2017 ACM Student Research Competition Winners Announced
Microsoft Grant Helps Computer Science Students Present Research at Conferences around the World
NEW YORK, June 13, 2017 – The winners of the 2017 Grand Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition were recently announced, culminating a year-long competition involving more than 330 computer science students who presented research projects at 24 ACM conferences. Kazem Cheshmi from Rutgers University, Omid Abari from MIT and Calvin Loncaric of the University of Washington took the top three positions among graduate students. Victor Lanvin from ENS Paris Saclay, Jennifer Vaccaro of Olin College of Engineering, and Martin Kellogg from the University of Washington took the top three places among the undergraduate ranks.
Microsoft sponsors the SRC by providing travel grants of up to $500 to allow exemplary computing students to attend and present their research at major ACM computing conferences around the world. Through the Student Research Competition, each participating student has the unique opportunity to listen in on conference sessions, gain a new understanding of the practical applications of computer science scholarship, and share their own research with other students, conference attendees and eminent scientists and practitioners. For most students, the ACM Student Research Competition is their first introduction to the premier computing research conferences.
“Microsoft is delighted with the strong participation of students around the world and congratulates the 2017 student winners. To achieve the greatest level of success in the field of computing, students must not only be capable of conducting exemplary research, but also be able to communicate the results of their work and share their vision for its real-world application,” said Evelyne Viegas, Director of Artificial Intelligence Outreach at Microsoft Research. “The SRC provides a forum for students to learn from their peers, gain insights from established professionals, and have their research and communication skills assessed and improved by a panel of judges.”
Judges assess each presenter’s demonstrated knowledge, the caliber of student contributions to the research and the overall quality of their oral and visual presentations. The most successful student researchers move through the competition’s stages. In the first stages, their research posters and Microsoft Powerpoint presentations are evaluated for content and presentation. During the Grand Finals, the students share a written 4,000-word description of their work before the final step of the competition, when an entirely new panel of judges evaluates each student’s complete body of work and selects the overall winners. SRC winners are invited to the annual ACM Awards Banquet, to be held this year on June 24 in San Francisco.
The 2017 Student Winners are:
Graduate Category
First Place: Kazem Cheshmi, Rutgers University, ACM CGO 2017 Conference, for his research project, Decoupling Symbolic from Numeric in Sparse Matrix Calculations
Second Place: Omid Abari, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ACM MobiCom 2016 Conference, for his research project, Cutting the Cord in Virtual Reality
Third Place: Calvin Loncaric, University of Washington, ACM FSE 2016 Conference, for his research project, Cozy: Synthesizing Collection Data Structures
Undergraduate Category
First Place: Victor Lanvin, ENS Paris Saclay, ACM POPL 2017 Conference, for his research project, Gradual Set-Theoretic Types
Second Place: Jennifer Vaccaro, Olin College of Engineering, ACM ICCAD 2016 Conference, for her research project, Applying Computer Modeling to Post-Silicon Electrical Validation
Third Place: Martin Kellogg, University of Washington, ACM FSE 2016 Conference, for his research project, Combining Bug Detection and Test Case Generation
About the ACM Student Research Competition
The ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), sponsored by Microsoft, 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. The SRC is s a joint venture of ACM and Microsoft, which has provided generous funding of $120,000 per competition year for this event since 2003. The top three undergraduate and graduate winners at each SRC receive prizes of $500, $300, and $200, respectively (USD), an award medal and a one-year complimentary ACM student membership with a subscription to ACM’s Digital Library.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
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