Student Modeler Award 2021

From CSDMS
2021 Syvitski Student Modeler Award


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Submission is now closed and awardees will be announced by mid-February


Applications due by January 29, 2021



CSDMS invites graduate students from earth and computer sciences to compete for the annual “CSDMS Student Modeler Award.” The award is in honor of Jaia Syvitski, CSDMS's founding executive director from 2007 to 2017, who has inspired countless modelers. If you have completed an outstanding research project in 2020, which involved developing an ecological or earth science model, a modeling tool, or module linking technology, you can qualify for this award! Models can be on all earth surface topics that our community embraces; terrestrial, coastal, marine, hydrological, ecological, geodynamics, or involving landscapes and human dimensions.

Entries will be judged on the basis of ingenuity, applicability, and contribution toward the advancement of geoscience modeling by a panel of experts in the field. The jurors will look at the outstanding scientific problem the modeling effort tries to solve, and how modeling contributed to the solution. Important criteria are the description of the mathematical framework, how significant the contribution to science and society is, and whether the modeling crosses disciplinary boundaries or uses coupling techniques. We will also evaluate the presentation of the model results. The panel will score open source code contributions, review the codes and judge coding best practices. Codes that are in an open source language, are of a high quality, are modular, are well tested, run on a variety of platforms, and are user friendly will receive the highest points.

We’ll have a prize for the top submission! The top 2 submissions will be invited to provide a student keynote presentation at the CSDMS 2021 Annual Meeting taking place virtually (via Zoom), May 18th to 20th, 2021. In addition, CSDMS will provide travel support for the top submission to attend our next on-site annual meeting in Boulder, Colorado (likely in May 2022) so that you can learn all about the CSDMS. Travel support includes airfare within the continental US (partial support may be available for international submissions), airport shuttles, shared-lodging in conference hotel, breakfast and lunch each day and one banquet dinner.

To apply, submit the following to csdms@colorado.edu by January 29thth, 2021:

  • a 1‐page abstract highlighting your results (required)
  • a digital copy of your relevant thesis chapter or research paper (please do not submit your entire thesis!)
  • your code or a link to a repository of your code, and technical documentation if available.
  • contact information of your supervisor.


We will treat all submissions that are still to be published completely confidentially.

Recipients of this year’s award will be announced by mid- February 2021.

The Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System deals with the Earth's surface-the ever changing, dynamic interface between lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere. We promote the modeling of earth surface processes by developing, and disseminating integrated software modules that predict the movement of fluids, and the flux (production, erosion, transport, and deposition) of sediment and solutes in landscapes and their sedimentary basins.