ACM-W Rising Star Award Nomination

The ACM-W Rising Star Award recognizes a woman whose early-career research has had a significant impact on the computing discipline, as measured by factors such as frequent citation of their work, creation of a new research area, a high degree of technology transfer, and/or other positive influences and societal impact. The award will be given annually, and the recipient will receive a framed certificate and a $1,000 stipend.

[Previous Award Winners]

Important Dates:

  • Nominations will open on October 15, 2022, and close on November 30, 2022
  • One award recipient will be selected by February 28, 2023.

Eligibility Criteria:

  • Must be an ACM Member at the time of nomination
  • Must be within 10 years of receiving her terminal degree
  • Must NOT have previously received the Rising Star Award

ACM-W celebrates, supports, and advocates for all women in computing. This award is open to anyone who identifies as a woman (trans- or cis-woman) or non-binary person in computing.

We encourage self-nominations. However, If you have been recognized with a similar early career award, please consider nominating someone else whose accomplishments deserve celebration.

Selection Criteria:

  • The candidate will have achieved early career visibility in her field of Computing as evidenced by publication citation counts, news media coverage, inventions, patents, or other demonstrable measures of societal impact.
  • Applicants from interdisciplinary fields within Computing (e.g., Bioinformatics, Human-Computer Interaction, Data Science, etc.) are welcome to apply. However, the technical contributions made to the field of Computing must be emphasized in the application.

Required Application Materials:

  • Please complete the application form.
  • Two letters of endorsement are required. One letter will be provided by the person nominating the candidate. In the case of self-nominations, two external letters will be requested. The deadline for letters of endorsement is two weeks after the nomination deadline (December 14, 2022).

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • Does the nominee have to have a Ph.D. or be in academia to be eligible?

We welcome applicants from academia, industry, and governmental positions. Therefore, a Ph.D. is not required. However, we restrict eligibility to within 10 years of one’s terminal degree to make sure that we recognize early career women rather than mid to late-career professionals in Computing.

  • What is the process for selecting an award recipient?

The awardee will be chosen by five selection committee members. Four committee members will vote on candidates, and in the event of a tie between two or more candidates, the committee chair’s vote will serve as a tiebreaker. Applicants will not receive feedback on their applications but will be notified of the winner in February 2023.

  • How will the recipient receive the award?

The winner will be recognized at an ACM conference of their choosing, pending the approval of the program committee for that conference. The ACM-W Chair or his/her designee will be in attendance to present the award. If the recipient would like to receive the award at a non-ACM sponsored conference, that would need to be discussed with the ACM-W Chair and the respective conference chairs.

Restrictions: Per ACM’s conflict of interest policy, ACM-W Rising Star Selection Committee Members are not eligible to apply for this award, nor are they permitted to nominate or endorse any candidates.

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Andrea Goldsmith for her donation, which was used to establish this award.

If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact the ACM-W Rising Star Award Committee Chair: Pamela Wisniewski, pamela.wisniewski@vanderbilt.edu.

On behalf of the ACM-W Rising Star Selection Committee: Pamela Wisniewski (Chair), Lilia Georgieva, Heli Helskyaho, Bimlesh Wadhwa, Tao Xie, and Raghavendran Hanumantharau.