This article is published in the June 2021 issue.

CRA-WP Presents the 2021 CRA-WP Early Career Awards Honoring Skip Ellis and Anita Borg

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CRA-WP is honored to announce the recipients of the 2021 Skip Ellis Early Career Award and Anita Borg Early Career Award.

KoyejoSanmi Koyejo of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has been selected as the 2021 Skip Ellis Early Career Award recipient. This year, recognition was warranted beyond the award winner, and Shiri Azenkot of Cornell University was selected to receive the Distinction of Honorable Mention for this award. CRA-WP is proud to celebrate the growing representation in computing research by highlighting Shiri Azenkot for her significant contributions and outreach in the field. 

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.

FinaleFinale Doshi-Velez of Harvard University has been selected as the 2021 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 the profession, especially in the outreach to women.

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.