Awards

 

BEST PAPER AWARDS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE CONFERENCES

     

2023

   

IAAI Innovative Application Award

Paper Title: “Impact of Mobile Health Programs: SAHELI for Maternal and Child Care”

     

2022

   

Best paper award, AI for Good track, International Joint Conference on AI(IJCAI 2022)

Paper Title: “ADVISER: AI-Driven Vaccination Intervention Optimiser for Increasing Vaccine Uptake in Nigeria”

     

2021

   

Honorable Mention for the Best Application Paper in the 2021 IISE Transactions

Paper Title: “Allocating outreach resources for disease control in a dynamic population with information spread”

     
   

Best Paper Award at NeurIPS 2021 Workshop on Machine Learning in Public Health (MLPH)

Paper Title: “Restless Bandits in the Field: Real-World Study for Improving Maternal and Child Health Outcomes”, Workshop on Machine Learning in Public Health (MLPH), NeurIPS 2021”

     
   

Best paper, AAAI Conference on AI (AAAI 2021)

Finalist for Best paper, AAAI conference on AI (AAAI 2021): Paper Title: “Dual-mandate patrols: Multi-armed bandits for green security”.

     
   

Finalist for Best paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2021)

Finalist for Best paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2021): Paper Title: “Active Screening for Recurrent Diseases: A Reinforcement Learning Approach”.

     

2020

   

Best Lightning Paper, NeurIPS Workshop on Machine Learning for Public Health

Paper title: “Incorporating Healthcare Motivated Constraints in Restless Bandit Based Resource Allocation”

     
   

Best poster award, NeurIPS workshop on Machine Learning for Developing World ML4D

Paper title: “Enhancing Poaching Predictions for Under-Resourced wildlife Conservation Parks Using Remote Sensing Imagery”.

     
   

Best Paper Award, International Conference on Decision and Game Theory for Security (GameSec)

Paper title: “Exploiting Bounded Rationality in Risk-based Cyber Camouflage Games” 

     
   

Best Student Paper Award, Mechanism Design for Social Good (MD4SG) Workshop

Paper title: “Large-scale clinical trial of an AI-augmented intervention for HIV prevention in youth experiencing homelessness” (first author: Bryan Wilder, PhD student) 

     
   

Best Paper Award, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2020 (HICSS 2020)

Best paper award, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2020 (HICSS 2020) Paper title: “Adaptive Cyber Deception: Cognitively Informed Signaling for Cyber Defense”

     
   

Finalist for Best paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2020)

Finalist for Best paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2020): Paper Title: “Influence maximization in unknown social networks: Learning Policies for Effective Graph Sampling”.

     
   

Best Paper Award, International Conference on Decision and Game Theory for Security (GameSec 2020)

Best paper award, International Conference on Decision and Game Theory for Security (GameSec 2020). Paper title: “Exploiting Bounded Rationality in Risk-based Cyber Camouflage Games”

     

2019

   

Best Student Paper Award, International Conference on Decision and Game Theory for Security (GameSec 2019)

Best student paper award, International Conference on Decision and Game Theory for Security (GameSec 2019) Paper title: “When players affect target values: Modeling and Solving Dynamic Partially Observable Security Games” (first author: Xinrun Wang, PhD student)

     
   

Finalist for Best Student paper, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2019)

Finalist for Best Student paper, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2019): Paper Title: “Adaptive Cyber Deception: Cognitively Informed Signaling for Cyber Defense”.

     
   

Best Paper Award, OptMAS

Best Paper Award, OptMAS workshop at International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2019)

 

2018

   

Finalist for Best Student paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2018)

Finalist for Best Student paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2018): Paper Title: “End to End Influence Maximization in the Field”. (first author: Bryan Wilder, PhD student)

     

2017

   

 

 

Best Video, AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence

Video title: "HEALER: Using AI to Raise HIV Awareness among Homeless Youth"

     
   

Finalist for Best Paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems(AA- MAS 2017)

Finalist for Best Paper, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems(AA- MAS 2017): Paper Title: “Influence Maximization in the Field: The Arduous Journey from Emerging to Deployed Applications”.

     

2016

   

Best Application Video, AAAI Conference on Articial Intelligence (AAAI 2016)

Video Title: "Save the Wildlife, Save the Planet: Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security (PAWS)"

     
   

Deployed Application Award, Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) 2016

Paper Title: “Deploying PAWS: Field Optimization of the Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security”

     

2015

   
   

Outstanding Paper, IJCAI'2015 Computational Sustainability, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI)

The paper is entitled "When Security Games Go Green: Designing Defender Strategies to Prevent Poaching and Illegal Fishing".

