A nomination is officially a submission on behalf of the department chair, but it may be prepared and submitted by a designated representative for the chair. The nomination form includes a prompt to upload the following:

• One letter of recommendation from a faculty member (not to exceed three pages in length). The faculty recommender need not be from the same department or institution as the nominee.  The letter should discuss:
  • The problem that the nominee worked on, its significance to the field and/or society, and what was challenging about the work done.
  • The specific tasks/contributions to this research project that the student performed.  For example, did they do data collection, data analysis, algorithmic development, algorithmic implementation, paper writing, etc.
    • The awards committee needs to understand and evaluate the individual contributions of the nominee, so it is important to be both precise and specific about the nominee’s contributions. If the nominee collaborated with other individuals, distinguish between their contribution, the contributions of others, and the overall team’s accomplishments.
  • Nominators are also encouraged to address:
    • What makes this student stand out from other research students, perhaps in terms of research and in community engagement or personal experiences (e.g., club leadership, teaching, peer tutoring)
    • What opportunities the student took advantage of outside of your group that demonstrate development of research skills or engagement in research.
    • How the student showed leadership and/or independence in research or in other ways.
• Materials prepared by the student (these are described in detail under the “What students prepare” section), including:
  • A resume (up to two pages)
  • A summary of research (up to 750 words)
  • A personal statement (up to 300 words)
  • Academic Transcript(s)

A nominee is expected to share the following documents with their nominator: a resume, a research summary (not to exceed 750 words in length), a personal statement (not to exceed 300 words), and an academic transcript.

Resume: Resumes should not exceed two pages in length. A resume should contain information on the nominee’s academic record and service. It should also indicate the nominee’s involvement in research project(s). For each project the student has participated in, the resume should include:

• a few sentences describing the project,
• the name(s) of the research mentor(s),
• the institution where the research was conducted,
• complete citations of publications arising from this research (if any),
• and, for manuscripts currently under review (if any), the titles and the venues to which they are submitted.

Research Summary: The research summary (not to exceed 750 words) gives the nominee the opportunity to describe research project(s) in detail. While the award committee is comprised of computer science professors, it’s likely that most of them will not have expertise in the specific field in which the nominee worked.  So, while one can use well-known concepts without defining them (e.g., names of data structures and terms like “NP-completeness”, “compiler”, or “k-means clustering”), nominees should imagine they’re writing to a computer science professor who works in a different sub-discipline.

It’s important for the summary to explain the research problem, its significance to the field and/or society, and what was challenging about the work. It should also describe the problems the nominee worked on and why. It should also discuss tasks directly performed by the student (e.g., idea generation, data collection, data analysis, algorithmic development, algorithmic implementation, paper writing, etc.). If the nominee collaborated with someone, the summary should indicate their individual contributions. The awards committee should be able to understand and evaluate the individual contributions of the nominee, so it is important for nominees to be both specific and precise. Situations where the nominee took a leadership role and/or showed independence in their work are of particular interest.

Personal Statement:  The personal statement (not to exceed 300 words) should address the student’s interests and activities outside of research (e.g., club leadership, teaching, peer tutoring) and/or challenges encountered with respect to getting and staying involved in research.

Academic Transcript: While excellence in research is the primary consideration for this award, all students must submit an academic transcript from their institution. Most institutions allow students to order copies of transcripts online, by mail, or in person via the office of admissions or registrar’s office.

Once the nomination materials are complete, the department chair (or an authorized representative) should complete and submit the nomination form.

The nomination form will ask for:

• Information about the nominator
• Information about the student
• A single-file PDF with the faculty recommendation letter and students materials

If you have trouble accessing the form (https://form.jotform.com/232405320726144), please reach out to our team at undergradawards@cra.org.