The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award was established in 2013 to recognize members of the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society (FLAIRS) who have provided service to FLAIRS. The award is a plaque (prepared by the conference chair) that is retained by the winner. The conference registration fee is waived for the winner, and an honorarium of up to $1200 is provided to cover receipted travel and accommodation costs.

Winners 

• 2025 - Roman Barták

• 2024 - Susan Haller

• 2023 - William Eberle

• 2022 - William Clancey

• 2021 - G. Michael Youngblood

• 2020 - Ingrid Russell

• 2019 - Rita V. Rodriguez

• 2018 - Hans Guesgen

• 2017 - Frederick Hoffman

• 2016 - Diane Cook and Larry Holder

• 2015 - Ken Ford

• 2014 - Avelino Gonzalez

Guidelines for the award

1. The awarding committee consists of the FLAIRS board, the conference organizers (conference chair, program chairs, and special track coordinator), and the previous conference chair. The chair of the awarding committee is the vice-president of FLAIRS.

2. Nominations for the award are made in the November that precedes the conference. Nominations can be made by any member of the FLAIRS community, maximally one nomination per person, which must also be seconded. Nominations must be sent to the chair of the awarding committee. The chair of the committee collects the nominations and circulates the names to the committee by the first week of December.
   Nominations for the award must be based upon service to FLAIRS. This service to FLAIRS is not restricted: The person may have contributed as a former board member, a chair, an assistant, by financial means, as an author, or anything else deemed relevant. Nominations should describe the service that is pertinent to the award. No previous winner of the award is eligible. No member of the awarding committee is eligible.

3. Open discussion among the committee is encouraged, aiming to reach consensus on a winner. If a unanimous winner does not emerge from discussion then the chair asks for a vote that may include any of the nominees. Votes, one vote per person, will be sent to the chair. The winner of the award is the person with the most votes. In the event of a tie (e.g., because an odd number of committee members abstain), the chair of the awards committee decides the winner. 

4. The winner of the award is decided by the end of December prior to the conference.

5. The winner is expected to attend the conference to receive the award. The winner is may submit an invited paper to the conference.

6. The inscription on the award shall be as follows:

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award
[year]
For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society
Presented to
[Name]

Citations

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2025

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Roman Barták

Roman Barták has been a regular attendee of FLAIRS since (at least) FLAIRS-17 in 2004 when he published his first of 24 papers at FLAIRS - at least one every year until 2018, then several more after that. He received the best poster award at FLAIRS-28 in 2015 and at FLAIRS-29 in 2016. Roman has run 13 special tracks at FLAIRS, almost every year from FLAIRS-21 in 2008 to FLAIRS-36 in 2023. Roman was the special tracks chair for FLAIRS-31 in 2018, program co-chair for FLAIRS-32 in 2019, would have been program co-chair for FLAIRS-33 in 2020 (but COVID cancelled that), conference co-chair for FLAIRS-34 in 2021, and conference chair for FLAIRS-35 in 2022. He has also been a regular reviewer for FLAIRS. Roman's willingness to contribute to the well-being of FLAIRS, his hard work for and at our conferences, and his constant involvement with friendly interaction at FLAIRS, makes him a worthy recipient of the DDD II award.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2024

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Susan Haller

Susan Haller is recognized for her long service to FLAIRS, which started in 2001. She served as a Program Co-chair for FLAIRS-15 (2002) and FLAIRS-16 (2003). After chairing FLAIRS-22 in 2009 she was elected Treasurer, and held that office from 2010 to 2023. Her contributions as Treasurer have been significant to the continued success of FLAIRS, and an example of the dedication that is represented by this award.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2023

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

William Eberle

William (Bill) Eberle is recognized as a longtime contributor to FLAIRS. His involvement started at FLAIRS-22 (2009) when he co-chaired the special track on Data Mining, and he has attended every FLAIRS except one since then. He has co-chaired a special track every year since 2009, was the Special Tracks Chair for FLAIRS-26 (2013),the Program Co-chair for FLAIRS-27 and FLAIRS-28 (2014, 2015) and the Conference Chair for FLAIRS-29 (2016). Bill has published 21 papers in FLAIRS, with one paper receiving the best paper award. His organizing ability and commitment to FLAIRS has raised the bar for everyone around him.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2022

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

William Clancey

William (Bill) Clancey is recognized for his contributions to the FLAIRS conferences over many years. Bill was an invited speaker or author of a paper at FLAIRS-5, FLAIRS-14, FLAIRS-15, FLAIRS-16, FLAIRS-17, and FLAIRS-27. His vibrant enthusiasm for AI and FLAIRS, including his work at the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC), made valuable contributions to the success of the conferences.

