John W. Stanford Award

The Stanford Award highlights the crucial role that dental standards play in patient health and safety and in the efficacy of dental products.

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Learn more and apply for the 2025 John W. Stanford New Investigator Award for Dental Product Standards Research below.


Information about the award

About the award

The John W. Stanford New Investigator Award was designed to encourage dentists and dental students to conduct standards-based research and standards development. Dental standards are developed by dental professionals to establish specific technical, performance and/or safety requirements for dental products.

Eligibility

Dental students and dentists who have earned their dental degree no earlier than 2018 and dentists pursuing an additional degree or specialty are eligible to apply for the John W. Stanford New Investigator Award. Permissible application submissions for the John W. Stanford Award include:

  • an original standards-related research report of no more than 3000 words and completed within the academic year 2021-2023 but not published;
  • a standards-related article published within the academic year 2021-2023; or
  • a standards-related extended abstract or poster developed within the academic year 2021-2023. The abstract should include extended detail on methods and discussion sections.

All submissions must include an explanation in 250 words or less of how the research incorporates current dental product or materials standards and/or contributes to the development of those standards in addition to the research submission. See flyer for additional details.

Prize details

The awards committee and the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs will select the winner which will be announced in January of 2024. The winner will receive $1,000, domestic airfare and a three-night hotel stay to present their award-winning paper at the ADA SCDP and U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 106 on Dentistry Meeting in New Orleans in March 2024. The winner will also be announced in the ADA's member publication, ADA News and their paper will be eligible for publication.

About John W. Stanford

The namesake of this award, the late Dr. John W. Stanford, was a pivotal force in dental standards development for more than 40 years and was responsible for the establishment of the ADA's current standards program.

Past recipients of the Stanford award

2022: Ali Abdallah, “Merlon Test to Assess the Machinability of High-Strength CAD/CAM Dental Polymers”

2021: William "Bo" Key, “Fracture Toughness and Fractal Analysis of Ceramic Benchmark Materials”

2019: Emily Wible, "Long-term Effects of Different Cleaning Methods on Copolyester Retainer Properties"

2018: Claudie Pascal, "A Laboratory Model to Evaluate Tooth Bleaching Efficacy in Stained vs Non-Stained Human Teeth"

2017: Cassandra Winterrowd, "Fixation Screw Torque versus Bone Integration for Swine TMJ Implants"

2016: Haitem Naas, "Effect of Surface Treatment on Porcelain Bond Strength to Titanium"

2015: Nathaniel Lawson, "Depth of Cure of Bulk Fill Composites with Monowave and Polywave Curing Lights"