IPDPS 2020 PhD Forum & Student Mentoring Program

Student Participation Chairs
Edson Borin (University of Campinas, Brazil)
Jay Lofstead (Sandia National Laboratories, USA)
Contact: phdforum@ipdps.org

Due to COVID-19 and cancellation of the physical conference, we will not be able to facilitate the PhD Forum this year. We look forward to meeting with students next year at IPDPS 2021.

Student Mentoring Program for 2020

The annual IPDPS PhD Forum event will continue with the traditional poster presentations by students working toward a PhD in broadly defined areas related to parallel and distributed processing. In addition, continuing the program initiated in 2014, there will be a broader, enhanced program to include several evening and lunch-time sessions to provide the student participants coaching in scientific writing and presentation skills.

Participating students will have the opportunity to both present their research work and interact with senior academic and industry people in an informal setting. In addition, there will be mentoring sessions to help students improve communication skills, obtain valuable information for career planning, get familiar with a few of the trendy research topics, and make valuable contacts all while enjoying the IPDPS main conference and many associated workshops. The program culminates with a poster presentation, where students have the opportunity to practice what they learned and disseminate their work to the broader IPDPS audience.

The Student Research Program will be scheduled so that the participating students can follow all the main scientific and social events of the conference, and it is open to all students, including the authors of papers presented at the conference.

Planned Program

Seminar on paper writing and presentation skills is a discussion about what makes a great research paper and presentation. The basic idea is to understand the essence that all good papers and presentations contain and how to incorporate that into your own work.

Workshop on poster presentation skills offers a chance for everyone to give a 3 minute teaser talk about their poster and gain feedback from both the mentors and their peers. The goal is to be positive about the poster and provide constructive comments on both the poster material organization as well as the quick presentation to help presenters be better at summarizing their work and using that teaser talk to engage with the audience in more detailed discussions.

Panel on research and career planning will include representatives from academia, research laboratories (non-industry), and industry. After a short presentation from each about what their job entails and why you might consider it, attendees are open to ask any questions to help guide what decision is the right one for them. While this is career focused, other topics, such as lifestyle and side effects of the career choices on their personal life are welcomed.

Students are encouraged to engage with conference attendees during the paper sessions, and scheduling of student events supports this. Making connections that help incorporate attendees into the community is an important additional goal. To facilitate this process, forum mentors will make appropriate introductions for student participants.

What students have said of their participation in the program:

• “The 'professionals' which attended the sessions were very responsive and gave some very good advice. I found it very helpful especially when being in the first years of the PhD.”
• “I really liked the collaborative environment that was established between students and researchers and authors. I made valuable contacts and friendships. I was also helped by, and really liked, the travel support program.”
• “The session was very much useful. Now, I came to know how to make the best poster. I got some positive feedback that motivates me and also got some negative feedback to improve myself technically and non-technically.”
• “The mentoring sessions were very helpful. Due to these, I got exposed to dos and don’ts in research. Very informative for an early researcher like me. Networking was the best part since it was ensured that we talked to new people.”
• “To be able to meet all these amazing folks from all over the world. I feel I already made a ton of new friends!”

IPDPS 2020 PhD Forum - CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Because the 2020 IPDPS PhD Forum will emphasize interactive activities and offer mentoring-coaching support, the Applicant Statement of Interest will be as important as the poster proposal in the selection process.

Applicant students must be officially enrolled in a PhD Program at the time of submission, and each submission MUST be backed by a specific endorsement from the official PhD advisor(s) as specified in item 3 below. Masters students on track to enter PhD program may apply but should meet same standards as other applicants.

What/When to Submit

Applicants should prepare a submission document that addresses items 1 & 2 above. The manuscript cannot exceed two (2) pages using at least 10-point size font on 8.5x11 inch pages with at least 1 inch margins. This document should be submitted as a pdf file.

Submission of the application is via Linklings, and the submit link below will take you to the site, which repeats the instructions given here. Everywhere you see “paper” on the Easy Chair submit site, that refers to your application. Also, you will be asked to enter an abstract. Use the same one that has been included in your application.

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• Submit your application through Linklings

• The letter of support from the advisor should be emailed by the time you submit your application, so please arrange accordingly.

Submission Dates/Deadlines

The goal is to accept as many applications as our capacity allows, but the availability of our resources, including travel support, will limit the number of participants in the program.  To be fair, we will employ a “first-come-first-served” approach, with a rolling selection process to be used until the capacity is reached, based on the following schedule:

Review of Applications

A committee drawn from the IPDPS community and representative of the different areas of research that the conference embraces will review the applications in concert with the PhD Forum co-chairs. By submitting an application, the student is making a commitment to prepare and present a poster at the conference.

PhD Forum Papers in Proceedings

The conference plans to include the extended abstracts for the posters accepted for presentation at the PhD Forum as part of the conference workshops proceedings (IPDPSW 2020). These will be formatted as part of a compendium to be organized by proceedings vice chair for PhD Forum Mert Hidayetoglu. Students whose poster proposals are accepted and who have opted to be included in the proceedings will receive instructions for submitting material for the proceedings due by April 15, 2020.

STUDENT TRAVEL SUPPORT

To encourage participation in the Student Research Program, PhD Forum participants (those who have a poster accepted for presentation) who are IEEE members are eligible for travel grants and discounted registration fees.  (Discounted registration fee does not apply to students who are the sole registered author of a paper being presented in the main conference or workshops.)

All students applying for Travel Support are automatically enrolled in the Student Mentoring Program, and are expected to participate in program activities, including bringing a poster suitable for use in the PhD Forum.

NSF Funding for US-based Students

Funds for travel support have been provided by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). This funding is available only for full time students attending US colleges and universities. In keeping with policies of inclusivity and diversity, students from underrepresented groups and diverse institutions are particularly encouraged to apply. Although student authors may be given priority for travel awards, this is not a requirement.

TCPP Travel Grants for All Student Authors

All participants in the IPDPS PhD Forum will be eligible for TCPP travel grants made available to all student authors at the conference. Note that all student attendees must have registered to be eligible for support and must be members of IEEE.

Student travel grants are available in the form of reimbursements that are sent only after the completion of the conference and receipt of all required documentation and receipts. Please note that the IPDPS PhD Forum may not be able to reimburse students for all travel expenses due to limited budget. Eligible expenses for reimbursement include hotel and transportation (flight, bus or train). Expenses that are not eligible for reimbursement include registration, taxi and meals. The reimbursement amount will be based on the number of awards made and distance traveled. Students should make arrangements for travel and accommodations without expectation of receiving travel support.