The Stan Czamanski Prize

This statement invites submissions for consideration of the Stan Czamanski
Prize recently established by the RSAI. The Prize is awarded every year at
the North American Meetings beginning in 2015 based on submissions by June
30. However, in 2015 an extension to September 30, 2015 has been agreed to. 

 

Ph.D. students whose dissertation proposals were "defended and approved"
during the period July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 are eligible to apply for
this award. Submissions may be sent to [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]> . Submissions received after September 30, 2015 will
be returned. 

The Stan Czamanski Prize is awarded by the Regional Science Association
International in memory of Professor Stan Czamanski, an early recipient of a
Ph.D. in regional science (1963), a member of the University of Pennsylvania
regional science faculty (1963-1966), a member of the regional science
faculty of Cornell University (1966-1988), and a past-president of the
Regional Science Association (1975-1976).

1.      The annual prize is awarded to author of the best Ph.D. dissertation
proposal judged to exemplify the philosophy and approach of Professor
Czamanski, as described below.
2.      The US$1,000 prize is awarded to the student and a plaque to the
student's advisor.
3.      The selection will be made by a panel of three persons: a senior and
long-standing member of the regional science community, a representative of
the field of Regional Science at Cornell and a member of the RSAI Council. 
4.      Students writing dissertations on problems in regional science from
around the world are invited to enter the competition, in the spirit of
Stan's all-embracing philosophy.
5.      The award is presented at the North American Regional Science
Meetings.

Rules of the competition

Applications are to be submitted by June 30 of each year. To be eligible,
the dissertation proposal must have been defended and approved during the
past 12 months.

Each applicant will submit the following:

1.      A statement in six pages or less that clearly sets out the research
question(s) and issues to be addressed, approach to be used, and product
expected from the dissertation research. The six-page limit is exclusive of
references, tables and figures. This text and references should be in 12
point or larger font and single-spaced. In addition, a summary (maximum one
page) describing the intellectual merit of the proposed research and why the
proposed approach may be regarded as implementing Professor Czamanski's
philosophy and approach, as described below.
2.      A curriculum vita of no more than two pages.
3.      Copies of the candidate's transcripts for all graduate study.
Unofficial copies are acceptable.
4.      A separate, confidential letter from the dissertation supervisor
assessing the quality and significance of the proposed dissertation
research.

Philosophy and Research Approach of Professor Stan Czamanski

 

In his Introduction to Regional Science (Prentice-Hall, 1975, p. 2), Walter
Isard wrote:

 

"In brief, regional science as a discipline concerns the careful and patient
study of social (science) problems with regional or spatial dimensions,
employing diverse combinations of analytical and empirical research." 

 

Professor Czamanski's research exemplified the analysis of social problems
with regional and spatial dimensions. In doing so, he chose judiciously the
right combination of analytical and empirical research methods from his tool
box to address the specific issue at hand. Many of his papers illustrated
how particular combinations of methods could be used most aptly to study
particular problems.

 

Dissertation proposals submitted for the Stan Czamanski Prize will be judged
with regard to how the student proposes to bring an appropriate combination
of analytical and empirical methods to bear on a social problem with spatial
or regional dimensions, and how this combination of methods is expected to
deliver greater insights into the problem in question.

 

Reference

 

Czamanski, S. (1976) The evolving epistemology of regional science,
Presidential address, Papers, Regional Science Association, 37, 7-17.

 

Attachment: The Stan Czamanski Prize_first_year.doc
Description: MS-Word document

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