Gary Marsden Travel Awards Recipients (March 2021)

The Gary Marsden Travel Awards (GMTA) aims to support SIGCHI members who are students or early career researchers in attending HCI conferences, events, and (for early career researchers in particular) collaboration visits for mentorship. In January and March 2021 application cycles, we launched the revised GMTA program to meet funding needs for upcoming virtual conferences such as CHI 2021, and to test our program’s policies and forms for further iterations. January recipients were announced in February, and we are delighted to share below the recipients for March 2021. 

All GMTA recipients for CHI 2021 will be provided a “comp code” to sign up for conference registration, up to three workshops, and up to three courses. We made this decision to support additional participation based on leftover budget, and trust that this will present a valuable set of learning opportunities to our awardees.

In 2020, the pause in physical travel gave us time to revamp SIGCHI travel awards and create the consolidated GMTA program. We conducted a survey in June, reaching out to SIGCHI members, and especially students and early career researchers who have previously applied to these programs (the Gary Marsden Fund, the SIGCHI Student Travel Grants, and the Early Career Mentorship Fund). These 143 responses from the SIGCHI community (analyzed in our blog post) most strongly informed the initial redesign. 

The GMTA evaluation criteria (Diversity, Contribution, and Progress) were determined based on survey responses and subsequent discussions with the SIGCHI Executive Committee and subcommittees (see below). In the March cycle, we were able to accept all applications that fulfilled eligibility criteria. These applicants applied to attend CHI 2021 and Collective Intelligence 2021. There were two applications we could not support because they did not fulfill eligibility criteria, and we communicated this feedback to the applicants separately. Some applications were withdrawn as applicants found other sources of funding. We provide this information, and announce recipients, in the hope of steadily increasing transparency regarding how travel grants are issued, as described in the call, and recommended by students and early career researchers in the survey we put out last June.

The COVID-19 induced pause in funding gave us time to move all our application programs (e.g., Development Fund grants, SIGCHI awards, etc.) to a common platform. We chose Submittable for the latter, in collaboration with the SIGCHI Operations team, as it was the only platform of those we surveyed that was globally available, accessible, and GDPR-compliant. 

For evaluating almost 100 applications in this March cycle, and continued iteration of the GMTA program since June until now, including policies and forms, we remain thankful to: 

1. The 143 respondents to the survey disseminated in June 2020, targeting prior applicants of the erstwhile Gary Marsden Fund, SIGCHI Student Travel Grant, and Early Career Mentorship Fund programs, and the SIGCHI community at large.
2. The travel awards teams led by Zhengjie Liu and Jofish Kaye. For the March 2021 cycle, Zhengjie’s team included Anicia Peters, Gerrit van der Veer, Matt Jones, Simone Barbosa, and Susan Dray, and Jofish’s team included A. J. Brush, Astrid Weber, Frank Bentley, Moira Burke, Kori Inkpen, with assistance from Natalie Garrett and Pooja Chitre. Significant feedback was received from Zhengjie and Jofish. Members of their teams also generously gave feedback at different points through the year, up until the March 2021 cycle.
3. Melissa Densmore, Shaimaa Lazem, and Anicia Peters, in December-January 2020. This was regarding participation from African countries, particularly around covering visa costs and lowering the financial burden on students by covering costs up front.
4. Sade Rodriguez and Kristi Audette, through the year, from ACM and Executivevents, for helping secure a travel agency and related support for visas, for when physical travel is supported. This is particularly in response to feedback received in 3.
5. The SIGCHI Executive Committee (in July 2020) and the SIGCHI Development Fund Committee (from June 2020 and ongoing).

To be inclusive of our global community means that we must also be responsive in our application form to the differences between cultures and geographies. Feedback from the evaluation committees has helped us iterate on how we pose questions about diversity. For example, questions about racial/ethnic diversity may be acceptable in some parts of the world, but other cultures and countries may find such questions objectionable. In response, we have removed our optional question about race/ethnicity, and instead include an optional open text box that might allow applicants to write about diversity as from their perspective. We have also clarified our definition of “early-career researchers” to include those who do not have a Ph.D. but another degree, such as a Master’s in HCI, who may also be conducting research.

We invite you, as members of our community, to continue to give us feedback that we can factor into this process so we can continue the learning process to better address needs that are globally diverse. You can email us at sigchi-4all@acm.org.

