Nominations Open for 2024 CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award
By Denys Poshyvanyk (Selection Committee Co-Chair, College of William & Mary) and Gary Holness (Selection Committee Co-Chair, Clark University)
The CRA-E Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award recognizes individual faculty members who have provided exceptional mentorship, undergraduate research experiences and, in parallel, guidance on admission and matriculation of these students to research-focused graduate programs in computing.
Eligible nominees are full-time faculty members at North American academic institutions. Faculty members include tenured and tenure-track faculty, instructors, and professors of the practice. Current members of CRA-E are not eligible to be nominated or to serve as the nominator. A nominee must be nominated by a faculty member or a researcher in the computing field.
Nominations are due November 24, 2023. Winners will be notified by early February 2024.
Click here to view the 2023 award winners and here to view the FAQs.
The award is given annually, and multiple recipients may be awarded. The selection committee will give appropriate consideration to different types of schools and mentors at different stages of their careers. The awardees will receive travel support to attend the meeting at which they accept the award.
Evaluation Criteria
The committee will evaluate the evidence of:
- Undergraduate student mentoring during the most recent 10 years (being sensitive to the size of the program) including the details on the student career paths (e.g., students enrolling in research-oriented M.S. or Ph.D. programs or students pursuing other research-oriented career opportunities)
- Professional development provided to the students mentored
- Diversity of students
- Impact and success of the students’ research
The 2024 selection committee includes:
- Denys Poshyvanyk (William & Mary), Co-Chair
- Gary Holness (Clark University), Co-Chair
- Monica Anderson (University of Alabama)
- Renee Bryce (University of North Texas)
2023 Award Recipients
Dr. Yi-Chieh (Jessica) Wu is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Harvey Mudd College (HMC). Her research develops and applies computational and mathematical models to study evolutionary biology. Wu has consistently provided students with high-quality, high-impact research experiences. She has mentored 29 undergraduate research students since joining the Harvey Mudd faculty in 2014, 28 of whom have already graduated and 10 of whom have gone on to PhD programs at schools including MIT, UC Berkeley, University of Washington, and Penn, among others.
Dr. William Wang is an Associate Professor at the Computer Science Department at UC Santa Barbara. He is also the Mellichamp Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Designs and Director of UCSB’s Center for Responsible Machine Learning. He has mentored over 60 undergraduate students at UCSB, including 13 female and under-represented students. Among those, 32 mentored students entered a graduate research program in computing, and 12 were enrolled into top Ph.D. programs at Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, Duke, ETH, Michigan, UPenn, UCSB, and USC.
Dr. Nanette Veilleux is a professor in the Computer Science and Informatics department at Simmons University. Her research interests include primary research in computational models of speech, as well as investigations of pedagogical methods in STEM education. She has mentored over 450 undergraduate students at Simmons. Among those, 15 mentored students entered graduate research programs at Rice University, Northeastern University, Boston University, Brandeis, Dartmouth and London School of Economics and Political Science among others.
