Supporting Students Attending the International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

Investigators

Abstract

This is funding to support travel by 6-9 students currently enrolled in PhD programs in the United States to present their accepted papers and posters, and to take part in the Doctoral Consortium, at the First International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization (UMAP 2009), to be held in Trento, Italy, on June 22-26, 2009. UMAP, the premier user modeling conference in the world, is a merger of the long-running and successful biennial conference series on User Modeling (UM, 1986-2007) and the Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-Based Systems (AH, 2000-2008); the former provided a forum in which academic and industrial researchers from the many fields involved in user modeling research (artificial intelligence, education, psychology, linguistics, human-computer interaction, and information science) could exchange their complementary insights on user modeling issues, while the latter provided a forum for dissemination of adaptive technology for hypermedia and other web-based systems. User modeling has been found to significantly enhance the effectiveness and usability of software systems in a variety of areas. A user model is an explicit representation of properties of a particular user; a system that constructs and consults user models can adapt diverse aspects of its performance to individual users. Applications for user modeling range from electronic commerce and intelligent learning environments to health care and assistive technologies. Relevant platforms for user modeling include mobile and wearable systems, and smart environments, as well as individual desktop systems, groupware, adaptive hypermedia, and other web-based systems. The UMAP 2009 Doctoral Consortium will provide a unique opportunity for PhD students partway through their dissertation research to receive valuable feedback from top researchers in the field. Participants will present their work to the conference (15 minutes, which may include a short demo if appropriate), with additional time allocated to questions and for discussion (15 minutes). Both during the question/discussion period and in subsequent informal interactions, committee members and other conference participants will provide constructive comments on the student's work and attempt to address the aspects of the work on which s/he requested advice. Student papers will be published in the adjunct proceedings of the conference, while summaries will be included in the proceedings. In allocating NSF funds to participants, the Doctoral Consortium Co-chairs will give preference to students who can reasonably prove financial hardship, and they will also strive for diversity (gender, racial, ethnic, disabilities, institutional, etc.) among the selected students. Broader Impacts: Bringing young and creative researchers to UMAP 2009 will help advance an important and socially valuable research field. NSF funding will significantly impact the careers of the next generation of User Modeling researchers, by enabling a number of them to take part in an important event they would otherwise have to miss. The students will have an opportunity to gain wider exposure in the community for their innovative work, and to obtain feedback and guidance from senior members of the research community. Participation will also help foster a sense of community among these young researchers, by allowing them to create a social network both among themselves and with senior researchers at a critical stage in their professional development.