2022 Potomac ACM Policy Challenge

2022 Potomac ACM Policy Challenge

Introduction

The Potomac ACM Policy Challenge encourages talented students who value a peaceful future, collaboration, and intellectual experience to conduct research on technology policy outside of the classroom. We believe that young students can influence their community by increasing engagement, knowledge, and awareness about technology policy and forming a public consensus on it. Public awareness, comprehension, and participation can help shape tomorrow’s technology policy.

The Challenge, organized by the Potomac Association for Computing Machinery Chapter, is a forum for students free to apply, showcase their research, exchange ideas, and improve their communication skills while competing for awards. Our candidates will use knowledge and skills to advance the profession and make a positive impact.

Deadline

September 7, 2022 – End of Day, Anywhere on Earth (AoE), UTC -12

Eligibility

Before the submission deadline, a candidate must have accrued:

  1. A sustained level of contribution in activities in technology policy over time, with a clear impact within their community.
  2. An original research manuscript in technology policy under a research advisor.
  3. Enrolling in a college-level course, including college-level classes in high school: the A-Levels, International Baccalaureate (IB), and Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

The Challenge is open to students from any country. Candidates must be twenty-two years old or younger on the submission deadline date.

Each Challenge candidate must provide:

  1. The candidate’s resume
  2. A signed Potomac ACM Policy Challenge author release
  3. A manuscript in the MS Word format in line with the ACM reference guide
  4. A reference letter from the research advisor

The manuscript shall have a maximum length of 6,000 words (the word count limit includes title, abstract, tables, figures, and references list). The Challenge Committee evaluates each candidate independently of other candidates and makes every attempt to equitably recognize a wide variety of accomplishments in scholarship and communities. We use double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and candidate identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the process.

Suggested Research Topics

Selection Criteria

Successful candidates for the Challenge must impact technology policy in both scholarship and leadership contributions. Therefore, the research advisor’s reference letter should address the candidate’s most significant accomplishments and conditions, such as:

  • Specific theoretical or practical achievements that demonstrate innovation, originality, and creativity.
  • Leadership roles provide evidence of outstanding service to the community.
  • Candidates who receive/qualify for free or reduced lunch in the school participate in a TRIO program qualify for fee waivers from the ACT, College Board, and NACAC.

BEST PAPER AWARDS

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2022 Potomac ACM Policy Challenge Best Paper Awards. These papers were selected as the result of a rigorous process that considered the nearly 1,000 papers that were accepted from the nearly 2,500 submissions.

  • Richard Park
  • Yuntin Qin
  • Tianyi Cao
  • Ram Varaiya
  • Abi Khardon
  • Pete Hoffman
  • Kevin Schmitt
  • Igor Petrov
  • Scott Bozhko
  • Tiffany Huang
  • Hannah Beck
  • Jeff Qiu

For questions on the above, please get in touch with challenge@potomac.acm.org.