The CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference is the premier event for celebrating diversity, fostering inclusivity, and facilitating critical conversations on the latest technological advancements. Each year, we gather thousands of students, professionals, faculty, and researchers to advance diversity in the tech industry. We provide this opportunity to reflect on the student awards given during this year’s Tapia Conference.
Tapia 2024 drew over 1800 attendees and nearly 100 sponsors from corporate, academic, government, and nonprofit sectors. Over 90 panels, workshops, and presentations were featured, with more than 150 speakers sharing their expertise and experiences.
The Tapia Conference provides a platform for students to showcase their research. Below we highlight the recipients of the different student awards.
Held on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, the Doctoral Consortium is a full-day workshop for PhD candidates to present their research to a panel of established researchers in computing. This year, six PhD candidates presented their work on topics ranging from data sharing in edge computing devices to image classification. Dr. Christina Smyre-Deloatch, 2024 Doctoral Consortium Deputy Chair, awarded Aakriti Adhikari from the University of South Carolina the Best Doctoral Consortium Award, including a $1,000 prize, for her research on advancing contactless sensing for healthcare applications.
The Tapia Student Poster Competition, held on Thursday, September 19, 2024, provided a forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their latest research to expert judges and conference attendees. Twenty-eight students participated, with awards presented by Dr. John Porter III, 2024 Posters Chair, for both Undergraduate and Graduate categories. Monetary prizes of $1,000 for 1st place, $750 for 2nd, and $500 for 3rd were awarded.
Tapia 2024 Graduate Student Winners:
- 1st – Dorcas Okaidjah from Iowa State University for Evaluation of Driving Behavior in Response to Dynamic Message Signs Using Connected Vehicle Data
- 2nd – Nicholas Grijalva from New Mexico State University for Low-Cost Monocular Vision Localization and Feedback Control Strategy for Quad-Rotorcraft Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
- 3rd – Myles Lewis from University of Alabama for Multi-User EEG-Based Brain Robot: A Pilot Study
Tapia 2024 Undergraduate Winners:
- 1st – Shiven Patel from University of Massachusetts Amherst for Guide Dog Robot for Visually Impaired People: Audio Source Localization and Classification for Hazard Detection
- 2nd – Daniel Quezada from California State University – Fullerton for Harnessing Machine Learning for Predictive Analytics: A Case Study of Lassa Fever Outbreaks in Nigeria
- 3rd – Camille Leute from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo for Breaking the Binary
ACM Student Research Competition (SRC)
Tapia 2024 also hosted the ACM SRC, where select poster presenters advance to a second round to showcase their research in brief presentations to a panel of judges. Monetary awards of $500 for 1st place, $300 for 2nd place, and $200 for 3rd place are given by ACM, and the winners qualify for the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals.
2024 ACM SRC Graduate Winners:
- 1st– Daniel Campos Zamora from the University of Washington – Moiré Widgets: Passive Tangible Interfaces
- 2nd– Laine Rumreich from the Ohio State University – Efficient Causally Ordered Unicast via ‘Minicast’
- 3rd– Zahra Borhani from Colorado State University – DailyBuddy: Improving Daily Living Skills for Adults with Autism
2024 ACM SRC Undergraduate Winners:
- 1st – Hannah Guan from Harvard College – HiDiNet: Modeling Aging Health and Survival
- 2nd – Jalynn Nicoly from Colorado State University – Virtual Timers for Task Management during Resuscitation
- 3rd- Michael Adeleke from Morgan State University – CodeBears: Feeding the STEM Pipeline
Thanks to all the participants, sponsors, and supporters for making Tapia 2024 an impactful event.