     

2013

   
   

Finalist for Best paper, AAMAS'2013 Our paper from the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2013)

A finalist for the best paper award. The paper is entitled "Game-theoretic Randomization for Security Patrolling with Dynamic Execution Uncertainty".

     

2012

   
   

Best paper, AAMAS'2012 Innovative Applications International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2012)

Innovative applications best paper award. The paper is entitled "PROTECT: A Deployed Game Theoretic System to Protect the Ports of the United States".

     

2011

 

 

   

Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2011) Best Paper Award

The paper is entitled "Empirical Evaluation of Computational Emotional Contagion Models".

     
   

Best Paper AAMAS'2011 Innovative Applications

Our paper from the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2011) won the innovative applications best paper award. The paper is entitled "GUARDS - Game Theoretic Security Allocation on a National Scale".

     

2009

   
   

Best Paper, AAMAS'2009 Industry

Our paper from the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2009) 
won the industry track best paper award. The paper is entitled "IRIS - A Tool for Strategic Security Allocation in Transportation Networks"

     

2008

   
   

Best paper, International Symposium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems (CTS 2008) 

Best Paper Award, "Multiagent Adjustable Autonomy Framework (MAAF) for multirobot multihuman teams"

     
   

Finalist for Best Paper, AAMAS 2008, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2008)

A finalist for the industry track best paper award. The paper is entitled "Deployed ARMOR protection: The Application of a Game Theoretic Model for Security at the Los Angeles International Airport"

     

2007

   
   

Best Paper, DCR'2007, International Workshop on Distributed Constraint Reasoning (DCR 2007)

Held in conjuction with IJCAI'2007, won the best paper award. The paper is entitled "Lower bounds on the quality of k-optimal DCOP solutions with respect to the global optimum".

     

2005

   
   

Best Paper, SASEMAS'2005, International Workshop on Safety and Security in Multiagent Systems (SASEMAS'2005)

Selected as the best paper entitled "Safety in multiagent systems via policy randomization".

     
   

Finalist for Best Paper Award, CEEMAS'2005

Our paper from the Central and Eastern European Conference on Agents and Multiagent Systems 2005 (CEEMAS'2005) finalist for Best Paper Award. This paper is entitled "On Communication in Solving Distributed Constraint Satisfaction problems".

2003

   
   

Finalist for Best Student Paper, AAMAS'2003

Our paper from the International Joint Conference on Agents and Multiagent Systems 2003 (AAMAS'2003) finalist for Best Student Paper Award. This paper is entitled "An asynchronous complete method for distributed constraint optimization" (first author: Pragnesh Jay Modi, PhD student).

     

2002

   
   

Best Paper, AAMAS'02, International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagents (AAMAS'02)

Chosen the best paper (out of approx 150 papers presented at the conference). The paper is entitled "Multiagent teamwork: Analyzing the complexity and optimality of key theories and models".

     

1999

   

 

 

Best of Agents'99, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems Journal 1999 (Agents'99)

Published in the "Best of Agents'99" special issue of the Autonomous Agents and Multi-agent Systems Journal. This paper is entitled "On being a teammate: Experiences acquired in the design of RoboCup teams".

     
   

Best of ICMAS'98, International Conference on Multi-Agent Systems 1998 (ICMAS' 98)

Published in the "Best of ICMAS'98" special issue of the Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems Journal. This paper is entitled "Towards flexible teamwork in persistent teams". Research: Best Paper Award Finalists in Computer Science Conferences

     
     

Best Paper Awards & Finalists in Operations Research Meetings

2013

   
   

Finalist, Best Student Poster, Conference on Validating Models of Adversary Behavior

Finalist, Best Student Poster, Conference on Validating Models of Adversary Behavior. Our poster at the first Conference on Validating Models of Adversary Behavior was finalist for best student poster. The poster is entitled "Optimal Patrol Strategy for Protecting Moving Targets with Multiple Mobile Resources". (first author: Fei Fang, PhD student).

     

2010

   
   

Finalist, EURO Operations Research Conference Excellence in Practice Award EEPA'2010

Our paper from the journal "Interfaces" selected to be a finalist for the EEPA'2010 award. The paper is entitled "Software Assistants for Randomized Patrol Planning for The LAX Airport Police and The Federal Air Marshals Service."

