[Event at CIG] McCune PhD Award, Bledsoe IJCAR Travel Awards

[geoff at cs.miami.edu]

The Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning 2024 Second Call for Nominations
http://cadeinc.org/McCune-Award

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Automated Reasoning is the area of Computer Science dedicated to applying reasoning in the form of logic to computing systems. The Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning distinguishes each year a PhD thesis defended the previous year, for its substantive contributions to the field of Automated Reasoning, its theory, its implementation, and/or its application on important problems. The award is named after the American computer scientist William Walker McCune, known for his contributions in the fields of Automated Reasoning, Algebra, Logic, and Formal Methods. He was the implementer of OTTER, Prover9 and Mace 4, automated tools for first-order reasoning which are known to this day for their accuracy and robustness. He was also known for his generosity towards research colleagues and as a great supporter of young researchers in the field.


* Eligibility *

Eligible for the award are those who successfully defended their PhD
- at an academic institution;
- in the field of Automated Reasoning; and
- in the period from 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2023.

The PhD students supervised or co-supervised by the Expert Committee members are not eligible.

* Nomination *

Candidates for the award must be nominated by their supervisor(s) and one additional independent researcher who reviewed/examined the thesis. Nominations are to be submitted via email sent to c.fuhs at bbk.ac.uk, by:

    ***5 April 2024 (Anywhere on Earth).***

The nomination must consist of one compressed file (.zip) containing:

- a letter from the supervisor(s) describing why the thesis should be considered for the award and the relationship of the contributions to CADE/IJCAR;
- a report from the nominating additional independent researcher who reviewed/examined the thesis;
- the thesis itself;
- a copy of the PhD diploma; and
- a copy of relevant papers by the nominee, if any, containing results published in the thesis.

* Procedure *

The thesis will be evaluated with respect to its quality, originality and (potential) impact to the field of Automated Reasoning.

- The nominations will be evaluated and compared by an international Expert Committee (see below).
- The procedure to be followed is analogous to the review phase of a conference. The justification by the supervisor and the nominating additional independent researcher report will play an important role in the evaluation.
- The final decision is made by the Expert Committee at least one month before CADE/IJCAR is being held.
- The award consists of a certificate announcing the winner to have received the Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning. The award will be announced at the respective year's CADE/IJCAR. The nominators of the winner will also receive a copy of this certificate. The recipient of the award is expected to attend the award ceremony.
- The decision of the Expert Committee is final and cannot be appealed.

* Expert Committee *

The Expert Committee, consisting of leading researchers in Automating Reasoning, is formed by the board of CADE Trustees with the aim to reflect the broad diversity in the area of Automated Reasoning. It is announced with the call for nominations, and thus formed before this call. The decision on the award is taken by the Expert Committee. The Expert Committee can seek additional expertise, even after the submission deadline for nominations. Expert Committee members cannot nominate a PhD student. Expert Committee members cannot contribute an independent report seconding a nomination.

The Expert Committee for the Bill McCune PhD Award 2024 consists of the following people:

- Haniel Barbosa, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
- Pascal Fontaine, University of Liege
- Carsten Fuhs, Birkbeck, University of London (chair)
- Laura Kovacs, TU Wien
- Claudia Nalon, University of Brasilia
- Philipp Ruemmer, University of Regensburg
- Martina Seidl, Johannes Kepler University
- Viorica Sofronie-Stokkermans, University of Koblenz
- Rene Thiemann, University of Innsbruck
- Sophie Tourret, Inria - LORIA

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The Woody Bledsoe Award honors the memory of Woody Bledsoe [1],
for his contributions to mathematics, artificial intelligence,
and automated theorem proving, and for his dedication to students.
The award is intended to enable selected students to attend the
12th International Joint Conference on Automated Reasoning
(IJCAR 2024), by covering part of their expenses.

Applications are sollicited for the Woody Bledsoe Award 2024.
Preference will be given to students who play an active role in
the conference (including satellite workshops and competitions)
and the SAT/SMT/AR Summer School [2] and who do not
have alternative funding.

A nomination consists of a recommendation letter of up to 300 words
from the student’s advisor. It should be received by email
at the address ijcar2024 at inria.fr <mailto:ijcar2024 at inria.fr>
by April 28, 2024.

Winners of the award are chosen by a committee consisting of the
PC chairs of IJCAR 2024 and the local organizers. The awards will
be presented at the conference.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Bledsoe
[2] https://sat-smt-ar-school.gitlab.io/www/2024/