Significant advances in prevention science are often due to a team of individuals working closely together across many years. In recognition of the importance of the collaborative process to the field, the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) will sponsor a friendly competition amongst teams of early career researchers for the honor of bringing home the traveling Sloboda and Bukoski SPR Cup for the 2016-2017 academic year. The Cup is named for two of the founders and long time active members of SPR, Dr. Zili Sloboda and Dr. William Bukoski. The Cup competition is an opportunity for an unique experience: several independent teams of scientists, each working with the same data set, problem solve together for a brief period of time and then jointly present the results of their work to each other and to a panel of senior prevention scientists and the SPR membership.
Competition
The competition will take place on June 1, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Two months before the meeting, each team will receive the competition data set. Leading up to the meeting, each team will conduct a literature review, generate hypotheses, conduct analyses, and thoroughly prepare for a 10-minute symposium talk on their results. Teams will present their results during a highlighted, invited symposium at the SPR annual meeting. A panel of senior prevention scientist judges and the audience at the symposium will rate the quality of the research work and of the presentation. The highest scoring team will be recognized and awarded the 2017 SPR Cup during the SPR Awards Ceremony.
Team 1: Always Running Late(nt). Melissa Dvorsky, MS, Virginia Commonwealth University, Heather McDaniel, MA (captain), University of Southern Carolina, Stephen Molitor, MS, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Amanda Fairchild (mentor), PhD (mentor), University of Southern Carolina
Team 2: #Squadratic Functions. Rachel Garthe, PhD, (captain), Sireen Irsheid, MSW, Marion Malcome, MSW, Sadiq Patel, MSW, Franklin Cosey-Gay, MPH, and Deborah Gorman-Smith, PhD, (mentor), University of Chicago
Team 3: Vincere Geomyidae. Megan Coleman, BA, (captain), Carolina De La Rosa Mateo, BA, Subin Jang, MPH, Teddy Nam, MPH, and John Connet (mentor), University of Minnesota
Team 4: The Significant Others. Eleanor Dizon, BS (captain), Crystal Lederhos Smith, MS, Senait Tekle, MS, Benjamin Bayly, PhD, and Brittany Rhoades Cooper, PhD, (mentor), Washington State University