Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

Virginia Commonwealth University is pleased to participate in a program that provides an opportunity for outstanding graduate students to attend a summer meeting with Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.  Each year since 1951, young students have come from all over the world to listen to Nobel Prize Winners give presentations on topics of their choice at the Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings in Germany.  In addition to Nobel Laureate lectures, students participate in discussions with the Laureates each day, and social events bring the scientific newcomers into personal contact with the Nobel Prize Winners.  The Lindau meetings usually rotate the focus of the annual meetings across the three natural science disciplines of the Nobel Prize: physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine. 

Student attendees are nominated by their universities and selected to participate in these meetings based on strict criteria established by the funding organizations and the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.  U.S. students are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Mars Inc., the National Science Foundation Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Institutes of Health and Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Specific selection criteria for U.S. students are established each year, but generally require the nominees to (1) be enrolled full time in a doctoral degree program relevant to the focus of the meeting; (2)be a U.S. citizen; (3)be participating in a research project funded by a federal agency; and (4)be an outstanding graduate student with a strong letter of nomination from their academic advisor.
Graduate students from VCU have had the honor of being selected to participate in the Lindau meetings since 2006.  

2006:  Christine Winschel, Ph.D. student in Chemistry
2007:  Jennifer Patterson, Ph.D. student in Microbiology and Immunology

Solicitation for nominations of VCU graduate students comes from the Office of the Vice President for Research during the Fall semester.  Because there are restrictions on the number of students each university can nominate to attend the Meeting, the Office of the Vice President will make the final selection of the VCU nominee(s) to be forwarded to the U.S. selection committee.  The dates and program focus of future Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings are listed on their website at:
http://www.lindau-nobel.de/content/section/2/17/

If you have questions about this program or the nomination process please contact:

Dr. Ann Nichols-Casebolt
Associate Vice President for Research Development
Office of the Vice President for Research
acasebol@vcu.edu
804-827-2267

For more information about the Lindau meetings, including videos of Nobel Laureate lectures from this past year’s meeting, please visit their website at: 
http://www.lindau-nobel.de/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/