Congratulations to our key researcher Maria Christakis on receiving the ACM-W Rising Star Award!
Maria Christakis has been awarded the 2026 ACM-W Rising Star Award, presented by ACM-W: ACM’s Women in Computing. This prestigious recognition honours outstanding early-career researchers who have made exceptional contributions to the computing field.
The award acknowledges her significant work on making software systems more reliable and trustworthy – spanning program analysis, software testing, smart contracts, machine learning, and zero-knowledge systems. These research areas are at the heart of modern software security and correctness, and her contributions have had a lasting impact on both the academic community and industry practice.
© TU Wien
ACM-W Rising Star Award: This annual award recognises a woman whose early-career research has had significant impact on the computing discipline, as demonstrated by factors such as citation frequency, the creation of new research areas, technology transfer, and broader societal contributions. The recipient receives a commemorative plaque and a $1,000 stipend.