ACM Luiz André Barroso Award

Overview

This award celebrates researchers from communities historically underrepresented in computing from across the world who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. Each year ACM honors a preeminent computer scientist with the Luiz André Barroso Award. The award recipient gives a one-hour invited talk at a major ACM conference of their choice. A video of the talk is made available on the ACM website. The award carries a cash prize of $40,000 and includes travel expenses to the conference, plus an additional $10,000 cash contribution to an approved charity of the awardee’s choice. Financial support for the Luiz André Barroso Award is provided by Google.

Next Deadline

December 15, 2025 - End of Day, Anywhere on Earth (AoE), UTC -12 hrs.

Selection Criteria

Born in Brazil, Luiz André Barroso grew up in a diverse community and over his extraordinary career he was a strong supporter of equal opportunity for everyone and observed that his most effective teams included members from diverse communities. He was a role model for numerous computer scientists and recruited many women and other individuals from historically underrepresented communities in tech who subsequently made strong contributions to the field.

Nominations will be reviewed for the quality and impact of the candidate's achievements.

Successful nominations will demonstrate a sustained and/or enduring contribution to the computing community, in the engineering of deployed systems, in research, in publication, or in leadership.

Nominations will also be evaluated by the candidate’s demonstrated commitment to making the tech industry more inclusive. Nominations may focus on an important body of contributions over a significant period of time, or one particularly influential contribution.

Submissions

Nominations for the ACM Luiz André Barroso Award should be submitted using the online nomination form. Guidelines for nominators and endorsers can be found here. Each nomination involves several components:

• Name, address, phone number, and email address of nominator (person making the nomination). The most appropriate person to submit a nomination would be a recognized member of the community who is not from the same organization as the candidate and who can address the candidate’s impact on the broader community.
• Name, address, and email address of the candidate (person being nominated). It is ACM’s policy not to tell candidates who has nominated or endorsed them.
• Nominators will be required to indicate whether they are aware of any actions committed by the candidate that violates ACM's Code of Ethics or Core Values.
• Suggested citation if the nominee(s) are selected. This should be a concise statement (maximum of 25 words) describing the key technical or professional accomplishment for which the nominee merits this award. Note that the final wording for awardees will be at the discretion of the Award Committee.
• Nomination statement (200-500 words in length) addressing why the candidate should receive this award. This may describe the candidate’s work in general, but should draw particular attention to the contributions that merit the award.
• Copy of the candidate’s CV, listing publications, patents, honors, service contributions, etc.
• Supporting letters from at least 3, but not more than 5, endorsers. Endorsers should be chosen to represent a range of perspectives and institutions and provide additional insights or evidence of the candidate’s impact. Each letter must include the name, address, and telephone number of the endorser, and should focus on the accomplishments which that endorser can attest to and place in context. The nominator should collect the letters and bundle them for submission. Please Note: Nominators will need to provide a valid email for each endorser. Endorsers will receive an email from [email protected] containing a secure link to the Code of Ethics attestation form, and will be required to indicate whether they are aware of any actions committed by the candidate that violates ACM's Code of Ethics or Core Values.

For questions on the above, please contact us at [email protected], or Jade Morris, ACM Awards Committee Liaison. ACM's conflict-of-interest guidelines apply to all award nominations.