ACM SIGEVO Dissertation Award

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2022

Latest version of this call here:
https://sig.sigevo.org/index.html/SIGEVO+Dissertation+Award

The SIGEVO Dissertation award will recognize excellent thesis research by doctoral candidates in the field of evolutionary computing. Dissertations will be reviewed for technical depth and significance of the research contribution, potential impact on the field of evolutionary computing, and quality of presentation. The SIGEVO Best Dissertation award will be given annually to a maximum of 1 winner and a maximum of 2 honorable mentions. The award presentation will take place at the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) awards ceremony in July.

The award will carry a monetary value, contributed by SIGEVO,  of $2,000 to be awarded to the winner and $1,000 to each of the honorable mentions. The award winner and honorable mentions will each receive a beautiful plaque. 

Read about the 2021 awards here: https://evolution.sigevo.org/issues/HTML/sigevolution-14-3/home.html#h.5fojihv8zyon

Eligibility

Eligible dissertations must have been successfully defended and deposited in the previous calendar year (January to December).

Nominations are welcomed from any country, but only English language versions will be accepted.

Each nominated dissertation must be on any topic relevant to evolutionary computing.  The determination of whether a thesis is within the scope of the award will be made by the SIGEVO Dissertation Award Committee.  A dissertation can be nominated for both the SIGEVO Dissertation Award and the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award.

Decision Deadline

The SIGEVO Dissertation Award Committee will make a recommendation to the Chair of SIGEVO by May 1 of each year.  Upon approval of the recommendation by the executive board of ACM SIGEVO, the chair will inform the winner and honorable mentions, if any.

Submission Procedure

All nomination materials must be submitted electronically to the current chair of the SIGEVO Dissertation Award Committee (Manuel López-Ibáñez <manuel.lopez-ibanez@uma.es>, please ask for confirmation) by the submission deadline, in English. PDF format is preferred for all materials. Late submissions will not be considered. The nomination must come from the dissertation advisor(s); self-nomination is not allowed.

Nomination for the award must include:

1. An English language copy of thesis, in legible pdf format. 

2. A statement from the advisor(s), limited to 2 pages, addressing why the nominee’s dissertation should receive this award.  This statement should discuss the significance of the dissertation in depth. 

3. Three (3) letters of support (in addition to the nomination letter) limited to a maximum of 2 pages each. Supporting letters should be included from other experts in the field who can provide additional insights or evidence of the dissertation’s impact. If a letter writer is supporting more than one nomination in a year, they may be asked to rank those nominations. At least two letters must come from experts outside the nominee’s university.

4. A list of publications by the nominee.

5. Suggested citation: This should be a concise statement (maximum of 50 words) describing the key technical contribution for which the candidate merits this award. Final wording for awardees will be at the discretion of the SIGEVO Dissertation Award Committee.

Contact

For any questions, please contact the SIGEVO Dissertation Award Committee Chair:

Manuel López-Ibáñez  http://lopez-ibanez.eu