This is funding to support travel by 20 students currently enrolled in PhD programs in the United States to participate in the AI-ED Doctoral Student Consortium, at the upcoming International Artificial Intelligence in Education Conference (AI-ED), to be held July 9-13, 2007, in Los Angeles, California. The AI-ED International Conference is the premier biennial event for promoting promotes rigorous research and development of interactive and adaptive learning environments for learners of all ages; AI ED will be the 6th event in the series. The interdisciplinary areas that AI-ED represents, comprising cognitive science, computer science, and educational technology, are critical research domains that enhance the effectiveness and usability of software learning systems. Active participation of young researchers in this conference is very important, both for the health of the field and for the researchers themselves. The AI-ED '07 Doctoral Consortium provides a unique opportunity for PhD students partway through their dissertation research to receive valuable feedback and individual mentoring from top researchers in the field. This support for doctoral students is particularly apt given that currently only 4% of the over 600 members of the AIED society are students, even with 44 countries represented. It is thus timely for NSF to offer this student support. The PI and co-PI both hold active leadership roles within AI-ED '07, and both hold over $2 million of NSF grants in the areas of human-language and advanced learning technologies. The AI-ED '07 Doctoral Consortium Committee will be comprised of the two PIs together with the current president of the AIED society.
Broader Impact: Bringing young and creative researchers to AI-ED '07 will help advance an important and socially valuable interdisciplinary research field. For many graduate students, the cost of attending the AI-ED conference exceeds their travel budget. Thus, NSF funding will significantly impact the careers of the next generation of AIED researchers, by enabling a number of them to take part in an important event they would otherwise have to miss; in particular, those who lack funding from other sources (e.g., advisor's grants). 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. The PI and co-PI have indicated that they will act to assure participation by members of traditionally under-represented institutions, and will pay close attention to inclusion of minorities and women.
