Professor Stefan Helmreich's 2009 book, Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas, has been named the winner of the 2017 J.I. Staley Prize from the School of Advanced Research (SAR). The J.I. Staley Prize recognizes "innovative works that go beyond traditional frontiers and dominant schools of thought in anthropology" and which "add new dimensions to our understanding of the human species".