Acceptance speech

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2021

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

G. Michael Youngblood

G. Michael Youngblood is recognized for his long association with FLAIRS, as a student, author (12 papers 2003-2014), reviewer (from 2005), panelist (2010, 2011), track chair ("AI in Games and Entertainment" 2007-2010), program chair (2012, 2013), and conference chair (2014). Youngblood's rapport with the next generation of researchers brought new "young blood" into FLAIRS. His participation, leadership, and invaluable support for the conference, have been a significant service to FLAIRS.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2020

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Ingrid Russell

Ingrid Russell is recognized for her long history of significant involvement with FLAIRS, starting in 1996. She has chaired the conference twice, been a program co-chair six times, been the special tracks chair twice, and co-chaired multiple special tracks. She was responsible for negotiating the association between AAAI and FLAIRS, and has been instrumental in increasing submissions to the conference. Her contributions have been a large part of FLAIRS' success.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2019

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Rita V. Rodriguez

Rita Rodriguez was a driving force behind the early FLAIRS. Rita was a faculty member at the Florida Institute of Technology about the time FLAIRS was "born", specializing in Artificial Intelligence, in particular, Temporal Reasoning. She was part of the original core group that started FLAIRS in September 1987, at a meeting of Computer Science faculty in Florida. The early FLAIRS conferences would not have happened without her efforts and generous personal contributions.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2018

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Hans Guesgen

Hans Guesgen is recognized as a longtime contributor to FLAIRS, as an author, track chair, program chair, and conference chair. He published 17 papers in FLAIRS, starting at FLAIRS-9 in 1996. He became involved in the organization of FLAIRS at FLAIRS-12 in 1999, when he became Chair of the Special Track on Spatio-Temporal Reasoning, which he organized until FLAIRS-21 in 2008, when he was also the Special Tracks Chair. In 2009 and 2010 he was a Program Chair of FLAIRS-22 and FLAIRS-23, and in 2011 the Conference Chair of FLAIRS-24. Hans' careful fiscal management and attention to detail as an organizer also made a strong contribution to the ongoing success of FLAIRS.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2017

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Frederick Hoffman

Frederick Hoffman was instrumental in organizing the the early years of FLAIRS conferences. He was PC chair for FLAIRS-1 and several further FLAIRS. He was the panel chair for multiple FLAIRS, and on the program committee for many more. This award recognizes his significant contributions to the formation of FLAIRS, and building FLAIRS into a successful conference.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2016

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Diane Cook and Larry Holder

As a team, Diane Cook and Larry Holder have contributed significantly to FLAIRS over many years. Diane was the program chair of FLAIRS-11, and together Diane and Larry were the conference chairs of FLAIRS-18. Combined, Diane and Larry have been authors of 14 papers at FLAIRS. Their PhD students have presented many papers at FLAIRS, and some of those students have risen to leadership roles in FLAIRS. Diane and Larry continue their service to FLAIRS by organizing special tracks and serving on FLAIRS program committees.

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2015

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Ken Ford

Ken Ford was involved in FLAIRS from its inception. He was PC chair for FLAIRS-2, a PC member for FLAIRS-1, FLAIRS-3, FLAIRS-4, etc., and an invited speaker for FLAIRS-7, FLAIRS-8, FLAIRS-9, FLAIRS-11, FLAIRS-12, and FLAIRS-14

The Douglas D. Dankel II Award

2014

For Service to the Florida International Artificial Intelligence Research Society

Presented to

Avelino Gonzalez

Avelino Gonzalez was the founding president of FLAIRS, and was president for the first three years. He was the conference chair for FLAIRS-1 to FLAIRS-4, and again for FLAIRS-12 and FLAIRS-13. He was on the program committee for 25 FLAIRS conferences, and has been an author on 27 papers presented at FLAIRS. Probably his most influential contribution was his years as treasurer, from 1992 to 2008.