CRA selects winners of Undergraduate Awards

The Computing Research Association is pleased to announce the results of the first CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Awards competition. We would like to acknowledge the support of Microsoft Corp. as the sponsor of the first year of this program.

Awards are presented in two categories: Outstanding Female Undergraduate and Outstanding Male Undergraduate. Candidates were nominated by their departments, which were allowed to nominate no more than one candidate in each category. Nominees had to be majoring in computer science, computer engineering or an equivalent program.

"These award winners exemplify the many outstanding young men and women working toward careers in computer science and computer engineering," CRA Board Chair David Patterson said. "Their contributions will provide the necessary scientific and technical foundations for building an advanced information infrastructure and help put it to productive work."

The Selection Committee, consisting of Ruzena Bajcsy of the University of Pennsylvania, Daniel Huttenlocher of Cornell University and Maria Klawe of the University of British Columbia (committee chair), was impressed by the high quality of the candidates. In addition to choosing an overall winner in each category, the committee recognized a small number of runners-up and several candidates deserving honorable mention.

Outstanding Female Undergraduate

Winner:

* Diane Tang, Harvard University, computer science

Runners-up:

• Lynn Sock-Eng Chua, Arizona State University, computer systems engineering
• Mandana Vaziri-Faharani, Carnegie Mellon University, electrical and com- puter engineering

Honorable mention:

• Teresa Chen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, electrical engineering and computer science
• Mauria Finley, Stanford University, computer science
• Archra Kalra, University of Pittsburgh, computer science
• Svetlana Kryukova, California Institute of Technology, computer science
• Amoolya Singh, Carnegie Mellon University, computer science
• Susan Thrane, University of Texas at Arlington, computer science engineering
• Tina Wong, University of Washington, computer science
• Ke Yee Yeung, University of Waterloo, computer science

Outstanding Male Undergraduate

Winner:

* Bryan Ford, University of Utah, computer science

Runners-up:

• Ian Goldberg, University of Waterloo, computer science
• Michael Leventon, Cornell University, computer science
• Avrom Pfeffer, University of California at Berkeley, computer science

Honorable mention:

• James Clough, University of Idaho, computer science
• Joseph Felder, Temple University, computer and information sciences
• Stephen Freund, Stanford University, computer science
• Steve Gribble, University of British Columbia, computer science
• Michael Katchabaw, University of Western Ontario, computer science
• Ramon Lawrence, University of Manitoba, computer science
• Patrick (Chris) Leger, Carnegie Mellon University, electrical and computer engineering
• Quaid Morris, University of Toronto, computer science
• Frank Anderson (Andy) Smith, North Carolina State University, computer science

Special recognition

The Selection Committee decided to make a special, one-time recognition of an outstanding nominee: Andris Ambainis from the University of Latvia. Because CRA membership is restricted to North American organizations, the competition is limited to students enrolled in North American institutions. Unfortunately, the competition announcement did not mention this restriction. Ambainis was the only nominee from outside North America but was such an impressive candidate that the committee believed that, in view of the omission in the announcement, it was appropriate to provide special recognition for him. Future competition announcements will clearly indicate the restriction to North American students.