Volume 5, Number 2
October 2007

INMM Awards

By Yvonne Ferris Chair, INMM Awards Oversight Committee

One can hardly believe that four months have passed since the 2007 INMM annual meeting. Once again, Charles Pietri and his Technical Program Committee outdid themselves and presented us highly informative and challenging papers and posters.

To accompany the technical program, the three Awards Subcommittee chairs did an outstanding job in honoring those whom you, the membership, presented to them as deserving of the INMM’s Distinguished, Meritorious and Special Service Awards and best student papers. Ed Johnson, Teressa McKinney and Cary Crawford are to be congratulated for their research and integrity, ensuring the credentials of each nominee are evaluated fairly.

Please note that the Memorial and Outreach Subcommittee has a new Chair. The former chair, Chad Olinger, who did a fantastic job with the subcommittee, has a new position at Los Alamos and can no longer chair the Memorial and Outreach Subcommittee. Chad is such a trooper, though, that he validated all of the student papers that were presented at the 2007 INMM Annual Meeting. This is no small task and I certainly appreciate his “above and beyond” spirit. The new subcommittee chair, Cary Crawford, is continuing in that same spirit for which we are truly fortunate.

Of course, the Awards Subcommittees would have nothing or no one to evaluate if you, the membership, didn’t do your part and submit nominations to them. Once again I thank you and appeal to you to continue searching for those outstanding colleagues, institutions and firms who qualify for INMM recognition. As a reminder, the criteria for the awards can be found on the INMM Web site. You are certainly welcome to call or e-mail me or the following subcommittee chairs with questions or clarification. All e-mail addresses can be found on the INMM Web site.

Distinguished/Meritorious Service Award – Ed Johnson 703-359-9355
Special Service Award – Teressa McKinney 865-241-9695
Memorial and Outreach – Cary Crawford 509-375-2090

I encourage you to follow closely the requirements for the above awards. I regret that I have been too lenient in ensuring that all nominations are accompanied by the proper documentation. Probably because of unclear instructions, this past year some of the nominations for awards lacked what the Awards Subcommittees consider a complete package.

For example, if an INMM Chapter nominates one of its members, a single nomination letter signed by officers and/or members is insufficient documentation even though it may have five or more signatures.

We require five (5) nomination letters each of which delineates particular attributes that the person or institution/firm has in compliance with the requirements of the award. This also applies to letters of support from the nominee’s current employer and coworkers.

We plan to clarify the criteria to limit supporting letters and endorsements to no more than two from the nominee’s current employer and coworkers. This has always been the intent, but the instructions were not explicit. For this I apologize and assure you that the Awards Subcommittees and I will work on the criteria to clear up the existing confusion.

As in the past, if any of the awards subcommittees receive an incomplete package, the chair will call the nominator and explain the deficiency. If the deficiency is not corrected by the time the subcommittee meets to vote, the nomination will not be voted on. This has always been the rule, but as so often happens, sometimes requirements get bent and slowly begin to erode. In the future, however, we will be firm in ensuring that all nominees are treated equally and fairly. Nominating a person or firm/institution requires work, and to allow some to be evaluated with lesser information is not fair to those who have worked so hard to assemble a complete, informative and detailed package.

Thanks to all who have supported the Awards Subcommittees in the past. As always, please let us know of ways to improve our system and, above all, keep those cards and letters coming.