Intent:
The HEMI lifetime achievement award honors particularly noteworthy contributions to university-level academic makerspaces and making over their career. This award honors outstanding leaders (academics and practitioners) who have made significant contributions to the advancement of HEMI principles and philosophy. These individuals represent the most influential minds in the field. The Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed upon an individual by HEMI. The expectation with this award is that it is given when there is clearly a candidate that passes the bar. At most one award per year will be given in this category.
Criteria and eligibility:
The Lifetime Achievement Award is intended for individuals with at least 10 years of documented accomplishments in the field of academic making and makerspaces. The case for an award must be able to demonstrate the individual is responsible for significant, tangible impact on a large number of individuals, and/or programs/organizations beyond their home university. To be eligible, a candidate must be a faculty, staff member, or other professional equivalent:
- Currently appointed, and active at a university
- Currently actively involved in a profession that is central to academic making and makerspaces
- Retired after a substantial career of many years (10+) that included the two previous bullet points
Application process and deadline:
Consideration for a lifetime achievement award begins with an application that may be submitted by any two HEMI members, or a mixed team of two or more of the following: university student, faculty, staff member – as long as at least one staff member or one faculty has attended 2 or more of the preceding 4 ISAM conferences. Applications may not be submitted by teams of only students, or only staff, or only faculty. Self-applications, and application teams that include the candidate, will not be considered.
For 2025, applications are only accepted via email of an application package to culpepper@mit.edu by Friday, July 11th, 2025, 11.59pm US Eastern.
An application package must consist of the following components, in the following order, collated within one PDF.
- Cover page with one paragraph summarizing the qualifications and listing the name and emails of the application team
- 2 page max summary of candidate’s qualifications (not written by the candidate) with emphasis on long-term efforts/impact
- 3 letters of recommendation, no more than 1 may come from inside the candidates home university/institution
- 1 page letter from the candidate acknowledging that they wish to receive the award and will attend ISAM if awarded
- Copy of candidate’s curriculum vitae/resume (max 3 pages)
Selection:
Applications will be considered the first week of July and an interim decision on awardee(s) will be announced shortly thereafter. Interim decisions are only converted into actual awards after the candidate accepts the award at ISAM. To be formally awarded the LAA, the candidate must attend ISAM. The candidate may not designate another to receive the award in their absence. Candidates that do not meet the preceding condition will not officially be awarded the LAA and lose the interim designation.
Recognition:
The Lifetime Achievement Award winner receives:
- Complimentary free room at the conference hotel and complimentary registration the year they receive the award
- Recognition during that conference, including a personalized plaque
- Photo and bio on the HEMI Lifetime Achievement Award webpage
- Recognition in the International Journal of Academic Making and Makerspaces
