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AAI ASPIRE Award

  2025 Nominations Are Open August 6—September 18, 2024

  2026 Applications Close September 10, 2025

The AAI ASPIRE Award recognizes up to six outstanding very early career investigators for research accomplishments in their own labs. Postdoctoral accomplishments may be considered secondarily as a measure of professional promise in the field of immunology.

The purpose of this award is to encourage and foster the development of talented very early career AAI member scientists to continue advancing their research activities and scientific contributions in the field of immunology. Additionally, this award aims to enhance the careers of early stage investigators by providing support to disseminate their research in a special symposium at the AAI annual meeting.

Recipients will receive complimentary meeting registration, a $2,000 cash award, and travel support to the AAI annual meeting for presentation of their research in a symposium and award presentation.

Eligibility

At the time of application, applicants must be:

1. Regular AAI members in good standing*, and
2. Independent research scientists (PIs) who started their first independent position no more than 5 years ago (for 2026 eligibility, the first independent position must have begun after September 10, 2020).^† The beginning of independence should be clearly indicated in the application package.

Members of the AAI Council and AAI Awards Committee are not eligible to apply or recommend candidates.

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* Member dues paid through January 1, 2026.

† This award is intended for a very early career researcher within 5 years of their first independent position. It is, however, recognized that there may have been family-related, personal, or other circumstances resulting in extended time out of the laboratory. Exceptions to the stated time limits will be considered based on a description of any special circumstances. Please email awards@aai.org with inquiries.

Application Instructions

AAI Regular members may submit the award application by and choosing “Award Application” in the “Member Benefits” menu. All documents should be uploaded as a single combined PDF file with a file name of less than 25 characters. Please be aware that the single, combined PDF must be no larger than 20MB. Packages that are not complete will not be considered.

Please include the following in the application package:

1. A one-page summary from the applicant describing their career accomplishments and goals in the field of immunology.
2. The applicant’s biosketch (NIH format).
3. One recommendation letter, not to exceed three (3) pages, signed and submitted by a colleague who is familiar with the applicant’s career and work, indicating the applicant’s qualifications for the award. The letter should describe the applicant’s contributions to the field of immunology. The recommendation letter must be from one individual and not include multiple endorsements within it. It should reflect the observations and opinions of the author.

Applications will be accepted beginning August 1, 2025. Complete application packages must be received by 8:00 PM Eastern on September 10, 2025. Incomplete application packages or applications that do not comply with the stated instructions will not be considered. AAI will not accept materials sent separately, or through email or regular mail. Final award decisions are at the discretion of AAI.