Invitation to Participate in the 2013 SoCS Doctoral Symposium

We invite doctoral students who work on NSF SoCS grants to submit applications to attend and speak at the 2013 SoCS Doctoral Symposium, which will be held on June 27 in conjunction with the SoCS Principal Investigator’s (PI) meeting June 28 and 29. The location for this year’s Doctoral Symposium will be the Seattle Hilton.

The goals of the Doctoral Symposium are to:

  • Provide a supportive setting for feedback on students' current research and guidance on future research directions.
  • Offer to each student comments and fresh perspectives on their work from faculty and students outside their own institution and outside their disciplinary specialization.
  • Provide doctoral students with exposure to the breadth of problems, research methods, and evaluation methods used to address research challenges in social-computational systems.
  • Promote the development of a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research.
    • Contribute to the development of the field overall through the interaction of doctoral students with more senior scholars.

The doctoral symposium will adopt the successful model of longstanding symposia at successful conferences (e.g., CHI, CSCW, AAAI/IJCAI, ACL) and the 2011 and 2012 SoCS doctoral symposia. The symposium will support approximately 24 students. (We may increase the number slightly if funds permit, particularly if there are accepted participants who require reduced travel support.)

Application Process and Selection Criteria

Students who wish to be considered for the doctoral symposium should send the following materials to sfussell@cornell.edu by Friday May 10, 2013:

  • A curriculum vitae
  • A letter of recommendation from their faculty advisor
  • A two-page abstract of their research achievements and plans, along with a separate paragraph or two explaining what they hope to learn from participating in the symposium

Participants will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

  • Indication of commitment to SoCS research and potential for developing into a leading researcher in the SoCS field
  • Quality of submitted CV, abstract and advisor’s letter of recommendation
  • Diversity of participants (across all dimensions, including geographic, disciplinary home, type of research proposed, race, and gender, etc.)

Upon acceptance to the doctoral symposium, students will need to provide the following materials by June 1, 2013:

  • A one- or two-page “personal introduction” providing their background, a brief summary of where they are in their education and what problems they are working on (or interested in working on). These introductions will be circulated among participants on a password-protected website. This is meant to be a more informal piece that draws from your CV (e.g., for educational background) and from the research statement (e.g., to give examples of the kind of research you do)
  • A (digital version of a) poster (no larger than 48 inches wide and 36 inches high) showing the material described in your abstract

Meeting Format

The Doctoral Symposium will begin with a dinner on Wed. June 26. It will continue from 9 am to 5 pm on Thurs. June 27. Students are welcome to stay to attend the main PI meeting on June 28 and 29. Approximately one-third to half of the 24 students accepted for the Symposium will be invited to present their work orally. Students selected for oral presentations will likely be in their 3rd or 4th year and will have defended or be about to defend their thesis proposal. Panels of faculty selected from the attendees of the SoCS PI meeting will provide comments and feedback. Students accepted for the Symposium, but at an earlier stage of their doctoral work will attend these sessions and be invited to comment, learning from peers who are a little further along in their doctoral work. All accepted students will present their poster at special poster sessions during the PI meeting.

Financial support

Participating students will have their travel and meals paid for as part of their participation in the symposium. There is no registration fee.

Timeline for submitting proposals and hearing about acceptances:

Applications must be submitted by May 10, 2013. Notice of acceptance will be sent to all applicants by May 20, 2013. Poster and introductory essay for accepted applicants will be due June 1, 2013.