowed.
• The nominee and nominator must be current members of the American Aging Association.
• The nominee must identify as a woman.
• The nominee must be an early-career researcher (Assistant Professor or equivalent rank [i.e., Research Assistant Professor, Assistant Scientist], regardless of track).
• The nominator should submit the nominees name and email address to AGE by the deadline.
• Upon receipt of the nomination, the nominee will be contacted and given two weeks to provide their NIH Biosketch. In the “Personal Statement” section of the Biosketch, the nominee should describe their contributions to aging research and a challenge they faced in achieving their goals. In addition, the application can be supplemented with the nominee’s mentoring track (5-10 years listing of previous mentees and students).

The winner of the Women in AGE Scientific Achievement Award will be given a plaque and be invited to a future AGE meeting to speak on the Women in AGE panel with free registration.

Information about scoring the applications:

• The AGE Trainee Chapter (AGE-TC) leadership (Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Senior Trainee Advocate) with review the applications and select the top three applicants to be presented to the AGE Awards committee for final selection.
• For the mentoring award, the AGE-TC leadership will read the nomination letters and scored based on how compelling the letters are and the presence of specific anecdotal evidence of superior mentorship. The AGE-TC leadership will each rank-order the nominees to select the top 3.
• For the Scientific Achievement award, the applicant will be scored on the following criteria:
• Publications in aging research (scale 0-10, with 10 being the best): Scores will be based on their NCBI bibliography. Higher scores will be given to those with frequent first or last author publications in high quality, peer-reviewed journals centered around the biology of aging.
• Service (scale 0-10, with 10 being the best): Scores will be based on the Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honors section of the Biosketch, higher scores will be given those who have served the aging research community both locally and nationally mentorship, scientific outreach, scientific volunteering
• Ability to overcome obstacles (scale 0-5, with 5 being the best): Scores will be based off the obstacle described in the personal statement. Higher scores will be given to individuals with a clear and detailed picture of a significant challenge they have overcome in their scientific journey.
• Combined scores will be normalized by reviewer (divided by highest score) and then rank-ordered to select the top 3 applicants.

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Apply Now for the American Aging Association (AGE)

Early Career Scholar’s Program: An Award to Support Diversity in AGE!

We are looking for enthusiastic trainees studying aging or age-related diseases to apply for the AGE Early Career Scholar’s Program. AGE recognizes the need to increase the representation of, and support provided to, under-represented minorities in our association, for the benefit of the entire Geroscience research community.

Why Apply?

• Ten Scholars will be selected, and will receive a 2-year AGE membership, travel award for the 2025 AGE meeting worth $1300, the opportunity to present your research at the AGE 2025 annual meeting (https://www.americanagingassociation.org/annual-meeting), and will be paired with a senior AGE trainee chapter member for ongoing mentorship.
• Additional 2-year AGE memberships and virtual 2025 meeting registrations will be awarded.

Who Should Apply?

• Are you an undergrad, postbacc, graduate student or postdoc?
• Do you identify as an under-represented minority in biomedical sciences? (Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders; Individuals with disabilities; Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds; Women; See more information at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-031.html)
• Are you studying aging or age-related diseases? Even if you think you’re not you probably are! Do you study metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases? Those are all age-related diseases!
• If you said yes to all of these, you should apply!

How do I Apply?

The deadline to apply has passed

You will need a single PDF that includes the following:

• A CV/Biosketch (any format is fine)
• A short (max. 300 words) research abstract – no results necessary. Please indicate how your research does or could relate to Aging/Geroscience.
• A short paragraph (max. 500 words) outlining why you would like to be part of AGE and how this award will benefit your career.

Congratulations to the AGE 2025 Early Career Scholars & AGE / AFAR Diversity Awards

Meet the AGE 2025 Early Career Scholars

AGE Early Career Scholars & AGE / AFAR Diversity Awards

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Awards Presented at Annual Meeting