The 2024 SIGACT Distinguished Service Award is presented to Sanjeev Arora for outstanding advocacy on behalf of the TCS community to the federal government, successfully pushing for increased funding and visibility of TCS, and also leading the transformation of the annual STOC conference into Theoryfest.
In 2005, at a time when research funding for theoretical computer science was at a low ebb, Sanjeev co-founded the Committee for the Advancement of Theoretical Computer Science (CATCS), to advocate for the importance of theoretical computer science to institutional funding agencies and to the broader scientific community. This advocacy led to the creation of the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations at the National Science Foundation (NSF) which put theoretical computer science in a more central position within its funding of the field; this also led to cross-cutting programs that recognized the importance of ideas from theoretical computer science more broadly within NSF. Sanjeev also co-organized a key Visioning Workshop sponsored by CATCS that led to the production of several "theory nuggets" which were used by program officers to showcase and advocate for TCS research within the NSF.
As a separate major contribution, Sanjeev advocated for more community building at TCS conferences and led the transformation of STOC into a 5-day "TheoryFest" with additional keynote talks, panel discussions, and workshops, including leading the organizing committee for the first two years of TheoryFest in 2017 and 2018.
With this award, SIGACT recognizes Sanjeev Arora’s strong advocacy for and leadership within TCS, resulting in several institutionalized innovations that continue to positively impact the entire TCS community in the present day.
Award Committee: