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Scott H. Williamson Award


About. Beginning in 2025, the Scott H. Williamson Award is awarded annually by the Society for Modeling and Theory in Population Biology to recognize the achievements and promise of an outstanding early-career researcher in the area of modeling and theory in population biology.

Scott Williamson (1975-2008) was an accomplished early-career researcher who worked in theoretical population genetics and evolutionary modeling. A humble, kind, and well-liked scientist, Scott made significant theory contributions to understanding the dynamics of natural selection in populations. His work employed several modeling traditions, including coalescent theory, Poisson random fields, and sequence substitution models. He also applied insights from statistical population genetics to study selection from genetic sequences in many different organisms, including Drosophila, humans, rice, and HIV. A native of Kansas, Scott received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Kansas. Shortly after starting a faculty position at Cornell University, Scott passed away from brain cancer.


2026 Winner: Brian Lerch (UC Davis)

We are very happy to announce that the winner of the 2026 Scott H. Williamson Award is Dr. Brian Lerch.

Dr. Lerch is a highly productive scientist, with a strong record of theoretical work across a wide range of important questions in ecology and evolution, including eco-evolutionary dynamics, sexual selection, reproductive evolution, and social population dynamics. His work combines diverse modeling approaches, including dynamical systems, game theory, and consideration of stochastic metacommunities. Dr. Lerch's ability to pull together a range of modeling and computational approaches allows him to build connections across ecology and evolution and apply novel theoretical tools that allow significant depth of analysis.

Additionally, the award committee wishes to recognize Dr. Hilde Schneemann (IST Austria) and Dr. Kuangyi Xu (U Toronto) as deserving of honorable mention.

SMTPB thanks the award committee chair Maria Orive and committee members Andrew Clark, Katia Koelle, and Frederick Adler.



Award Information

Scientific scope. SMTPB seeks to promote outstanding theoretical and modeling research in early-career scientists. This award recognizes outstanding theoretical or modeling research in any area of population biology, including demography, ecology, epidemiology, evolution, and population genetics. Nominees can be recognized for purely theoretical research or for research that involves theory and application; the recognition is given for excellence in the aspects that pertain to modeling and theory.

Eligibility. The award seeks to recognize outstanding theory researchers shortly after completion of the PhD. For the 2027 award, the official award date of the PhD must be between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2026. The number of years after the PhD can be extended in the case of personal circumstances such as parental leave; such circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The nominee does not need to be a member of SMTPB at the time of nomination.

Nomination. Nominations will be requested in a call to SMTPB members. Nominations will include:

-A 2-page nomination letter written by a nominator;

-A CV of the candidate;

-Two additional recommendation letters supporting the nomination;

-Copies of 1 to 3 articles that exemplify the nominee’s most outstanding modeling & theory work and that provide the basis for the nomination.

Eligible candidates who would like to be considered for the award are encouraged to seek out a nominator (e.g. PhD/postdoc supervisor). The nominator must be a member of SMTPB. All documents should be compiled into a single PDF document and submitted to info@smtpb.org. (Nominations currently closed.)

Prize. The prize amount is $1000.  

Process. An award committee appointed by the Board of Directors of SMTPB will select a winner from among the nominees. The committee might also choose to name one or more honorable mentions, or might choose not to make an award. Nominations will not be carried forward from one year to the next. With any questions, please contact info@smtpb.org.

The Society for Modeling and Theory in Population Biology is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

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