About the Award

This award is open to students studying anywhere in the world who have completed a PhD dissertation with HPC as a central research theme. In this case, HPC refers to the study or application of computational capabilities delivering much higher performance or larger scales than could be accomplished with a desktop or simple server system in order to solve large problems. 

To qualify for the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, the dissertation must:

• Have been successfully defended (or accepted by the committee if no defense is required) during the calendar year 

• Be submitted in the final form that was accepted by the department

• Be submitted in English

The award is presented during the annual SC conference. The awardee is recognized with a $2,000 cash prize, a plaque, and travel support to SC.

How to Nominate

Current Deadlines & Nomination Form

Nominations open: March 15, 2024

Nominations close: April 26, 2024

Winners announced: August 2024

Nominators can begin the process at the online nomination form. 

Nomination Guidelines

To be considered for the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, a nomination must meet the following requirements for eligibility:

• The candidate's PhD dissertation must

  • Have HPC as a central theme of the research (see below).

  • Have been successfully defended (or accepted by the committee if no defense is required) during the previous calendar year.

  • Be submitted in the final form that was accepted by the department.

  • Be submitted in English.

• The nominator must 

  • Be (or have been) the candidate’s advisor or a member of his/her dissertation committee.

  • Have coordinated with the head of the academic department that granted (or will grant) the student's degree to ensure only one dissertation from the department granting the degree to the student is being nominated.

  • Complete the online nomination form.

• The candidate must provide a current curriculum vitae and copy of their dissertation, along with some basic information on the candidate online form. The URL for this form is provided to the nominator, who will then provide it to the candidate.

• The nominator, candidate, and endorser(s) must each submit their required materials prior to the deadline. By ACM policy no extensions will be made for any reason.

For this award, HPC refers to the study or application of computational capabilities delivering much higher performance or larger scales than could be accomplished with a desktop or simple server system  in order to solve large problems. Examples include: libraries or languages to support parallelism; software tools for HPC environments; techniques or systems to support large-scale computation (including high-performance networks, computers, and data management systems); techniques or systems for large-scale visualization or analytics; tools for improving the performance of HPC systems; techniques or tools to manage HPC workloads.

Nominations will be evaluated on technical depth, the significance of the research contribution, the potential impact on theory and practice, and overall quality of work.

In accordance with ACM policies on conflict-of-interest, the following are ineligible to serve as nominators or endorsers:  

• officers of ACM

• members of the selection committee for this award.

Don't forget to read the FAQs for helpful information. 

What the Nominator Provides

The nominator must complete the online form, providing basic information and a statement addressing why the candidate's dissertation should be recognized with this award, and how it fits into the field of HPC. The nominator will also provide a suggested citation should the nomination be accepted. 

Once the nominator has submitted the appropriate information, they will be directed to contact the candidate and provide them with the URL to the candidate information form shown upon successful completion of the nomination form. It is the nominator's responsibility to provide this information to the candidate; there is no automated system. 

Nominators can begin the process at the current online form..

What the Candidate Provides

The candidate will complete the form at the URL provided to them by the nominator. Candidates may not self nominate, and they must get this URL from their nominator. As part of completing this form the candidate will be asked to upload (a) a curriculum vitae, and (b) the dissertation itself. Only PDF files will be accepted. 

Once the candidate has submitted the appropriate information, they will be directed to contact their endorser(s) and ask them to email their endorsement(s) (PDF files preferred) to dissertation@sighpc.org. The candidate is responsible for making this contact themselves and following up with endorser(s) to ensure they submit before the deadline; there is no automated system. Applications must have a minimum of one endorsement, and may have up to three (3) endorsements.

What the Endorser Provides

Each endorser (minimum of 1, maximum of 3) provides basic information indicating how they know the candidate and expressing what they find to be the impact and relevance of the candidate’s dissertation work. Endorsements are limited to a maximum of one page each, and may be emailed to the committee at dissertation@sighpc.org. PDF files are preferred.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the winners be notified? What about non-winners?

Each nominator will be contacted with the results during June of award year. It will be their responsibility to inform the nominees and/or endorsers of the outcome. Note that SIGHPC only contacts nominators; students should request status information from the advisor.

Does "xxx" count as HPC?  

HPC is defined here. Our interpretation is very broad and meant to reflect the diversity of our field. The award committee is the sole arbiter of what is or is not an appropriate topic.

Is there any restriction on the student's field of study?

There are no restrictions on the student's field of study. However this award recognizes research that advances the theory or practice of HPC as a discipline; it does not recognize the application of HPC to a specific disciplinary area. So a new parallel math library would be an appropriate topic, while writing a new application that uses existing HPC tools and hardware in a new way in a specific discipline is not appropriate.

What are the membership requirements for the nominator, endorser(s), and the student?  

There are no membership requirements for the candidate, endorser(s), or the nominator. Remember that neither officers of ACM nor members of the selection committee for this award can nominate or endorse nominations. 

Can the nominator also be an endorser?  

No. The nominator must be the student's advisor or a member of the student’s doctoral dissertation committee, while an endorser must be someone else who knows the student's work well.

What is the limit on nominations from a single department?

The nominator must have coordinated with the head of the academic department that granted (or will grant) the student's degree to ensure only one dissertation from that department is being nominated. The departments of the nominator or an endorser is not relevant to this limit.

Does the department limitation apply to nominators or to the candidate? 

The restriction is that only one (1) nomination may be submitted by the department from which the student received (or will receive) their diploma. There is no limitation on the activity of nominators, provided they meet all the requirements of nominators for each student nominated.

I'm a nominator, how do I get started with my nomination?

Nominators may begin the nomination process by completing the online form, linked from the How to Nominate page.

I'm a nominator and I've lost the URL I was supposed to give the candidate.  

If you've lost the candidate form URL please send a request for this information to dissertation@sighpc.org.

How do my endorsers provide their endorsements?  

Endorsers should email their endorsement letters, 1 page maximum, to dissertation@sighpc.org. You might wish to suggest the cc you so that you know they have completed their part of the nomination process. Remember that each application must have a minimum of one (1) endorsement, and may have up to three (3) endorsements.

My candidate (or endorser) didn't complete their part of the process before the endorsement. Can we have an extension?  

By ACM policy, no extensions will be granted for late materials. No exceptions.

Will there be feedback if the nomination is unsuccessful?  

This is an award, not a submission-and-review process. ACM's policy is that no individual feedback can be given to award nominators, since it might give them an unfair advantage.

What if my question isn't listed here? 

If you're a student, discuss your concerns with your advisor or nominator. Faculty often know the answers from dealing with research proposals or fellowships or will be able to find out by looking at the website (nomination websites can be hard for students to interpret correctly). If there's still a question, we invite advisors to contact us directly at dissertation@sighpc.org.