2018 ACM Student Research Competition Winners Announced
Microsoft Grant Helps Computer Science Students Present Research at Conferences around the World
NEW YORK, June 21, 2018 – The winners of the 2018 Grand Finals of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition (SRC) were recently announced, culminating a year-long competition in which 381 computer science students presented research projects at 26 ACM conferences. Meng Li of the University of Texas at Austin; Jon Gjengset of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Daniel George of the University of Illinois took the top three places among graduate students. Tiancheng Sun of the University of California, San Diego; Patrick Thier of the Institut fur Computersprachen Technische Universitat Wien; and Ayush Kohli of Southern Illinois University took the top three spots among undergraduates.
Microsoft sponsors the SRC by providing travel grants of $500 to allow exemplary computing students to attend and present their research at major ACM computing conferences around the world.
“ACM is grateful to Microsoft for its ongoing support of the ACM Student Research Competition,” said ACM President Vicki L. Hanson. “For most participating students, the SRC is their introduction to participating in premier computing research conferences. Through the competition, they have the unique opportunity to attend 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.”
Evelyne Viegas, Director of Artificial Intelligence Outreach at Microsoft Research, said, “Microsoft is delighted with the strong participation of students around the world and congratulates the 2018 SRC student winners. The Student Research Competition makes it possible for students to experience the intellectual energy and innovative spirit that are characteristic of ACM conferences. These young people have the opportunity to interact with established mentors who provide them with professional guidance and to build a network of peers in a forum which makes it easy for them to learn from each other and improve their experiences. Students learn the field’s standards for well-developed research, as well as how to most effectively communicate their ideas. The best evidence of the SRC’s impact is drawn from the numerous testimonials of former student participants who describe the educational value and positive memories of their involvement.”
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 23 in San Francisco.
The 2018 Student Winners are:
Graduate Category
First Place: Meng Li, University of Texas at Austin, ACM ICCAD 2017 Conference, for his research project, A Synergistic Framework for Hardware IP Privacy and Integrity Protection
Second Place: Jon Gjengset, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), ACM SOSP 17 Conference, for his research project, Xylem: Dynamic, Partially-Stateful Data-Flow for High Performance Web Applications
Third Place: Daniel George, University of Illinois, SC17 Conference, for his research project, Deep Learning for Time-series Signal Processing for Real-time Gravitational Wave Detection and Parameter Estimation: Results with Real LIGO Data
Undergraduate Category
First Place: Tiancheng Sun, University of California, San Diego, ACM SIGGRAPH 2017 Conference, for his research project, Attribute-Preserving Gamut Mapping of Measured BRDF’s
Second Place: Patrick Thier, Institut fur Computersprachen Technische Universitat Wien, ACM CGO 2018 Conference, for his research project, Fast and Flexible Instruction Selection with Constraints
Third Place: Ayush Kohli, Southern Illinois University, ACM FSE 2017 Conference, for his research project, “DecisionDroid: A Supervised Learning-Based System to Identify Cloned Android Applications
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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