Awards: Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award

Call for Nominations Now Open!

Professor Denice Denton (1959 – 2006) was a pioneer in many respects: a woman engineering faculty, who became the first female Dean of a School of Engineering in a major US Research University (University of Washington, Seattle); worked throughout her life to give minorities a voice and to make engineering attractive to women and minorities; strongly promoted diversity in higher education; and helped many people break barriers and find their path in life. To honor her life and career, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) has established the Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award.

The inaugural Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award was presented in 2007 to Rachel Pottinger, Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. The 2008 Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award was presented to Naomi Chesler, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin. The 2009 Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award was presented to Nadya Mason, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The annual award will be presented at the 2010 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on September 28 – October 2, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Selection Criteria

The award will be presented each year to a junior tenure-track (non-tenured) faculty member (under the age of 40) at an academic or research institution, who is pursuing high-quality research in any field of engineering or physical sciences, while demonstrating a significant leadership capability and contributing significantly to promote diversity in his/her environment.

Required Materials

Nomination requires the following and must be submitted electronically. Only completed submissions will be considered by the committee.

• Summary: 30 word (maximum) summary of the nominee and project, for the selection committee to use for identification purposes.
• Curriculum vitae or résumé
• Statement of merit between 2 – 3 pages. File uploads can be in PDF, postscript, MS Doc, or ASCII text. The statement must include short bio(s) of the nominated person(s) and address the following issues:
  • Describe the impact and how it was measured.
  • Was the action taken with respect to a specific situation?
  • What motivated the nominee(s) to take action?
  • Did he/she/they encounter any significant challenges?
• At least two letters of reference from professional contacts

The curriculum vitae or resume, statement of merit, and letters of reference must be in PDF, postscript, Microsoft Word, or ASCII text available for upload. You will also submit contact information on the same nomination form. You may be asked to provide additional information or clarify information at the request of the committee chairperson.

Schedule

• Application deadline: April 29, 2010
• Award recipient notified by: June 7, 2010
• Awards celebration in Atlanta, Georgia: September 30, 2010.

Denice Denton Award Committee

Reza Ghodssi, Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor and Director, Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, Chair

Leslie Field, Consulting Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University; Founder and Managing Member of SmallTech Consulting, LLC.

Viola Vogel, Professor, Department of Materials, and Director, Laboratory for Biologically Oriented Materials, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich)

Amy Wendt, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison

QUESTIONS?

Please contact Christine Chiu – christinec at anitaborg dot org

FAQ’s

Can multiple candidates from the same institution be nominated?

Only one nomination per institution per year will be allowed.

What is the age limit? What if someone is close to that age?

The age limit has been changed to age 40. If you have a nominee that is within one or two years of the limit, please nominate them.