CRA Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award

The CRA Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award recognizes individual faculty members who have provided exceptional mentorship, undergraduate research experiences and, in parallel, guidance on admission and matriculation of these students to research-focused graduate programs in computing.

Eligible nominees are full-time faculty members at North American academic institutions. Faculty members include tenured and tenure-track faculty, instructors, and professors of the practice. Current members of CRA-E are not eligible to be nominated or to serve as the nominator.  A nominee must be nominated by a faculty member or a researcher in the computing field.

The award will be given annually, and multiple recipients may be chosen.  The selection committee will give appropriate consideration to different types of schools and mentors at different stages of their careers. Winners are notified by early February. Awardees of the CRA Undergraduate Faculty Mentoring Award may elect to receive the award at a conference of your choosing. Alternatively, awardees may elect to be presented the award at the annual CRA Summit. The awardees will receive travel support to attend the conference at which they accept the award.

Evaluation criteria

The committee will evaluate the evidence of: sustained undergraduate advising and student mentoring during the most recent 10 years (being sensitive to the size of the program) including the details on the student career paths (e.g., students enrolling in research-oriented M.S. or Ph.D. programs or students pursuing other research-oriented career opportunities); professional development provided to the students mentored; and impact and success of the students’ research.

Guidelines for Nominators

The application includes the following items:

The nomination letter (not to exceed 3 pages). The letter should describe the nominee’s undergraduate research mentoring activities, the nominee’s mentoring philosophy, and specifics on the preparation of students for research and graduate school. It must include:

• The number of undergraduate students mentored and the period over which mentoring took place (as well as students’ career paths after graduation).
• The current number of undergraduate CS majors in the nominee’s department.
• A description of the nominee’s mentoring and research approach and the climate created.
• A statement about the undergraduate CS student body in the nominee’s department.

Curriculum Vitae. Please provide a complete CV of the nominee (in PDF)

Supporting material. Please use this spreadsheet to compile information about students mentored.
Up to two supporting letters may be submitted from individuals who within the most recent 10 year period were mentored by the nominee as undergraduates and who have matriculated to graduate programs.
A letter from a departmental representative addressing the nominee’s impact on the department is expected but not required.

Questions and inquiries should be directed to: mentoring_awards@cra.org