Awards as ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

K

Kasina

Registered Users (C)
HI All,

Can awards like 1. Postdoctoral Fellowships (though hard to get, USCIS
doesn't accepts it for Awards criteria)
2. Best poster/Travel Awards at an international conference
3. Institutional Research Excellence
be used in support of recognition for the "Original contributions" criteria in addition to the reco letters....

Instead of claiming the above (atleast the #1) for the awards criteria, I would like to claim these for "Original contributions" to make it strong.

Any ideas on whether or not we can do this way

Thanks a lot
Kasina
 
I am assuming your are applying for EB1-EA, is this correct?

As far as using your awards for the award criteria:
#1 is not an award and will not be recognized as such
#2: is this a nationally recognized award? Is it only awarded for excellence? Is it open to everyone in your field to apply?
#3 : Same as #2

The criteria for this are stringent.

As far as using them for original contributions: how do you think it strengthens your case to use them that way. In other words in what way are they original contributions?
 
#1 Postdoctoral Fellowships: I agree, can't able to claim for AWARDS criteria.
#2&3 Best Poster/Travel Awards: Can't claim for AWARDS criteria.

"Evidence of the alien’s original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field"-----one of the criteria for EB1
I have seen others in the forum using just the recommendation letters to claim this criteria. But, for some IO is giving an RFE for claiming this criteria with just the letters. So, why not we provide additional evidences (in addition to letters) to successfully claim this criteria.

#1, 2, 3 are given for the original scholarly/research work we present at scientific meetings/for fellowship applications. These are reviewed by peer-reviewers in the academic field. So, why not we claim these as a recognition for the "original scientific or scholarly research contributions to the academic field"....

This is just my thought. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
You are right. These days the post-doc awards are not considered of much weight and they just rebutt it saying it is a typical career path of a Phd Grad or Scientist.
But, as you said...you can use all these awards to support your original contributions criteria. this will perfectly fit there and this criteria will be easily satisfied with these awards as support material.

Regards,
Sulpha
 
I think you can try to use them as support. In addition to the Reco letters USCIS is mainly interested in seeing your publication list and more importantly your citations. Lacking that is you can show that your work has made a difference to other scientist: i.e they are using your work in their own research, that have changed the way they work because of you etc. I don't think adding your awards to this criteria can harm it. I don't know how much weight it holds by itself.
 
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