[agents] 2020 Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award

[AAMAS2021 Publicity Chair]

Nominations are invited for the 2020 Victor Lesser Distinguished
Dissertation Award sponsored by IFAAMAS, the International
Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems
(http://www.ifaamas.org) and to be presented at AAMAS-2021
(https://aamas2021.soton.ac.uk/).

Eligible doctoral dissertations are those defended between January
1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 in the area of Autonomous Agents or
Multiagent Systems.

This award includes a certificate and a 1500EUR payment.

The selection of the dissertation will be based on the originality,
significance, and impact of the work. Evidence of such impact
include publications at highly selective conferences and journals in
the field, with due importance given to the AAMAS conference series
and JAAMAS. Research output that resulted primarily from the
student's initiative will be considered more favorably. The
selection committee will be the final arbiter in the decision
process. The selection committee might decide to consult external
assessors and reserves the right to not award the prize if the
nominations do not meet the expected quality level.

The dissertation must be nominated by the thesis supervisor and must
be supported by the following documents, all should be delivered via
the link below before or on February 28, 2021:

- A PDF file of the dissertation. If the dissertation is not written
in English, the nomination must include a substantial manuscript in
English, with the nominee as the first author, published in a
journal or a prestigious conference.

- A list of citations to published papers based primarily on this
dissertation, with links to the pdfs of the published papers.

- A two page document (single column) in PDF format, explaining the
contribution of the dissertation to the field with regards to the
state of the art, as well as possible future impact of the work.

- A recommendation from the dissertation supervisor, on departmental
letterhead, nominating the dissertation for the IFAAMAS-20 Victor
Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award. The recommendation should
argue the merit of the dissertation and highlight, where relevant,
how the work resulted from the initiative of the student. This
document, not to exceed 500 words, should also certify the
eligibility of the PhD by asserting that the PhD was defended in
calendar year 2020.

- The names, email addresses, and affiliations of at most three
referees, familiar with the research of the candidate and experts in
the pertinent research area, who will directly email their
recommendations for the candidate to the chair of the selection
committee (Matt Taylor, matthew.e.taylor at ualberta.ca). A reference
letter should be no more than 500 words in length and should be on
official letterhead, signed and emailed as a scanned PDF file.
NOTE: IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DISSERTATION
SUPERVISOR TO CONTACT THE REFEREES AND ENSURE THAT
LETTERS (max 500 words, signed, and on letterhead) ARE SUBMITTED
BY THE DEADLINE.

Though the nomination is to be submitted by the nominee's
dissertation supervisor, it is required that the nominee has
consented that the dissertation be considered for this award and, if
selected for the award, commits to attend the AAMAS-2021 conference,
where he/she will receive the award, and will give a presentation in
a special session of the conference on the work contained in the
dissertation. The cost of attending the conference is not covered by
the award.

Submission link: https://forms.gle/D47J3fQXw8AoJ8Y47

Submission deadline: February 28, 2021

For questions, please contact the chair of the selection committee,
Matt Taylor: matthew.e.taylor at ualberta.ca
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