     
   

Student Merit Award, Security and Defense, Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)

Student Merit Award, Security and Defense, Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) meeting. Our abstract at the SRA annual meeting won the student merit award. The abstract is entitled "Research allocation decisions against adaptive adversaries". (first author: James Pita, PhD student).

     

2009

   
   

Best Student Poster, DHS Third Annual University Network Summit

Best Student Poster, DHS Third Annual University Network Summit. Our poster at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) University Network Summit won first place in the student poster competition. This poster is entitled "Strategic allocation of Federal Air Marshals". (first author: Jason Tsai, PhD student).

 

KEY TEACHING AND MENTORING AWARDS

2010

 

Steven B. Sample Teaching and Mentoring Award

This award is a signature program of the USC Parents Association and is the only faculty recognition award that is initiated by USC parents and family members.

     

KEY SERVICE AWARDS

2004

 

 

 

ACM Recognition of Service Award

ACM Recognition of Service Award In Appreciation of Contributions to ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) as General Co-Chair for AAMAS'2004: The Third International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems.

 

 

1997

   

 

Meritorious Service Award, The USC/Information Sciences Institute

Meritorious service award of the USC/Information Sciences Institute for outstanding contributions to the success of ISI's robots in international competition.

PHD AND MS STUDENTS AT HARVARD

2022

IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Winner, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)

IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS) for Bryan Wilder for his PhD work

INFORMS “Doing Good with Good OR” competition Runner-up

Paper Title: “Optimization and Planning of Limited Resources for Assisting Non-Profits in Improving Maternal and Child Health”
Student: Aditya Mate

Siebel Scholar

Student: Kai Wang

National Science Foundation

Graduation Research Fellowship, 2019-2024
Student: Jackson Killian

Google PhD Fellowship

Student: Lily Xu

2021

INFORMS “Doing Good with Good OR” Competition Winner

Paper Title: “Learning, Optimization, and Planning Under Uncertainty for Wildlife Conservation
Student: Lily Xu

PHD AND MS STUDENTS AT USC

2019

 

 

IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Runner Up, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)

IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Runner Up at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS) for Haifeng Xu for his PhD work.

       

2017

 

 

William F. Ballhaus, JR. Prize for Graduate Engineering Research

William F. Ballhaus, JR. Prize for Graduate Engineering Research for Fei Fang for best PhD thesis in The USC Viterbi School of Engineering

       
   

Best PhD Thesis Award

Best PhD Thesis Award, Computer Science, University of Southern California for Fei Fang for her PhD work

   
   

IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Runner Up, International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)

IFAAMAS Victor Lesser Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Runner Up at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS) for Fei Fang for her PhD work

       

2016

   
   

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

Bryan Wilder was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

     
   

Leandro Soriano Marcolino, Best Dissertation Award

Leandro Soriano Marcolino, Best Dissertation Award from the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California.

       
   

Best Research Assistant Award

Fei Fang, Best Research Assistant award from the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California.

       

2015

     
   

WiSE Merit Fellowship

Thanh Nguyen, WiSE Merit Fellowship from Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Program at the University of Southern California.

       
   

Best Research Assistant Award

Leandro Marcolino, Best Research Assistant award from the Computer Science Department at the University of Southern California.

       

2014

     
   

WiSE Merit Fellowship

Fei Fang, WiSE Merit Fellowship from Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Program at the University of Southern California.

       
   

PhD Student Fellowship, IBM

Rong Yang, PhD Student Fellowship, IBM.

       

2013

     
   

Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award

Manish Jain, Victor Lesser Distinguished Dissertation Award, the International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems

       

2013

     
   

Honorable Mention (runner up) for the Best PhD Thesis Award

Rong Yang, Honorable Mention (runner up) for the Best PhD thesis award, Computer Science Department for academic year 2013-14

 
       

2012

     
   

Best Research Assistant Award

Rong Yang, Best Research Assistant Award from the Computer Science Department for 2012 - 2013.

