The SIGMOD Dissertation Award

SIGMOD has established the annual SIGMOD Dissertation Award to recognize excellent research by doctoral candidates in the database field. SIGMOD Dissertation Award winners and runners-up will be recognized at the SIGMOD conference, and their dissertations will be included in the SIGMOD DiSC and on the SIGMOD Online web site. The award winner will also receive a plaque and present his or her work together with the winners of the SIGMOD Innovations and Test of Time awards. Submitted dissertations must have been accepted by a university department in any country during the previous year, as detailed below.

Eligibility

Nominations are limited to one doctoral dissertation per department. Submissions must be received by the current chair of the SIGMOD Dissertation Award by December 15 of each year. Each submitted doctoral dissertation must be on a topic within the scope of SIGMOD's mission, i.e., large scale data management. Each nominated dissertation must also have been successfully defended by the candidate, and the final version of each nominated dissertation must have been accepted by the candidate's department on or after September 1 of the previous year. An English-language version of the dissertation must be submitted with the nomination. A dissertation can be nominated for both the SIGMOD Dissertation Award and the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award.

Selection Procedure

Nominated dissertations are reviewed for technical depth and significance of the research contribution, potential impact on theory and practice, and quality of presentation. A committee of seven individuals serving staggered four-year terms performs an initial screening to generate a short list, followed by an in-depth evaluation of the award committee of the dissertations on the short list. In a one day face-to-face meeting the award committee will identify the best dissertation and upto two runners-up.

The award committee will inform the candidates about the result of the selection procedure by April 15 of each year, to allow the three best candidates to be recognized at the SIGMOD conference that year. The name of the award recipient will only be publicly announced after the dissertation award session.

Submission Procedure

All nomination materials must be submitted electronically to the current chair of the SIGMOD Dissertation Award by December 15, and must be submitted in English. PDF format is preferred for all materials. Late submissions will not be considered. A nomination must include:

1. A nomination letter, written by the dissertation advisor of the candidate. This letter must include:
   • the name, email address, mail address, and phone number of the advisor,
   • the name, email address, and address of the candidate, and
   • a one- or two-page summary of the significance of the dissertation
2. An endorsement letter signed by the department head.
3. One PDF copy of the doctoral dissertation.
4. A signed statement from the nominee, giving permission for the dissertation to appear on the SIGMOD DiSC and at SIGMOD Online if the dissertation is selected as an award recipient.
5. Optionally, the nomination may include up to two supporting letters from other individuals, discussing the significance of the dissertation.

Award Committee

• Hans-Jöerg Schek, Chair
• Sophie Cluet
• Alberto Laender
• Gail Mitchell
• Beng Chin Ooi
• Tamer Özsu
• Kyu-Young Whang