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This new annual award by SIGKDD will recognize excellent research by doctoral candidates in the field of data mining and knowledge discovery. The KDD Doctoral Dissertation Award winner and up to two runners-up will be recognized at the KDD conference, and their dissertations will have the opportunity to be published on the www.KDD.org web site. The award winner will receive a plaque, a check for $2,500, and be invited to present his or her work at the KDD conference. The award winner will also receive a free registration to attend the KDD conference. The runners-up will receive a plaque at the conference.

Eligibility Submitted dissertations must be relevant to data mining and knowledge discovery.

The final dissertation defense should take place at the nominee's host institution before March 1, 2008.

Nominations are limited to one doctoral dissertation per department or academic unit. Submissions must be received by the current Chair of the KDD Doctoral Dissertation Award Committee by March 1, 2008.

Each nominated dissertation must also have been successfully defended by the candidate, and the final version of each nominated dissertation must have been accepted by the candidate's academic unit. An English-language version of the dissertation must be submitted with the nomination. A dissertation can be nominated for both the KDD Doctoral Dissertation Award and the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award.

Decision Deadline:
The Award Committee will inform the SIGKDD Chair and the winners and runners-up of the results by July 1, 2008.

Submission Deadline: March 1, 2008.

Submission Procedure
All nomination materials must be submitted electronically to the current Chair of the KDD Doctoral Dissertation Award by submission deadline, and must be submitted in English. PDF format is preferred for all materials. Late submissions will not be considered. A nomination must include:

1. A nomination letter, written by the dissertation advisor of the candidate. This letter must include:
   • the name, email address, mail address, and phone number of the advisor,
   • the name, email address, and address of the candidate, and
   • a one- or two-page summary of the significance of the dissertation
2. An endorsement letter signed by the department head.
3. One PDF copy of the doctoral dissertation.
4. A copyright transfer form signed by the candidate is required giving permission for the dissertation to appear on KDD.org website if the dissertation is selected as an award recipient (but if the nomination is also being submitted for the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award, only one form needs to be signed). See www.acm.org/pubs/copyright_form.html
5. Optionally, the nomination may include up to two supporting letters from other individuals, discussing the significance of the dissertation.

Award Committee

• Bamshad Mombasher, Chair, DePaul U., USA
• Christos Faloutsos, CMU, USA
• Dimitrios Gunopulos, UCR, USA