 
       
   

Best PhD Thesis Award

Manish Jain, Best PhD thesis award from the Computer Science Department for academic year 2012-2013

 
       
   

Best PhD Thesis for Academic Year

Manish Jain, Best PhD thesis for academic year 2012-2013, Computer Science Department, University of Southern California

 
       
   

Best Research Assistant for Academic Year

Rong Yang, Best research assistant for academic year 2012-2013, Computer Science Department, University of Southern California

 
       

2011

     
   

Space Technology Research Fellowship, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Matthew Brown, Space Technology Research Fellowship, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

 
       
   

Best Research Assistant for Academic Year

Zhengyu Yin, Best research assistant for academic year 2011-2012, Computer Science Department, University of Southern California

 
       
    Manish Jain, Best research assistant for academic year 2010-2011, Computer Science Department, University of Southern California  
       

2007

     
   

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, Center for Excellence in Teaching

Emma Bowring, Outstanding teaching assistant award, Center for Excellence in Teaching, University of Southern California

 
       

2006

     
   

Outstanding Research Assistant Award

Jonathan Pearce, Outstanding research assistant award, Computer Science Department

 
       

2005

     
   

Outstanding Research Assistant Award

Pradeep Varakantham, Outstanding research assistant award, Computer Science Department

 
       
   

Special award for new course development

Emma Bowring, Special award for co-designing and co-developing a new course "Intelligent agents and science fiction"

 
       

2003

     
   

Chair's Excellence Award

Steven Okamoto, Chair's excellence award for his MS thesis

 

 

2001

   

 

robofesta2001

Robocup-Rescue International Competition at RoboFesta

Sliver medal at the Robocup-Rescue International Competition at RoboFesta, International Robotic Games Festival, held in Japan, in July 2001, for development of earthquake rescue agent-teams. Led the USC effort that won this prize.

     
  RoboCup2001

Third Place Prize at RoboCup'2001 International Robotic Soccer and Rescue Tournaments

Third Place Prize at RoboCup'2001 International Robotic Soccer and Rescue tournaments, held in conjunction with the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2001, for development of earthquake rescue agent teams. Led the USC effort that won this prize.

     

1999

   
  RoboCup

RoboCup Scientific Challenge Award, RoboCup'99
International Robotic Soccer Tournament

RoboCup Scientific Challenge Award, RoboCup'99 International Robotic Soccer Tournament, held in conjunction with the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, 1997, for outstanding research at a RoboCup tournament. Led the USC effort.

     

1997

   

 

RoboCup'97

Third-Place Prize, RoboCup'97 International Robotic Soccer Competition

Third-place prize, RoboCup'97 International Robotic Soccer Competition (simulation league), held in conjunction with the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, 1997. Led the USC student team; software developed was based on my research in multi-agent teams.

HONORS AND AWARDS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

2024

AAAI 2024 Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity

The AAAI Award for AI for the benefit of humanity recognizes the positive impacts of artificial intelligence to protect, enhance, and improve human life in meaningful ways with long-lived effects. Award statement “For groundbreaking applications of novel AI techniques to public safety and security, conservation, and public health, benefiting humanity on an international scale.

2023

2023 aaai feigenbaum prize
AAAI 2023 Feigenbaum Prize

The AAAI Feigenbaum Prize is awarded biennially to recognize and encourage outstanding Artificial Intelligence research advances that are made by using experimental methods of computer science. Dr Tambe is being honored for high-impact contributions to the field of artificial intelligence through innovation and achievement in socially beneficial applications of AI in security, healthcare, and conservation.

2019

AAAI LogoAAAI 2019 Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Lecture Award

The AAAI Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Lecture Award is given to people who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship in AI, outstanding applications of AI, as well as extraordinary service to AAAI and the AI community. Dr Tambe is being honored in particular for outstanding research contributions in the area of multi-agent systems and their application to problems of societal significance.

2018

IJCAI 2018 John McCarthy Award

The IJCAI John McCarthy Award is intended to recognize established mid-career researchers that have built up a major track record of research excellence in artificial intelligence. From the award text: "Professor Tambe is recognized for research and development of important practical applications of AI and multi-agent systems for social good."

2013

ACM Fellow Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery

"For contributions to the theory and practice of multi-agent systems, teamwork and security games."

2007

AAAI Fellow Elected fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

"For significant contributions to theory and software infrastructure for multi-agent systems and pioneering applications in teamwork systems."

2005

ACM/SIGART Autonomous Agents Research Award

An annual award for excellence in research in the area of autonomous agents, specifically intended to recognize researchers whose current research is influencing the field. From the award text: "Dr. Tambe made seminal contributions to the theory, applications, and software infrastructure in the area of teamwork, which has become a flourishing research area in multi agent systems". Award winners receive an honorarium and are invited to give a talk at the annual International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS).

