Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning, Call for Nominations

[Pascal Fontaine]

Automated Reasoning is the area of computer science dedicated to
applying reasoning in the form of logic to computing systems.  The Bill
McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning distinguishes each year a PhD
thesis defended the previous year, for its substantive contributions to
the field of Automated Reasoning, its theory, its implementation, and/or
its application on important problems.  The Bill McCune PhD Award in
Automated Reasoning is named after the American computer scientist
William Walker McCune.

* Eligibility *

Eligible for the award are those who successfully defended their PhD
- at an academic institution;
- in the field of Automated Reasoning;
- in the period from January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020 (for the 2020
award);
- in the period from January 1, 2019 - December 31, 2019 (for the 2019
award).

The PhD students supervised by the Expert Committee members are not
eligible.

* Nomination *

Candidates for the award must be nominated by their supervisor(s) and
one additional independent researcher who reviewed/examined the thesis.
Nominations are to be submitted via EasyChair, by March 15, 2021, using
the link:
https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=mccuneaward20192020

The nomination must consist of a single PDF file containing
- a letter from the supervisor(s) describing why the thesis should be
considered for the award and the relationship of the contributions to
CADE/IJCAR;
- a report from the nominating additional independent researcher who
reviewed/examined the thesis;
- the thesis itself;
- a copy of the PhD diploma;
- and copy/copies of CADE/IJCAR papers of the nominee, if any,
containing results published in the thesis.

The thesis will be evaluated with respect to its quality, originality
and (potential) impact to the field of Automated Reasoning.

* Procedure *

- The nominations will be evaluated and compared by an international
Expert Committee (see below).
- The procedure to be followed is analogous to the review phase of a
conference. The justification by the supervisor and the nominating
additional independent researcher report will play an important role in
the evaluation.
- The final decision is made by the Expert Committee at least one month
before CADE/IJCAR being held.
- The award consists of a certificate announcing the winner to have
received the Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning. The award
will be announced at the respective year's CADE/IJCAR. The nominators of
the winner will also receive a copy of this certificate.
- The decision of the Expert Committee is final and binding, and not
subject to discussion.

* Expert Committee *

The Expert Committee is formed by the board of CADE Trustees with the
aim to reflect the broad diversity in the area of Automated Reasoning. 
It is announced with the call for nominations, and thus formed before
the call for nominations.  The Committee for the Bill McCune PhD Award
2019 and 2020 consists of the following people:

- Nikolaj Bjorner, Microsoft
- Pascal Fontaine, University of Liege
- Carsten Fuhs, Birkbeck, University of London
- Cezary Kaliszyk, University of Innsbruck
- Claudia Nalon, University of Brasilia
- Giles Reger, The University of Manchester
- Giselle Reis, CMU-Qatar
- Andy Reynolds, The University of Iowa
- Uwe Waldmann, MPI for Informatics

The Expert Committee can seek additional expertise, even after the
submission deadline for nominations.