Neha Kumar & Naveena Karusala
On behalf of the SIGCHI Development Fund Committee

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GMTA Recipients (March 2021)

1. Abhishek Patil, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, India
2. Adriana Iniguez, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico
3. Ajit Pillai, The University of Sydney, Australia
4. Akhilesh Kumar V, International Institute of Information Technology, Bengaluru, India
5. Aleksandra Stankovic, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
6. Anastasia Galkina, Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Italy
7. Andre Viana Tardelli, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
8. Angela Mastrianni, Drexel University, USA
9. Anna Maria Feit, Saarland University, Germany
10. Arghavan Sanei, Polytechnique Montreal University, Canada
11. Ava Bartolome, Clark University, USA
12. Ayesha Bhimdiwala, Indiana University Bloomington, USA
13. Bhavya Chopra, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi, India
14. Caroline Loppi Guimarães, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
15. Caroline Queiroz Santos, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Brazil 
16. Chris Muashekele, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Namibia
17. Christina Last, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
18. Christos Lougiakis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
19. Chunhua Tsai, Penn State University, USA
20. Dalai dos Santos Ribeiro, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
21. Dani Kalarikalayil Raju, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India
22. Dawn Walker, University of Toronto, Canada
23. Dieinison Jack Freire Braga, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
24. Dilrukshi Gamage, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
25. Erfan Pakdamanian, University of Virginia, USA
26. Eric Zeng, University of Washington, USA
27. Fareeda Nawaz, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
28. George E. Raptis, Human Opsis / University of Patras, Greece
29. Gozde Cay, University of Rhode Island, USA
30. Hein Min Htike, Cardiff University, UK
31. Hyanghee Park, Seoul National University, South Korea
32. Imam Mulhaq Rosyadi, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Indonesia
33. Irsyad Musyaffa, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Indonesia
34. Isabella Vieira Ferreira, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada
35. Jenna Mikus, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
36. Joshua Manzano, De La Salle University, Philippines
37. Julija Naskova, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
38. Kaixin Li, University of Rochester, USA
39. Karla Badillo-Urquiola, University of Central Florida, USA
40. Kartik Joshi, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
41. Khatriza Saffian, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
42. Khushnood Naqshbandi, University of Sydney, Australia
43. Leticia S. Machado, University Federal of Para, Brazil
44. Luciana sá Brito, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
45. Lucie Ráčková, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
46. Marcelo Martins da Silva, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
47. Mario Parra, Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education, Mexico
48. Marisa do Carmo Silva, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
49. Meetha James, University of Maine, USA
50. Mo Li, Dalian Maritime University, China
51. Monica Pereira, London Metropolitan University, UK
52. Muhammad Zahid Iqbal, University College Dublin, Ireland
53. Mutia Marcha Fatika, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Indonesia
54. Naveena Karusala, University of Washington, USA
55. Nguyen Binh Ha, Clark University, USA
56. Omid Ettehadi, Ontario College of Art & Design University, Canada
57. Pramod Kotipalli, Stanford University, USA
58. Pranjal Jain, Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India
59. Renan Vinicius Aranha, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
60. Rhiannon Mae Armitage, University of Sussex, UK
61. Richen Liu, Nanjing Normal University, China
62. Rifat Rahman, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh
63. Rohan Hundia, University of St. Andrews, UK
64. Sachin Pendse, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
65. Samuel Rhys Cox, National University of Singapore, Singapore
66. Sarthak Vaishnav, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, India
67. Shengmei Liu, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA
68. Siranee Nuchitprasitchai, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Thailand
69. Soaad Q. Hossain, University of Toronto, Canada
70. Soomin Lee, University of Toronto, Canada
71. Stacy Hsueh, Université Paris-Saclay, France
72. Subin Park, Kyung Hee University, South Korea
73. Sucheta Lahiri, Syracuse University, USA
74. Syeda Shabnam Khan, North South University, Bangladesh
75. Thiago Donizetti Dos Santos, Federal University of ABC, Brazil
76. Tobechukwu Nwabueze, Stevens Institute of Technology, USA
77. Uddipana Baishya, Simon Fraser University, Canada
78. Vivian Liu, Columbia University, USA
79. Woojin Kang, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea
80. Woon Choong Chen, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
81. Yasmin Salamah, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Indonesia
82. Ying Zhou, Zhejiang University, China
83. Yingyi Shu, Cornell University, USA
84. Yingying ‘Yuki’ Chen, Chapman University, USA
85. Yue Jiang, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Germany
86. Yujia Gao, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA