The nomination deadline has passed for the 2026 awards.
The Microbiome Science Awards recognize individuals doing exceptional work in microbiome science across teaching, research, mentoring, service, public engagement, and creative endeavors.
Awardees will be announced at the 2026 Midwest Microbiome Symposium, held May 11–13, 2026 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. See the list of 2025 Microbiome Science Awardees.
Who Can Be Nominated
Faculty, staff, postdocs, and students are all eligible for nomination. Self-nominations are welcome for most awards. Nominations from Midwest institutions are encouraged.
Awards and Criteria
The efforts of the Midwest Multidisciplinary Microbiome Symposia Board support these awards. The Award Review Committee includes representatives from Ohio State University, Purdue University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Nominees are evaluated within their peer category: Faculty, Staff, Postdocs, or Students.
Nominations will be evaluated based on evidence of excellence or impact, relevance, and fit to the award category and microbiome science, and based on provided nomination materials.
Microbiome Science Teaching Award
Recognizes individuals engaged in exceptional teaching related to microbiome science. Awardees will be recognized for engaging students with microbiome science academically. This may be through a microbiome science-focused course, workshop, or other teaching venue, or through microbiome science curriculum shared in broader coursework.
Microbiome Science Mentoring Award
Recognizes individuals engaged in exceptional mentoring related to microbiome science. Mentoring may be formal or informal and include students, staff, colleagues, or peers.
Note: Self nominations are not permitted.
Microbiome Science Innovative Research Award
This award recognizes novel, cutting-edge, impactful (or potential to be impactful) microbiome science. This may include publications, grants, or other forms of publicly shared science (e.g. blogs, GitHub, abstracts, preprints, presentations, etc.).
Note: Only early-career faculty are eligible. “Assistant Professor” must be selected under Nominee Professional Status.
**At least one example of supporting evidence such as a publication, preprint, abstract, presentation, or public repository required to complete nomination.
Microbiome Science Service, Public Engagement, or Creative Endeavors Award
Recognizes individuals engaged in exceptional service, public engagement, or creative endeavors in relation to microbiome science. This may include microbiome science relevant service within an institution or organization, microbiome science relevant public engagement or communications (e.g. blogs, podcasts, presentations, activities, events, news stories), or microbiome science relevant creative endeavors (e.g. art, movies, books).
**You may optionally include supporting evidence for this nomination such as a link to article, podcast, event, etc.
For questions about eligibility, nominations, or the review process, please email microbialsystems@illinois.edu.