WORKSHOP: ThinkTank (Doctoral Consortium) at ICAD 2023

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This is funding to support a "ThinkTank" (workshop) of ten promising graduate student scholars along with about six distinguished research faculty mentors, in conjunction with the 2023 International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD'23), which will be held on June 26-30 at Linköping University in Norrköping, Sweden. ICAD is the premier international forum for presenting research on the use of sound to display data, monitor systems, and provide enhanced user interfaces for computers and virtual reality systems. It is unique in its singular focus on auditory displays and the array of perception, technology, and application areas that this encompasses, which include for example data sonification, auditory wayfinding, auditory graphs, speech interfaces, virtual environments, and associated perceptual, cognitive, technical, and technological research and development. Many of the interdisciplinary research and development efforts are of direct relevance to persons with perceptual disabilities, especially visual impairments. This year's conference theme is "Sonification for the Masses"; more details about ICAD 2023 are available online at https://icad2023.icad.org/. The ICAD ThinkTank is a doctoral consortium that promotes scholarship and networking among new researchers in this important emerging interdisciplinary area. This full-day workshop will take place on June 26 immediately preceding the conference proper, The event will develop a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research, by providing participants with a friendly and open, yet rigorous, scientific forum in which to present their research ideas, to listen to ongoing work from peers, and to receive constructive feedback from a panel of distinguished experts. Panel feedback is designed to help students understand and articulate how their work is positioned relative to related research, whether their topics are adequately focused for thesis research projects, whether their methods are correctly chosen and applied, and whether their results are appropriately analyzed and presented. The ThinkTank will also offer invited speakers and discussion groups (e.g., to provide students with relevant information about important issues for doctoral candidates, whether they are considering academic or industrial career paths). Student participants will present their work via posters during the conference technical program, and via extended abstracts published on the ICAD 2023 website. Thus, the ThinkTank will help shape ongoing and future research projects that have clear and important implications for development of assistive technologies and universal access. It will bring together students from diverse disciplines (such as engineering, computing, music, and psychology), so that they can experience the broad spectrum of approaches to auditory displays, assistive technologies and universal design. It will afford participants exposure to a larger community, allowing them to bond among themselves and with senior researchers at a critical stage in their professional development. Because the students and faculty constitute a diverse group across a variety of dimensions, including nationality and culture, scientific discipline, and institution, the students' horizons are broadened to the future benefit of the field. This year, the organizers expect that up to ten U.S.-based ThinkTank Scholars will have their travel and attendance heavily subsidized. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.