Eligibility:

• Junior Faculty or Research Scientists: Must have at least 3 years of post-doctoral experience.
• Postdoctoral Fellows: Must be currently working in an academic institution have received their doctoral degree more than 5 years ago (before April 2000).
• Korean Heritage: Applicants should be of Korean heritage.
• Experience in U.S. Institutions: Applicants should have up to 3 years (for junior faculty or research scientist) or 5 years (for postdoctoral fellow) of postdoctoral experience at U.S.-accredited colleges, universities, or U.S. Government laboratories as of the application deadline.
• Doctoral Degree: Must have a doctoral degree.
• Membership: Applicants must be active KSEA members. If you are not a member, you can become one here https://www.ksea.org/user/Application.aspx.

Award:

The Prof. Chin Ok Lee & Ms. Kwanghee Kim Award includes:

• One Outstanding Awardee: $5,000 an award certificate.
• Three Excellence Awardees: $1,000 each, along award certificates.

Submission Requirements:

Applicants must submit the following documents:

1. Curriculum Vitae (CV): No page limit. It should include education, work experience, publications, extracurricular activities, awards, involvement in KSEA Korean community activities. The CV must be in PDF format.
2. Essay: Describe your high potential for scientific excellence, current research plans, how they relate to your field in industry or academia (800 words limit).
3. Evidence of Doctoral Degree: Upload a scanned copy of your doctoral diploma or degree certificate (PDF format).
4. Two Recommendation Letters:
• The recommendation letter should be on official letterhead a signature (scanned letters are acceptable).
• The recommender’s email address must be affiliated an institution (personal email services such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail are not acceptable; an institutional email is required).
• Once the recommender’s information is included in the application, a link will be automatically sent to them for submission.
• The email addresses of recommenders cannot be changed once submitted.
5. No supplemental materials beyond the above will be accepted.

Deadline: February 27, 2026

Send all documents to NRC 2026 Scholarship committee (nrc.award@gmail.com) an email title of “NRC 2026 LKAward Application_your name”

Essay Guidelines:

• Title
• Abstract Category: (e.g., Basic Science, Medical Science, Computer Science, Chemistry, Science Education, Engineering, etc.)
• KSEA Membership ID Number

• Author(s)
• Affiliation: (e.g., Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065)
• Format: Maximum 800 words, Times New Roman, 12-point font
• Refer to the essay template for formatting details.

The awardees will be announced on the NRC homepage (https://nrc.kseany.org) also will be notified by email on February 27, 2026. All awardees must give a presentation at the NRC Conference on March 14, 2026.