CRA-WP Presents the Inaugural Skip Ellis Early Career Award and the 2020 Anita Borg Early Career Award

CRA-WP is honored to present the 2020 CRA-WP Awards for both the inaugural Skip Ellis Early Career Award and the Anita Borg Early Career Award.

Tawanna Dillahunt of the University of Michigan and Michel A. Kinsy of Boston University have been selected as the inaugural 2020 Skip Ellis Early Career Award recipients.

The Skip Ellis Early Career Award honors the late Clarence “Skip” Ellis, who was the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in computer science and the first African-American to be elected a Fellow of the ACM. This award is given annually by CRA-WP to a person who identifies as a member of a group underrepresented in computing (African-American, Latinx, Native American/First Peoples, and/or People with Disabilities), who has made significant research contributions in computer science and/or engineering and has also contributed to the profession, especially in outreach to underrepresented demographics.

Olga Russakovsky of Princeton University has been selected as the 2020 Anita Borg Early Career Award recipient.

The Anita Borg Early Career Award honors the late Anita Borg, who was an early member of CRA-W (before it became CRA-WP), and is inspired by her commitment to increasing the participation of women in computing research. The annual award is given to a woman in computer science and/or engineering who has made significant research contributions and who has contributed to her profession, especially in the outreach to women.

This year, recognition was warranted beyond the award winners and two nominees are receiving the Distinction of Honorable Mention. 

Cindy Rubio González of the University of California Davis is recognized by both the Anita Borg Early Career Award and the Skip Ellis Early Career Award committees for a joint Honorable Mention. 

Carole-Jean Wu of Arizona State University is recognized by the Anita Borg Early Career Award committee. 

CRA-WP is proud to celebrate the growing representation in computing research by highlighting both Rubio González and Wu for their significant contributions and outreach in the field. It is encouraging to see the growth in the excellent computing researchers from diverse backgrounds committed to scholarly excellence and equal opportunity. 

Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination for this year and we hope to see many more in the next cycle.