Rising Star Award Nomination 2024-25

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 commemorative plaque and a $1,000 stipend.

[Previous Award Winners]

Important Dates

  • Nominations open on October 20th, 2024.
  • Nominations close on January 17th, 2025.
  • Reference letters deadline January 31st, 2025.
  • One award recipient will be selected by March 14th, 2025.

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.
  • Should not have received a similar award recognizing the applicant’s research or technical contributions. Preference will be given to applicants without recent recognition.

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.

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.
  • Applicants without recent recognition will be given precedence.

Application Material

  1. Please complete the application form.
  2. 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. ACM-W will contact the references provided by the nominator to request these letters. The deadline to receive the letters of endorsement is two weeks after the nomination deadline.

To complete the application, you will need the following items:

  • Nominee’s Contact Information, including ACM Membership Number.
  • Nominator’s Contact Information and Letter of Endorsement (Not applicable for self-nominations)
  • Email Addresses of 1-2 references who will submit Letters of Endorsement. (Two letters will be required for self-nominations)
  • Nominee’s Employment Information (place of employment, position/title, primary field)
  • Nominee’s 2-page CV, with all previous awards listed.
  • Nominee’s key technical contributions to the field of Computing (Max 2,000 characters)
  • Demonstration of the nominee’s early career visibility in their field (Max 2,000 characters). For candidates in academia, this may include citation counts, publications, or other scholarly work. For industry or government agency candidates, this may include patents or other contributions.
  • Nominee’s Demographic Information (gender, terminal degree, date conferred, country of residence)

Note: Since we are using Google Forms with the upload functionality, a Google sign-in is required. As an alternative, you may reach out to the Standing Committee Chairs for a document version of the application, which you can then submit with the required PDF files. Their emails are listed in the FAQ below.

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 by March 14, 2025.

  • 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.

  • I have additional questions, who shall I reach out to?

You can reach out to the ACM-W Rising Star Committee Chair Silvia Abrahão with additional questions at sabrahaoATdsicDOTupvDOTes

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.