LEMONT, Ill., July 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT) honors Dr. Chad Jenkins, University of Michigan Professor of Robotics, as the 2024 recipient of the Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing. The awards ceremony will take place during the CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference, held in San Diego, California, Sept. 18-20, 2024. Last year, more than 2,000 attendees, including students from more than 250 colleges and universities, attended the conference.

Each year, the Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing is presented to a distinguished computational scientist, computer scientist, or computer engineer who is making significant contributions to computing and civic areas, including teaching, mentoring, advising, and building and serving diverse communities. The award winner represents extraordinary leadership in computing scholarship and CMD-IT's mission to increase the participation of underrepresented communities in computing.

"We are proud to honor Dr. Chad Jenkins, the University of Michigan Professor of Robotics, as this year's recipient of the prestigious Tapia Award," said Dr. Valerie Taylor, CEO and President CMD-IT. "The recognition is a testament to his outstanding contributions to the field of robotics, in particular computational reasoning and perception, and his exemplary work with mentoring students and professional from underrepresented communities in computing."

"I am deeply honored and grateful to be recognized with the 2024 Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science and Diversifying Computing. I have been incredibly fortunate to stand on the shoulders of giants across the Tapia community," said Chad Jenkins.

"The commitment to both excellence and equity at Tapia has provided a guiding light for how to be a trailblazer, mentor, mentee, and catalyst for positive impact," Jenkins adds. "Joining the distinguished group of Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award honorees is a crowning accomplishment in my career. I look forward to our continued work together as a community to extend and expand the ladder of opportunity for future generations."

Chad Jenkins is a Professor of Robotics and a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His work aims to discover methods for computational reasoning and perception that will enable robots to effectively assist people in common human environments. Professor Jenkins' research pertains primarily to robot learning from demonstration, semantic perception, and mobile manipulation towards enabling the usability of technology by people in real situations.

Professor Jenkins is currently serving as the Vice President for Educational Activities for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. Professor Jenkins was the founding Program Chair of the Robotics Major Degree Program launched in 2022 for undergraduates at the University of Michigan. He was a founding Editor-in-Chief for the ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction, serving from 2016 to 2024. Professor Jenkins served on the Computing Community Consortium from 2019 to 2022. Recently, he was elected Member-At-Large for the Association of Computing Machinery.

As a member of the Computing Research Association's Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research (CRA-WP), he helped found The Skip Ellis Early Career Award in honor of Professor Clarence "Skip" Ellis, the first American Black person to earn a doctorate in computer science.

Professor Jenkins is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). He is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is an alumnus of the Defense Science Study Group (2018-19). 

About the CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference

The CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference (TAPIA Conference) is the premier annual event to acknowledge, promote, and celebrate diversity in computing. Each year, the conference brings together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from all backgrounds and ethnicities to celebrate the diversity that exists in computing and tech. The annual conference presents an opportunity to connect with others and to create communities that extend beyond the event.

For more information about the Tapia Conference, please visit the CMD-IT/ACM Tapia Conference website at http://www.tapiaconference.org

Media Contacts:

Mitch Dowell
Marketing Director
The Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT)
marketing@cmd-it.org

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SOURCE CMD-IT