World’s largest computing society launches new award to recognize researchers from historically underrepresented communities

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, today announced that it has initiated the Luiz André Barroso Award to recognize researchers from historically underrepresented communities who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. 

The ACM Luiz André Barroso Award will be given annually, and the winner of the award will give a one-hour invited talk at a major ACM conference of their choice. A video of the talk will be made available on the ACM website. The award carries a cash prize of $40,000 and includes travel expenses to the conference, plus an additional $10,000 cash contribution to an approved charity of the awardee’s choice. Financial support for the Luiz André Barroso Award is provided by Google.

About Luiz Barroso
Luiz André Barroso was a Brazilian computer engineer who pioneered the design of the modern data center. Barroso spent more than two decades at Google, rising to the position of Vice President of Engineering in the Core and Maps teams, and as a technical leader in areas such as Google Search and the design of Google’s computing platform.

Barroso, who grew up in a diverse community, was a strong supporter of equal opportunity for everyone and observed that his most effective teams included members from various backgrounds. He was a role model for numerous computer scientists and recruited many women and other individuals from historically underrepresented communities in tech who subsequently made strong contributions to the field.

Nomination Process
Successful nominations will demonstrate a sustained and/or enduring contribution to the computing community, in the engineering of deployed systems, in research, in publication, or in leadership.

Nominations will also be evaluated by the candidate’s demonstrated commitment to making the tech industry more inclusive. Nominations may focus on an important body of contributions over a significant period of time, or one particularly influential contribution.

Nominations will be reviewed for the quality and impact of the candidate’s achievements.

Nomination information for the ACM Luiz André Barroso Award can be found here. For questions on the above, please contact us at acm-awards@acm.org.

Next Deadline
The nomination deadline is December 15, 2024 – end of day, anywhere on earth (AoE), UTC -12 hours.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

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