This project involves supporting students to attend the IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh, and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks (SECON 2011) to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah in June 2011. SECON is a premier conference in the areas of sensor, ad hoc, and mesh networking, serving as a meeting point of researchers from academia and industry, as well as practitioners in diverse fields of wireless communications and networking. This project supports travel to the conference for US based Ph.D. students who might not otherwise be able to attend for financial reasons. Students will be exposed to the conference, a technical forum that is critical for their professional maturity and development. Students will also be involved in various activities and work as volunteers to support these activities, increasing their level of involvement and connection to the conference and the research community. The recipients will be chosen based on an open competition and preference will be given to students from underrepresented groups.
The purpose of this grant is to encourage graduate student participation in IEEE SECON 2011. IEEE SECON is one of the premier conferences in the areas of sensor, ad hoc, and mesh networking, serving as a meeting point of researchers from academia and industry, as well as practitioners in diverse fields of wireless networking. IEEE SECON 2011 was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 27-30, 2011. A grant of $10,000 has been awarded by NSF to provide partial financial support to US based graduate student participation. The SECON 2011 student travel grant has been widely publicized through announcements on the conference webpage, as well as broadcasts on various mailing lists. We received a total of twenty-one applications. Based on the need from the student, the suitability of IEEE SECON 2011 to the student’s research area, ways this student will benefit from attending the conference, and the availability of the funding, thirteen awards were made, with each student receiving up to a maximum of $800. All the thirteen awardees were full-time Ph.D students attending US universities. Five of them are female. Through this NSF student travel grant, thirteen graduate students were able to attend the conference. Their attendance and participation in this conference is a key part of their socialization to the academic and research community. Their interaction with top quality researchers and high-impact research problems, and encouragement to broaden their perspectives, can have cascading impacts.
