Since 2016, the autonomic computing community has named its best paper award after Karsten Schwan, a computing pioneer who spearheaded research on distributed computing, high performance computing (see HPDC), autonomic computing (see ACSOS), as well as translation research that impacted industry. He was also a staunch supporter of broadening participation and access to computing. This tradition began at ICAC and continues at ACSOS. Below is a list of the winners of the Karsten Schwan Award for Best Paper.
Karsten Schwan Best Paper Award
Macro-types in multi-scale feedback systems: a conceptual framework
ACSOS2025 Winners: Ada Diaconescu, LTCI Lab, Telecom Paris, Institute Politechnqie de Paris, Louisa Jane Di Felice, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Patricia Mellodge, University of Hartford, Payam Zahadat, IT University of Copenhagen
The Paper
Sustainability-aware Online Task and Charge Allocation for Autonomous Ground Robot Fleets
ACSOS2024 Winners: Syeda Tanjila Atik, The Ohio State University, Daniel Grosu, Wayne University, Marco Brocanelli, The Ohio State University
The Paper
μOpt: An Efficient Optimal Autoscaler for Microservice Applications
ACSOS2023 Winners: Emilio Incerto, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Roberto Pizziol, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Mirco Tribastone, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
The PaperBLOC: Balancing Load with Overload Control In the Microservices Architecture
ACSOS2022 Winners: Ratnadeep Bhattacharya, George Washington University, Timothy Wood, George Washington University
The PaperSwarmalators with Stochastic Coupling and Memory
ACSOS2021 Winners: Udo Schilcher, Institute of Networked and Embedded Systems, University of Klagenfurt, Jorge F. Schmidt, Institute of Networked and Embedded Systems, University of Klagenfurt, Arke Vogell, Institute of Networked and Embedded Systems, University of Klagenfurt, Christian Bettstetter, Institute of Networked and Embedded Systems, University of Klagenfurt
The PaperReconfigurable Embedded Devices Using Reinforcement Learning to Develop Action-Policies
ACSOS2020 Winners: Alwyn Burger, Embedded Systems Group University of Duisburg-Essen Duisburg, Gregor Schiele, Embedded Systems Group University of Duisburg-Essen Duisburg, David W King, Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology Dayton
The PaperCoPPer: Soft Real-time Application Performance Using Hardware Power Capping
ICAC2019 Winners: Connor Imes, University of Chicago, Huazhe Zhang, University of Chicago, Kevin Zhao, University of Chicago, Henry Hoffmann, University of Chicago
The PaperCloud Application Predictability through Integrated Load-Balancing and Service Time
ICAC2018 Winners: Tommi Nylander, Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Marcus Thelander Andrén, Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Karl-Erik Årzén, Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Martina Maggio, Department of Automatic Control, Lund University
The PaperEfficient Utility-Driven Self-Healing Employing Adaptation Rules for Large Dynamic Architectures
ICAC2017 Winners: Sona Ghahremani, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Holger Giese, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam, Thomas Vogel, Hasso Plattner Institute, University of Potsdam
The PaperNetKV: Scalable, Self-Managing, Load Balancing as a Network Function
ICAC2016 Winners: Wei Zhang, The George Washington University, Timothy Wood, The George Washington University, Jinho Hwang, IBM T.J. Waston Research Center
The PaperBest Student Paper Award
The Best Student Paper Award was first introduced at the 4th IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems (ACSOS) in 2023, recognizing exceptional research contributions led by student authors and highlighting emerging talent in the field.
A Field-based Approach for Runtime Replanning in Swarm Robotics Missions
ACSOS2025 Winners: Gianluca Aguzzi, Università di Bologna, Martina Baiardi, Università di Bologna, Angela Cortecchia, Università di Bologna, Danilo Pianini, Università di Bologna, Mirko Viroli, Università di Bologna, Branko Miloradovic, Mälardalen University, Alessandro Vittorio Papadopoulos, Mälardalen University
The Paper
Towards the decentralized coordination of multiple self-adaptive systems
ACSOS2023 Winners: Paul-Andrei Dragan, University of Duisburg-Essen, Andreas Metzger, University of Duisburg-Essen, Klaus Pohl, University of Duisburg-Essen
The PaperBest Poster/Demo Award
The Best Poster/Demo Award was introduced at the 5th IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems (ACSOS) in 2023, marking the beginning of a new tradition to recognize outstanding contributions presented in the conference's poster and demo sessions.
A Run-time Verification Toolkit for Self-adaptive Systems Supporting Dynamic Model Changes
ACSOS2025 Winners: Ryuichi Iida, Okayama University, Keiichiro Oishi, Okayama University, Hiroyuki Nakagawa, Okayama University
The PaperTowards a Self-Adaptive, Real-time Monitoring System for Food Quality Assessment
ACSOS2024 Winners: Elia Henrichs, University of Hohenheim, Christian Krupitzer, University of Hohenheim
The PaperDecentralized Multi-Drone Coordination for Wildlife Video Acquisition
ACSOS2024 Winners: Denys Grushchak, Università di Bologna, Jenna Kline, Ohio State University, Danilo Pianini, Università di Bologna, Nicolas Farabegoli, Università di Bologna, Gianluca Aguzzi, Università di Bologna, Martina Baiardi, Università di Bologna
The PaperReviving Software Diversity in Microservices to Optimize the Performance of Software Systems
ACSOS2023 Winners: Prabjot Dhaliwal, York University, Hamzeh Khazaei, York University
The PaperBest Artifact Award
The Best Artifact Award was introduced at the 6th IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems (ACSOS) in 2025, held in Tokyo, Japan, establishing a new tradition to honor exemplary research artifacts that demonstrate high standards of reproducibility, usability, and impact within the community.
Comprehensible Self-aware Behavioral Programming
ACSOS2025 Winners: Tom Felber, Technische Universität Dresden, Sebastian Götz, Technische Universität Dresden
The Paper