CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award

THIS APPLICATION IS FOR CS STUDENTS ONLY.

This award program recognizes undergraduate students in North American colleges and universities who show outstanding potential in an area of computing research. The award is primarily about research. While it is expected that successful nominees will have excellent academic records and will have engaged in some form of service (e.g., club leadership, teaching, peer tutoring), excellence in research is the primary consideration.

Eligibility. Students enrolled as undergraduates in North American colleges or universities in Fall 2022 are eligible.

Departments that grant Ph.D.s in a computing field may nominate up to four students per year.

In addition to recognizing excellence in undergraduate research, CRA is committed to broadening the participation of individuals in traditionally underrepresented groups in computing fields. CRA recognizes that students in different academic environments have different opportunities for research. The selection committee will consider these factors in its evaluation; nominations can describe these factors in nominees’ personal statements or recommenders’ letters. CRA strongly encourages departments to consider all aspects of diversity when selecting their nominees.

Up to four CRA Undergraduate Researcher Awards will be made each year. Each award recipient will receive financial assistance of up to $1,500 to attend a research conference of their choice. In addition, some nominees will be designated as runners-up, finalists, and honorable mentions. The award recipients, runners-up, finalists, and honorable mentions will be announced by e-mail in mid-December, will receive certificates of their awards, and will be recognized on CRA’s website.

Complete details: https://cra.org/crae/awards/cra-outstanding-undergraduate-researchers/#Nominators

Award
$1,500
Deadline
Supplemental Questions
  1. Request a letter of recommendation from a faculty member familiar with your work (we recommend your advisor). The recommender does not need to be from the CS department. PLEASE NOTIFY THEM THAT YOU ARE REQUESTING A LETTER NOW, LETTERS ARE DUE MON 10/10 - they are sent the request from Blackbaud when you submit your application. We want to give them as much time as possible to write their letters.
  2. Do you identify as any of the following:
  3. Please upload a SINGLE .pdf titled "Last Name_First Name_CRA Undergrad Award Fall 22" (example: Gorrie_Hannah_CRA Undergrad Award Fall 22) containing the following: 1) Your resume (2 page maximum) which should contain information on the nominee’s academic record and service, and it must indicate each research project in which the nominee has been involved. For each such project, the resume should include specific information. 2) Your research summary. (750 word max) The research summary gives the nominee the opportunity to describe research project(s) in detail. While the award committee comprises computer science professors, it’s likely that most of them will not have expertise in the specific field in which the nominee worked. So, while one can use well-known concepts without defining them (e.g., names of data structures and terms like “NP-completeness”, “compiler”, or “k-means clustering”), one should imagine writing to a computer science professor who works in a different subdiscipline. 3) Your personal statement: (300 words max) should address interests and activities outside of research (e.g., club leadership, teaching, peer tutoring) and/or special circumstances or adversity that the student has confronted. 4) Your unofficial transcripts. SEE "WHAT STUDENTS PREPARE" for complete details: https://cra.org/crae/awards/cra-outstanding-undergraduate-researchers/#Nominators
  4. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and broadening participation in computing (BPC) are an important part of the UIUC CS mission. Please write a brief paragraph telling us how DEI figures into your past and present teaching, research, community engagement, and your lived experience? How do you imagine incorporating attention to DEI into your future work?
  5. To the best of my knowledge, I have not committed any action that violates the UIUC Student Code or the CS Department Values and Code of Conduct.