[Equal] ACM Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics

[Sabine Susstrunk]

Dear all

Below you will find the call for nomination for the ACM Eugene L. Lawler 
Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and 
Informatics. Highlights are:

- the person being nominated does NOT have to be a computer scientist, 
but must have used computer science, technology, and/or informatics in 
the large (inclusive sense) to do good. A group can also qualify, it 
does not have to be an individual.

- the deadline is November 30th.

I would appreciate it if you think of someone (some group) deserving to 
nominate them. Note that it would really be nice to have strong women 
candidates ;-)

thanks and best regards - sabine süsstrunk

_________________________________________________

The ACM is currently accepting nomination for the Lawler award for 
Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics. 
Nominations will be accepted until November 30, 2009. For a list of 
previous award recipients visit www.acm.org/awards.

Eugene L. Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer 
Science and Informatics

This award is to recognize an individual or a group who have made a 
significant contribution through the use of computing technology. The 
award is intentionally defined broadly. The professional credentials of 
the recipient(s) are not important. The recipient(s) need never to have 
earned a degree or published a paper, or even be considered to be a 
computer professional. The emphasis of the Award Committee will be on 
the significance of the contribution itself, within the prescribed areas 
of technology for humanitarian contributions in the field of computing.

Some examples of the types of contributions that this award is created 
to recognize are: technology for social justice, access to education, 
economic empowerment, application of computer technology to aid the 
disabled; creative research concerning intellectual property issues; 
expansion of educational opportunities in Computer Science for women and 
underrepresented minorities; application of computers or computing 
techniques in the developing countries.

This ACM award was established in honor of Eugene Lawler who was a 
professor at UC Berkeley. Eugene Lawler was a unique individual in 
computing who was concerned not just about technology but about social 
justice, improvement of humanity, and the questions of how technology 
influences and shapes society and social structures. Can technology be a 
force for good and fairness? Gene's interest in inclusion led him to 
pioneer the first women's re-entry program,  which created an 
educational path for talented women to return to school and pursue a 
degree in computer science. His influence on the entire Berkeley 
curriculum was unusual as he created courses that dealt with 
technology’s ability to influence politics, government, and social 
institutions. In short, he was a role model for fairness and equity and 
asked all of us to ponder these issues and think about our roles as 
technologists in our evolving social, political, and economic world.

Nominations will be accepted until November 30, 2009. They should be 
submitted to the chair,  Nina Bhatti,  at nina.bhatti at hp.com. The 
submission should include:

1) Name, email, mailing address, and phone number of person making the 
nomination.

2) Name, email and mailing address of candidate for whom an award is 
recommended.

3) A statement (between 200 and 500 words long) as to why the candidate 
deserves the particular award.

4) The name(s) and address(es) or telephone number(s) of others who 
agree with the recommendation and their supporting statements.