AAAI/SIGART 2012 Doctoral Consortium

Association For The Advancement Of Artificial Intelligence, East Palo Alto CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports participation of U.S.-based doctoral students in the 16th SIGART/AAAI Doctoral Consortium to be held July 22-23, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in conjunction with the Twenty-Sixth Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-12), to be held July 22-26. This award provides travel stipends for 12 student participants as well as mentoring lunches, a group dinner, and a poster session. The participants will be selected on the basis of a packet of submitted materials that include a summary of thesis research; a curriculum vitae; and a letter of recommendation from the Ph.D. advisor. The Doctoral Consortium will extend over two days and will include participant presentations, panel discussions, feedback to participants from assigned mentors, informal discussions (over lunch and during breaks), a group dinner for students and mentors, and a poster session. Each participant will give a 20-minute presentation that will be followed by 20 minutes of discussion led by an assigned mentor to provide feedback on the research and the presentation itself. To help the participants make the transition from being graduate students to launching a successful research program, there will be two panel discussions on relevant career issues: a panel of researchers who have completed their Ph.D.s within the last 5 years will focus on how to finish a dissertation and conduct a job search; and a panel of senior researchers from academia and industry will focus on establishing research funding and presenting oneself during the job search process. In addition, there will be a third panel that will further address issues on research, careers, and funding. All of these activities are in furtherance of the overarching goal of supporting the emerging next generation of researchers. The activities planned for the Doctoral Consortium have significant Intellectual Merit in that they strengthen the scientific quality of the participants' doctoral dissertation projects and provide valuable exposure to additional perspectives on their work at a critical time in their research endeavors and professional development. The Doctoral Consortium has potential for significant Broader Impact by furthering the education of the next generation of scientists, broadening participation in Robust Intelligence research, for instance, by including those from at institutions without strong programs in this area, and by fostering energetic scholarship and collaboration throughout all sectors of the community.