About
the Student Research Competition
• Program
Overview
• Participation
Requirements
• Timeline
• Submitting
your Work
• General
Judging Criteria
•
Open
Calls for Submissions
The ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), sponsored by Microsoft
Research, offers a unique forum for undergraduate and graduate students
to present their original research at well-known ACM sponsored and
co-sponsored conferences before a panel of judges and attendees.
There are two rounds of competition at each conference hosting an
SRC and a grand finals competition:
First
Round Competitions
The first round is usually referred to as the Poster Session. This
is your opportunity to present your research in the areas specified
in the conference’s first Call for Submissions. Judges will
review the posters and speak to participants about their research;
a group of semi-finalists will be chosen to present at the second
round of the competition.
Second
Round Competitions
Semi-finalists continue by giving a short presentation of their
research before a panel of judges, with a supporting power point
presentation. Evaluations are based on the presenter’s knowledge
of his/her research area, contribution of the research, and the
quality of the oral and visual presentation. Three winners will
be chosen in each category, undergraduate and graduate, receiving
$500, $300, and $200, respectively.
The SRC Grand Finals
All undergraduate and graduate student winners from the SRCs held
during the year advance to the SRC Grand Finals. A different panel
of judges evaluates these winners against each other via the web.
Three undergraduates and three graduates will be chosen as the SRC
Grand Finals winners. They are invited, along with their advisors,
to the annual ACM Awards Banquet, where they receive formal recognition.
Judging
Judges will include professional computer scientists attending the
conference activities. Each student will be evaluated by a minimum
of three faculty members, none of whom are affiliated with the student's
university.
Past Winners
Click
here to see winners from past ACM Student Research Competitions
“Never
had I been able to converse with so many professors from so
many top programs at one time, and know that my participation
in such a prestigious event will help me in my pursuit of
a graduate degree.”
Michael Ford, MOBICOM SRC |
Participation
Requirements
| 1. |
Participants must be currently
enrolled in a university or college and have active ACM
student membership |
| 2. |
Only individual research is accepted:
group research projects will not be considered. |
| 3. |
Qualifying research areas are those
covered by the conference; these are specified in the conference’s
call for papers. For the SIGCSE Student Research Competition,
qualifying research areas are those areas not already covered
by other SIG-based competitions held during the same program
year. |
| 4. |
Students may only participate in one
SRC per program year (July 1-June 30). Students that have
applied to an SRC, but have not been accepted, may respond
to other SRC calls for participation during the program year.
|
Timeline
| 1. |
Call
for Submissions
Each conference hosting an SRC will have a Call for SRC Submissions,
usually posted about 5 months in advance of the conference.
This usually entails an abstract of no more than 800 words,
sent directly to the SRC chair for that conference. |
| 2. |
Selection of
Participants
The conference chooses academics and/or industry professionals
to review submitted abstracts. These reviewers use an evaluation
form that is based upon standard conference reviewer forms.
Abstracts receiving the highest reviews will be invited to
compete in the first round of the competition at the conference,
also known as the Poster Round. See
the "For Students" section about travel rewards. |
| 3. |
First Round
of Competition, “The Poster Session”
A special session for the SRC will be announced once students
arrive at the conference. Each student will prepare
a poster for this round. Specifications on poster size
and content are defined by individual SRC chairs. Students
are expected to discuss their work with evaluators who visit
their presentation areas. Each evaluator will rate the student's
visual presentation based on uniqueness of the approach, the
significance of the contribution, visual presentation, and
format of presentation. See General
Judging Criteria for more information.
The evaluator's results will determine the semi-finalists
for the undergraduate and graduate categories. The list of
semifinalists will be posted within an hour of the closing
of the first round. |
| 4. |
Second Round
of Competition, “The Presentation Session”
A separate session is scheduled for semifinalists to give
a ten minute presentation followed by a five minute question
and answer period. This session will be attended by the evaluators
and any interested conference attendees. The top three finalists
in each category will be chosen based on these presentations.
|
| 5. |
Announcement
of Three Finalists in Each Category (undergraduate and graduate)
This usually takes place at a well-attended session of the
conference. Each student will receive their monetary prize
and their plaque after the conference. Winners of the SRC
Grand Finals are recognized at the Annual ACM Awards Banquet,
usually held in June. ACM will pay the expenses for award
winners and their faculty advisors. |
| 6. |
The Grand Finals
The undergraduate and graduate finalists from all SRCs for
the program year compete in the Grand Finals. Students must
submit to ACM headquarters an overview of their research that
adheres to the format of problem & motivation, background
& related work, uniqueness of the approach, and their
results & contributions. This submission must be in html
format with no external links or external style sheets and
should not exceed 4,000 words.
Evaluations are conducted online by faculty and/or industry
professionals associated with the ACM SRC Committee. Winners
are announced in time for ACM’s Awards Banquet, usually
held in June. ACM will pay the expenses for award winners
and their faculty advisors. |
Submitting
Your Work
The SRC chairs at each SIG conference draft their own calls for
submissions/participation. Students must email an abstract of their
work to the respective SRC chair, and those who are chosen to attend
the conference must create a poster and presentation based on specifications
set by the SRC chairs. To see the open calls for submissions and
contact information for SRC chairs, please click
here.
“I
was very much impressed with the quality of the judging panel
since they were all people at the top of their fields and
they gave me very good feedback on the work which I presented.”
Trevor Parsons, OOPSLA SRC |
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