The 2009 IEEE INFOCOM Conference on Computer Communications will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from April 19 to April 25, 2009. This preeminent technical conference is a primary venue for presenting new research results in the area of computer communications, and is widely attended by researchers and practitioners in the field. Attending conferences such as INFOCOM is of great importance for the development of graduate students. Participants have the opportunity to present their work, attend panel and keynote sessions, and interact with hundreds of others performing leading-edge research in the field. This award provides funds to support approximately sixteen graduate students in the United States to attend this premiere conference. The travel awards will target graduate students, in particular, women and under-represented minority students, since attending conferences is an important part of their educational experience, and they often have limited travel funds.
The intellectual merit of the proposal resides in encouraging and supporting graduate student attendance to INFOCOM 2009, which will continue the tradition of the previous INFOCOM conferences as a premier venue for bringing together academia, industry, and government to share newest developments in communications. Besides technical paper presentations, the conference offers a wide range of technical activities including workshops and tutorials.
In terms of its broader impact, this proposal aims at providing graduate students conducting research in the field of communications with the opportunity to attend the INFOCOM 2009, one of the main technical conferences in the field. Attending such high-caliber technical venues is extremely valuable for future researchers. Not only they will be exposed to the state-of-the-art in the field, but also they will have the opportunity to interact with peers from institutions worldwide, meet with leading researchers, and take part in discussions that are likely to shape the future of the field (e.g., in terms of technology, standards, etc.).
