[Caml-list] Nominations for Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning 2026

[Caml-list] Nominations for Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning 2026

[geoff]

[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 4523 bytes --]

***********************************************************
The Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning 2026
Call for Nominations
http://cadeinc.org/McCune-Award
***********************************************************

Automated Reasoning is the area of Computer Science dedicated to applying
reasoning in the form of logic to computing systems. The Bill McCune PhD
Award in Automated Reasoning distinguishes each year a PhD thesis defended
the previous year, for its substantive contributions to the field of
Automated Reasoning, its theory, its implementation, and/or its application
on important problems. The award is named after the American computer
scientist William Walker McCune, known for his contributions in the fields
of Automated Reasoning, Algebra, Logic, and Formal Methods. He was the
implementer of OTTER, Prover9 and Mace 4, automated tools for first-order
reasoning which are known to this day for their accuracy and robustness. He
was also known for his generosity towards research colleagues and as a
great supporter of young researchers in the field.

*Eligibility*
Eligible for the award are those who successfully defended their PhD

   - at an academic institution;
   - in the field of Automated Reasoning; and
   - in the period from 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025.

The PhD students supervised or co-supervised by the Expert Committee
members are not eligible.

*Nomination*
Candidates for the award must be nominated by their supervisor(s) and one
additional independent researcher who reviewed/examined the thesis.
Nominations are to be made by *March 10, 2026* (Anywhere on Earth).

Nominations should proceed in two steps:
In a first step, the supervisors planning to make a nomination should send
an email to sofronie@uni-koblenz.de to obtain a link at which to submit all
the documents.
In a second step they should upload a zip file containing the following
documents:

   - a letter from the supervisor(s) describing why the thesis should be
   considered for the award and the relationship of the contributions to
   CADE/IJCAR;
   - a report from the nominating additional independent researcher who
   reviewed/examined the thesis;
   - the thesis itself;
   - a copy of the PhD diploma; and
   - a copy of relevant papers by the nominee, if any, containing results
   published in the thesis.

*Procedure*
The thesis will be evaluated with respect to its quality, originality and
(potential) impact to the field of Automated Reasoning.

   - The nominations will be evaluated and compared by an international
   Expert Committee (see below).
   - The procedure to be followed is analogous to the review phase of a
   conference. The justification by the supervisor and the nominating
   additional independent researcher report will play an important role in the
   evaluation.
   - The final decision is made by the Expert Committee at least one month
   before CADE/IJCAR is being held.
   - The award consists of a certificate announcing the winner to have
   received the Bill McCune PhD Award in Automated Reasoning. The award will
   be announced at the respective year's CADE/IJCAR. The nominators of the
   winner will also receive a copy of this certificate. The recipient of the
   award is expected to attend the award ceremony.
   - The decision of the Expert Committee is final and cannot be appealed.

*Expert Committee*
The Expert Committee, consisting of leading researchers in Automating
Reasoning, is formed by the board of CADE Trustees with the aim to reflect
the broad diversity in the area of Automated Reasoning. It is announced
with the call for nominations, and thus formed before this call. The
decision on the award is taken by the Expert Committee. The Expert
Committee can seek additional expertise, even after the submission deadline
for nominations. Expert Committee members cannot nominate a PhD student.
Expert Committee members cannot contribute an independent report seconding
a nomination.

The Expert Committee for the Bill McCune PhD Award 2026 consists of the
following researchers:

   - Pascal Fontaine, University of Liege
   - Carsten Fuhs, Birkbeck, University of London
   - Ullrich Hustadt, University of Liverpool
   - Mikolas Janota, Czech Institute of of Informatics
   - Cezary Kaliszyk, University of Melbourne
   - Philipp Rümmer, University of Regensburg
   - Viorica Sofronie-Stokkermans, University of Koblenz (chair)
   - Sophie Tourret, Inria - LORIA

***********************************************************