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ACM & SCS Doctoral Dissertation Awards

ACM Code of Ethics & professional conduct

ACM has implemented the following change to the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award nomination process:

CORE VALUES
  • Technical excellence
  • Education and technical advancement
  • Ethical computing and technology for positive impact
  • Diversity and inclusion 
GENERAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
  • Contribute to society and to human well-being, acknowledging that all people are stakeholders in computing
  • Avoid harm
  • Be honest and trustworthy
  • Be fair and take action not to discriminate
  • Respect the work required to produce new ideas, inventions, creative works, and computing artifacts
  • Respect privacy
  • Honor confidentiality

Related Resources

ACM Nomination Overview

  • ACM Nomination Details (ACM website)
  • Eligibility (for either award): Dissertations certified from October 1st, 2023 through September 30, 2024.
  • Nomination materials, including supporting letters, should be uploaded by Friday, September 13, 2024 (11:59PM ET) via the uploader available below.
  • We know ACM timing allows for theses certified after our internal deadline. Please contact Michelle directly if you anticipate nominating your advisee's thesis that will be certified between the internal SCS deadline of September 15th and September 30th.
  • Any CS-related thesis is eligible for consideration for the ACM award, including those of students in any SCS or ECE doctoral program. All SCS and ECE faculty are invited to submit nominations for these doctoral dissertation awards, following the procedures detailed on this page.
  • ECE nominated theses are only eligible for consideration for the ACM nominations.

Internal Nomination Overview

Important! Please note internal SCS Nomination Details that DIFFER from those on ACM's website.

  • SCS & ECE grant more than 10 doctoral degrees annually. SCS, through an agreement with ACM, manages the upload of two nominations each year.
  • Advisors should NOT nominate their student's thesis directly to ACM.
  • Selection Criteria: Dissertations will be reviewed for technical depth and significance of the research contribution, potential impact on theory and practice, and quality of presentation.
  • We expect the nomination sets for ACM/SCS to intersect, but not necessarily be the same. Moreover, the thesis chosen for the SCS Distinguished Dissertation Award may not necessarily be chosen to be one of the two sent as Carnegie Mellon's nominations to ACM.
  • Past recipients of the SCS Distinguished Dissertation Award
    Past recipients of the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award

Internal Nomination Requirements

PLEASE USE the downloadable Nomination Checklist (Fillable PDF)

  • Nominations for either/both awards should include:
  • 1. All items required in the ACM Submissions section at the bottom of their page: https://awards.acm.org/doctoral-dissertation/nominations should be uploaded by the internal deadline.
  • 2. We also request the nominated student's CV.
  • 3. We ask you confirm agreement from the department head to provide the endorsement letter ACM requires if your advisee's thesis is selected by the nominating committee.

    NOTE: This department head endorsement is in addition to the 3-5 endorsement letters.

    We will follow up directly with Dept. Heads for the endorsement letter to complete the nomination packet if the thesis is selected for ACM nomination.

  • 4. Please remember to select on the NOMINATION CHECKLIST which award(s) the nomination is for (ACM / SCS / both). The form should be uploaded as part of your packet.
When are the awards announced?
  • The SCS Doctoral Dissertation Award winner is announced at the beginning of November each fall semester, at the conclusion of the selection process.
  • The ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award *NOMINEES* are announced at the beginning of November at the same time as the announcement for the SCS award *WINNER*.
  • The ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award winner is announced by ACM in the spring, after the ACM selection process is completed and presented at the ACM awards celebration.

A note about endorsement letters
  • Each letter should include the name, address, and telephone number of the endorser.
  • All materials, including support letters, must be uploaded via this portal. Please provide letter writers a link to this page when requesting their endorsement.
  • Support letters should be uploaded by the SCS internal nomination deadline. They are read and used by the SCS Nominating Committee as part of the nomination and award process. The committee takes into consideration expert information provided in support letters to help determine the outcome of the SCS award in addition to the 2 nominations sent on to ACM.
  • Multiple files can be uploaded at once and this uploader can be used as many times as necessary until you have provided all packet items. In the same session, refreshing your browser window will enable additional uploads.

PLEASE NOTE: Items sent via email will not be processed. Please see below for instructions on uploading nominations.

Nomination materials that do not also have a checklist provided will be held from review until a Nomination Checklist is provided.