HONORS & AWARDS IN OPERATIONS RESEARCH

2012

Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice

Awarded at the annual meeting of the INFORMS Operations Research society, the Wagner Prize recognizes excellence in Operations Research practice. Our paper entitled "A Deployed Quantal Response Based Patrol Planning System for the US Coast Guard" won this competition for 2012.

2011

RIST Prize, Military Operations Research Society

The RIST prize recognizes the practical benefits of sound Operations Research. We received the award for "Software Assistants for Patrol Planning at LAX, Federal Air Marshals Service, and Transportation Security Administration".

TOP TECH LISTS

2018

"Top Tech 2018" - IEEE

Listed in "Top Tech 2018" by IEEE Spectrum for our work on PAWS : Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security

2015

"26 incredible innovations that improved the world in 2015" - Mashable.com

Listed in "26 incredible innovations that improved the world in 2015" by Mashable.com for our work on "How an algorithm can help spread HIV information among homeless teens".

AWARDS & RECOGNITION FOR REAL-WORLD IMPACT

2015

Orange County Engineering Council Outstanding Project Achievement Award

Orange County Engineering Council Outstanding Project Achievement Award for our project completed with the LA Sheriff's Department on "Game Theory Metro: Game theoretic scheduling of Metro security patrols"

2013

Meritorious Team Commendation from Commandant of the US Coast Guard

Meritorious Team Commendation from Commandant of the US Coast Guard for creating "an innovative approach to optimize patrol schedules and actions for the Coast Guard Ports, Waterways and Coast Security missions" while serving the Coast Guard Port Resilience for Operational/Tactical Enforcement to Combat Terrorism (PROTECT) Team.

2011

Certificate of Appreciation From the Transportation Security Administration

Certificate of Appreciation From the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) "in recognition and appreciation of your outstanding achievement in developing the Intelligent Randomization in Scheduling (IRIS) program" to advance the mission of the Office of Law Enforcement/FAMS.

Operational Excellence Award

Operational Excellence Award Commander, First Coast Guard District's Operational Excellence Award for work on the PROTECT scheduling software to intelligently randomize boat patrols of critical infrastructure around Boston Harbor.

2010

Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Homeland Security Award

The Foundation is a Federal government agency established by Congress to "encourage and support research, study and labor designed to produce new discoveries in all fields of endeavor for the benefit of mankind." The award is in the area of border and transportation security.

2009

Commendation, City of Los Angeles

Commendation, City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports Police Department As a leader of a team of researchers from CREATE (Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events) that developed ARMOR, "Assistant for randomized monitoring over routes". The commendation states "To merit this commendation you have performed an exceptional service to the Airport police Division, the Los Angeles World Airports and the city of Los Angeles. Your outstanding service facilitates the critical link between the laboratory and the operational world. Thank you for your outstanding contributions to the security of our nation."

Certificate of Recognition, DHS University Programs

Received by CREATE "The DHS Office of University Programs recognizes CREATE for the outstanding contributions to the security of our nation that the Assistant for Randomized Monitoring over Routes (ARMOR) has made to the police operations at the Los Angeles World Airports".

OTHER KEY AWARDS

IBM Faculty Award

IBM faculty award for research on "Towards smarter government and smarter cities: Computational game theory for public safety and welfare".

2003

The Okawa Foundation

Research award for research on "Agents and Multiagent Systems". Among 10 international awards per year given overall by the Okawa foundation (Japan) in areas of telecommunications and information processing. http://www.okawa-foundation.or.jp/e/

1999

RoboCup Scientific Challenge Award, RoboCup'99

International Robotic Soccer Tournament, held in conjunction with the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, 1997, for outstanding research at a RoboCup tournament. Led the USC effort.

1997

Third-place prize, RoboCup'97 International Robotic Soccer Competition

Third-place prize, RoboCup'97 International Robotic Soccer Competition (simulation league), held in conjunction with the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence, 1997. Led the USC student team; software developed was based on my research in multi-agent teams.

MAJOR AWARDS AT USC

2014

USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research

These are the highest honors the university faculty can bestow on its members for distinguished intellectual and artistic achievements.

1999

Inaugural USC Viterbi School of Engineering Use-Inspired Research Award

Award recognizes significant work in four key areas - scientific understanding, technical knowledge, research promise and societal needs - that has culminated in a demonstrably useful contribution to a problem of national/ societal importance.