ACM Honours Leaders Across Tech-Related Disciplines

Among the most prominent honours announced was the 2025 ACM Frances E. Allen Award for Outstanding Mentoring, presented to:

Nicki Washington (pictured above) for her exceptional commitment to diversifying the computing community across all levels of education. 

Washington, who serves as Cue Family Professor of the Practice of Computer Science and Professor of the Practice of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies at Duke University, has become a widely respected advocate for equity and inclusion in computing. Early in her career at Howard University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), she became the first Black woman to serve on the computing faculty. She also launched Howard’s Google-in-Residence program, helping students gain expanded technical and career development opportunities. 

The ACM Frances E. Allen Award recognises excellence and innovation in mentoring, particularly leadership that advances diversity, equity and inclusion in computing. The award carries a US$25,000 prize together with a further US$10,000 charitable contribution supported by Microsoft Research. 

Monika Henzinger of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) was named the 2026–2027 ACM Athena Lecturer in recognition of her influential contributions to dynamic graph algorithms and web algorithms, as well as her longstanding mentoring and leadership within the research community. 

Henzinger’s work has advanced understanding of algorithms capable of efficiently adapting to changing data, particularly within network and graph environments. The ACM Athena Lecturer Award celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science and includes a US$25,000 honorarium provided by Two Sigma. 

Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award 

In the field of computing education, Yasmin B. Kafai from the University of Pennsylvania and Mitchel J. Resnick from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology received the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award for their long-term contributions to creative computing education, including pioneering work associated with Scratch and electronic textiles. 

Their research and educational leadership have demonstrated the importance of collaborative, project-based and interest-driven learning approaches that encourage creativity, experimentation and shared learning within digital communities. The award recognises significant contributions to computer science and engineering education and includes a US$10,000 prize supported by Pearson Education.

Ed Felten of Princeton University received the ACM Policy Award for major contributions to technology policy, particularly in areas including electronic voting, copyright, consumer protection and artificial intelligence. 

Felten’s influential research into electronic voting systems and digital rights management has shaped public debate around democracy, security, scientific inquiry and the societal implications of technology policy. His work has also inspired broader engagement between computer science research and public policy development.

Jodi Tims of Northeastern University received the Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award for her leadership in expanding international participation of women in ACM and reinforcing ACM’s commitment to computing education. 

Through her leadership of ACM-W initiatives, Tims helped significantly expand regional Celebrations of Women in Computing conferences as well as ACM-W student and professional chapters, particularly across Europe and India. Her work has played an important role in strengthening international networks and visibility for women in computing. 

ACM President Yannis Ioannidis also recognised several leaders with ACM Presidential Awards for longstanding service and impact across the computing profession.

Claudia Maria Bauzer Medeiros of the University of Campinas was recognised with an ACM Presidential Award for her extensive contributions to the Brazilian and Latin American computing communities, as well as her pioneering interdisciplinary research connecting computing with fields including biodiversity, urban planning, agro-environmental sciences and social sciences. 

Scott Delman

Delman was recognised for helping lead ACM’s transformation from a paywalled publication repository toward a comprehensive Open Access model, while Graves was honoured for his longstanding leadership in developing the ACM Digital Library into a modern platform serving the global computing community through an extensive range of digital services and resources.