The Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) society is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, facilitation of research and education in the fields of medical image computing (MIC) and computer assisted interventions (CAI) including biomedical imaging and robotics; this is achieved through the organization and operation of regular international conferences of highest quality and publications which promote and foster the exchange and dissemination of advanced knowledge, expertise and experience in the field produced by leading institutions and outstanding scientists, physicians, and educators around the world. MICCAI Conferences have their roots and origin in three separate but related conferences beginning in early 1990s, the Visualization in Biomedical Computing (VBC), Computer Vision and Virtual Reality in Robotics and Medicine (CVRMed), and Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery (MRCAS), which merged into a single annual conference in 1998. MICCAI Conferences have defined a new scientific discipline over the years and have become the premier conference in the field with their proceedings having an impact factor comparable to high-impact computational journals. Conference topics include, computer vision & image processing for medical imaging, computer-aided diagnosis, computer-assisted intervention & surgery, guidance systems & robotics, visualization and virtual reality, bioscience and biology applications, specific imaging systems and new biomedical imaging applications, spanning disciplines such as radiology, pathology, surgery, oncology, cardiology, physiology, and psychiatry. The main MICCAI conference includes three days of oral presentations and poster sessions. The quality and importance of poster presentations are considered to be on a par with those of oral presentations, with both undergoing a rigorous double-blinded peer-review (~30% acceptance) and several presented papers becoming landmark publications over the years reaching up to 2,000 citations. The conference series includes community-driven software challenges, workshops and tutorials just before and/or after the main conference. These satellite events focus in detail on the current status and advances in topics relevant to MICCAI and are very highly attended. The MICCAI Conferences span the entire globe and are usually rotated among the American, European, and Asian continents. Attendance typically includes more than 45 countries, with strong student representation (~40%). The MICCAI 2018 Conference will be held in Granada, Spain in September 16th-20th, 2018. An innovative aspect of MICCAI 2018 is the initiation of a ?Mentoring Program? to connect students and young investigators with established mentors from academia and industry. Along with the mission of ?Women in MICCAI? committee, this proposal requests funds to initiate and ultimately sustain student travel awards to specifically enhance diversity in conference attendance, including women, underrepresented minorities, students with disabilities, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, to present their work, providing them with a unique opportunity to reach an international audience for career development and collaborations.
The MICCAI 2018 Conference will be held in Granada, Spain during September 16th-20th, 2018. The MICCAI conferences are the premier meeting in the medical image computing (MIC) and computer assisted intervention (CAI) communities, having introduced several landmark papers and providing a springboard for young scientists to establish themselves in the field. This proposal requests funds to provide travel awards for students, focusing on enhancing diversity by supporting the participation of women, underrepresented minorities, students with disabilities, and from disadvantaged backgrounds, to present their work, providing them with an opportunity for visibility in an established international audience, foster professional development and collaborations.
