ISCB Announces Inauguration of Fellows Program with the
ISCB Fellows Class of 2009

The International Society for Computational Biology is pleased to announce the inauguration of an ISCB Fellows Program to honor members that have distinguished themselves through outstanding contributions to the fields of computational biology and bioinformatics. During this inaugural year of the program, ISCB will confer Fellows status on the seven winners-to-date of the ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award, and recognize these distinguished scientists during the ISMB/ECCB 2009 conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

Honoring outstanding membersthrough a class of Fellows has been a long standing goal of the ISCB board of directors. "The decision of the board to make this a reality by selecting the first class of ISCB Fellows, while establishing criteria and putting a process in place for future selection, is a welcome addition to our Society,” said ISCB President Burkhard Rost. He added, “There are very few honors or awards specific to computational biology and bioinformatics, and by creating a Fellows program we are able to bestow much deserved recognition on exceptional members of our ISCB community.”

Although all members of the inaugural class of Fellows have previously been honored with ISCB’s highest award, the distinction of ISCB Fellow for future years will be based on the following criteria:

  • Limited to 1% of the averageISCB membership of the preceding three years.
  • Nomination by an ISCB member, supported by letters of endorsement from five members.
  • Nominees must have demonstrated excellence in research, service to the ISCB Community, education and/or administration.
  • Nominees must have been a member of the Society for at least the five years immediately preceding the date of nomination.
  • Fellow status is automatically bestowed upon the Accomplishment by a Sr. Scientist Award winner.
The ISCB Awards Committee will select the Fellows from among nominations received each year. Upon selection, Fellows may use the title immediately and will be recognized at the ISMB meeting following their selection. The 2009 ISCB Fellows and their affiliations at the time of designation are listed below.

Additional information about the ISCB Fellows Program, current fellows, the nomination process and a nomination form can be accessed at www.iscb.org/iscb-awards/award-form.
2009 ISCB Fellows

David Haussler, 2008 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award; University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
 David Lipman, 2004 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award; National Center
for Biotechnology
Information (NCBI), US		 Webb Miller, 2009 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award; Pennsylvania State University, USA
 David Sankoff, 2003 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award winner; University of Ottawa and Université de Montréal, Canada
Temple Smith,
2007 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award; Boston University, USA

 Janet Thornton,
2005 ISCB Accomplishment
by a Senior Scientist Award; European Bioinformatics
Institute (EBI), UK		 Mike Waterman,
2006 ISCB Accomplishment
by a Senior Scientist Award; University of Southern California, USA