One part of the department's Microsoft endowment is this Microsoft Recruitment Fund. This is to be used as a recruiting bonus for a particularly outstanding prospective student, an award based solely on merit.
| Year | Awardees |
| 1996-1997, 1997-1998 | Robert Grimm |
| 1997-1998 | Amit Aggarwal |
| Saurabh Sinha | |
| Sumeet Sobti | |
| Manu Thambi | |
| Robert Grimm | |
| 1998-1999, 1999-2000 | Steve Capell |
| 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003 | Maya Rodrig |
| 2005-2006 | Prasad Raghavendra |
| 2008-2009 | Hao Du |
| 2009-2016 | not awarded |
| 2017-2018 | Xiangyun Meng, Yisu Wang |