The goal of this project is to provide a unique opportunity for students to present their research results, learn the cutting edge research, and interact with internationally recognized researchers from both academia and industry at the ACM SIGMOD 2012 (International Conference on Data Management). As one of the most prestigious conferences in data management research, ACM SIGMOD has contributed significantly to the advance of all aspects of data management technologies and applications since 1975. Today ACM SIGMOD is a dynamic and comprehensive program for publication, education, and interaction; and it is a leading international forum for database researchers, practitioners, developers, and users to explore cutting-edge ideas and results and to exchange techniques, tools, and experiences. This project provides partial support for students matriculated at U.S. institutions, especially female and minority students, to attend and present their research work at ACM SIGMOD 2012 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Besides meeting with researchers from academia and industry during regular program sessions, in SIGMOD 2012 students are able to participate in the following interactive activities as partially supported by this project: a new researcher symposium, an undergraduate research poster competition, vis-a-vis meetings with leading researchers, and a female student mentoring workshop. These opportunities will have a long lasting impact on the future career of the participants. The broader impact is to train the future generation of leaders and workforce in the critical field of data management. The project details are available via the website www.sigmod.org/2012/.
The annual ACM SIGMOD conference is a leading international forum for database researchers, practitioners, developers, and users to explore cutting-edge ideas and results, and to exchange techniques, tools, and experiences. As the most prestigious conference in data management research and the flagship event of the ACM Special Interest Group of Management of Data (SIGMOD), ACM SIGMOD has contributed significantly on the advance of all aspects of data management technologies and applications since 1975. ACM SIGMOD 2012 was held in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference included a dynamic and comprehensive program, including research papers, tutorials, panels, industrial papers, technical demonstrations, undergraduate research papers. The program also included workshops that demand dedicated coverage due to their relevance to the current data management research and development, industrial exhibits, and keynote talks by leaders in academia and industry. Overall, the conference attracted ~700 attendees, ~36% of which were students. This year, students were also provided with a wide range of educational and informational activities: "New Researcher" Symposium where PhD students close to completion of degrees as well as junior researchers were given advice on realizing their big ideas, managing medium-term and long-term career risks, making the move from graduate student to being part of, and productive in, a team of researchers in an industry lab, or becoming junior faculty and having to build up a research group. Undergraduate Research Poster Competition provided undergraduate students an opportunity to showcase their research accomplishments in a poster competition. Several students were selected to attend the conference and present posters to other attendees of SIGMOD 2012. Vis-a-vis Meeting with Leading Researchers where promising Ph.D. students exchanged ideas with international recognized researchers in their research areas and received guidance. Information Session on Careers in Industry, a panel style Q&A session, where student attendees of the conference interacted with technical representatives from the data management industry and discussed a wide ranging spectrum of issues regarding industrial careers Informal Sponsor/Student Event, a reception style event where student attendees of the conference interacted with technical representatives of the industry in an informal setting DataBase MEntoring focusing on encouraging undergraduate and graduate students (and especially women and underrepresented minorities) to obtain a PhD in computer science or computer engineering, specifically in database systems. PhD Symposium which offered Ph.D. students the opportunity to present, discuss, and receive feedback on their research in a constructive and international atmosphere. The workshop was accompanied by prominent professors, researchers and practitioners in the fields of database technology. The NSF grant was used to provide varying degrees of support, ranging from ~$100 to ~$650, to 78 students matriculated in US institutions and who have actively participated in the conference through presentations, technical demonstrations, and other direct contributions to the SIGMOD program. The Intellectual merit of the project included the opportunity for students to learn the cutting edge research and interact with experts in the best data management conference. The broad impacts included training and development of the future generation of leaders and workforce in this increasingly critical field. Here are a few comments from students who have received NSF support for attending the conference: "It was very inspiring to see the top researchers and learn more about their research. I especially enjoyed the poster sessions; because I had the chance to ask more questions about the papers. The interaction with the researches in my area helped me to understand the emerging topics." "This was the first conference I have attended and I therefore learned a lot about data management. I was able to talk with people who are working on projects similar to my own and have gotten ideas on new ways to make my project better." "I have met many researchers who are working inside and outside my research area. The interactions with them have greatly broadened my view. We have discussions on several related research problems that might lead to future collaboration." "The conference was extremely beneficial to me in terms of getting to know about the database community better and having fruitful discussion with various eminent researchers. In particular, the tutorial by Michael Mahoney was very useful." "It was a great experience meeting many people and discussing their research as well as getting their input on my current research. Also I hope to continue to maintain contact with several of the researchers and company representatives I met at SIGMOD." "First of all, I presented our research work in SIGMOD conference, and got lots of useful feedback... I also met lots of excellent researchers and colleagues in the conference. We talked about our current research, gave comments to each other, and also planned for possible future collaboration. Overall, this funding was very beneficial to me, and I would like to thank the funding agents for their supports..."
