The S. Rains Wallace Dissertation Award recognizes the doctoral dissertation that best exemplifies the scientific knowledge development, practical relevance, and rigorous research methods that are core to I-O psychology.
The winner of the award will receive a plaque and a cash prize of $1,000.
Administrative Procedures
- At least five members of the SIOP Awards Subcommittee will review and evaluate the nomination package of each nominee and recommend an award winner to the SIOP Executive Board
- The Awards Subcommittee will make a recommendation to the Executive Board of SIOP about the award-winning dissertation. If appropriate, an honorable mention may be recommended for this award. The honorable mention recipient will receive a certificate.
- The Executive Board may either endorse or reject the recommendations of the Awards Subcommittee but may not substitute recommendations of its own.
- In the absence of a dissertation that is deemed deserving of the award by both the Awards Subcommittee and Executive Board, the award may be withheld.
Criteria for Eligibility
Dissertation summaries will be evaluated in terms of the following criteria:
- The degree to which the research addresses a phenomenon that is of significance to the field of I-O psychology.
- The extent to which the research shows appropriate consideration of relevant theoretical and empirical literature.
- The scientific quality of the research.
- The extent to which the author offers reasonable interpretations of the results.
- The extent to which the research yields information that is both scientifically and practically relevant.
Call for Nominations
Nomination Guidelines
- Nominees must be a SIOP member.
- The nominated dissertation must have been accepted by the graduate college two years or less before June 20th of the nomination year. A dissertation can only be nominated once for this award.
- The nomination package must include a summary of the dissertation without any information that identifies the author. Summaries are limited to a maximum of 30 double-spaced pages (including title page, abstract, text, tables, figures, and appendices; but excluding the reference list). Margins should be 1 inch and font should be 12 point. All aspects of the summary must adhere to APA formatting guidelines. This means that the title page and abstract each are on their own page and each table and figure is on its own page. Submissions in violation of these formatting requirements will not be considered.
- The dissertation summary should include the formulation of research questions and hypotheses from relevant literature; the description of research methods in sufficient detail to allow for an assessment of the capacity of the research to yield valid inferences; and the author’s interpretation of research results, inferences about the implications of the research, and suggestions for future research.
- A separate title page must be submitted with the name of the nominee, the nominee’s current address and phone number, and the institution where the nominee conducted the dissertation work.
- The nomination package also must include a letter from the nominee’s dissertation chair that specifies the date of acceptance of the dissertation by the graduate school and certifies that the submitted summary adequately represents all aspects of the completed dissertation. The letter should only state this information, as additional information highlighting the recipient’s achievements is not viewed by the committee because it is a masked award.
- When submitting the nomination materials, nominators will also be asked if the nominee is being investigated, or has been found responsible, for misconduct prohibited in SIOP’s Anti-Harassment Policy and to provide a brief explanation if this is the case.
Current Award Recipients

Jenna McChesney
Award Type
Achievement & Best Paper Awards
Previous Award Recipients
Hyunsun Park
Georgia Institute of Technology
2024
Tianjun Sun
Rice University
2023
Yi-Ren Wang
Asia School of Business
2022
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