This project supports the travel of U.S. doctoral student researchers to the premier international conference on autonomous agents and multi-agent systems and their participation in the Doctoral Mentoring Consortium held in conjunction with it. The Eleventh International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS 2012) will be held in Valencia, Spain, June 4-8, 2012. All students awarded stipends will participate in a Doctoral Mentoring Consortium in which they will present their research to other student researchers as well as experienced researchers and receive in-depth feedback from a group of invited senior researchers. Travel stipends will be awarded through an application process that includes submission of a two-page extended thesis abstract, a one-page personal research statement, a short CV, and a recommendation from the thesis advisor. In selecting students to be given stipends, the committee will consider resources available to them to attend the conference, their exposure to international research, and their level of participation in the conference (e.g., paper, poster, workshop presentation); it will also consider the diversity of the potential participants. The travel stipends will allow the selected students to present their research results and participate in valuable discussions that will likely shape the future of this critically important field. The AAMAS technical program is complemented with an array of workshops, tutorials, and other events. The wide variety and significance of the topics typically presented at AAMAS, in the technical and other programs, provide opportunities for students to share, exchange, and learn from each other.
The project provided partial funding to US based Ph.D. students to attend the Doctoral Mentoring Consortium at the AAMAS conference, which was held in Valencia (Spain), June 4-8, 2012. The Doctoral Mentoring consortium consisted of a full day of activities, which included oral presentations on thesis work by some of the students, a panel on career choices, career mentoring, and poster presentations by all the students. This gave all the students opportunities to have in depth technical conversations with small groups of peers. In advance of the meeting, each student was assigned an established member of the research community to be their mentor. The mentors attended the poster presentations, and had additional one on one interactions with their assigned student to provide individualized technical and career mentoring. The mentors and speakers volunteered their time and did not receive any funding for their services. The main objectives of the doctoral consortium were to discuss research topics and career planning with peers in an international environment; to network with other researchers from around the world working in similar research areas and at a similar career stage; and to extend the students' professional networks. Student applications from underrepresented groups and from students in smaller programs who do not have the same mentoring and networking opportunities as students in larger programs were particularly encouraged. The students funded by this project have received a unique and highly valuable training. The opportunity to interact with a variety of peers and leaders in the research community outside the students' own research group was an important part of the training they received. It helped the students see their work in a broader context and gave them independent feedback on their research. The one on a one interactions with the mentor helped improving technical communication skills and sharpening the way research ideas are communicated. Communication skills and ability to work with others are essential for academic jobs as well as jobs in the private and government sectors. The fact that the conference took place in an international venue and had strong participation from regions all around the world added to the value, since it helped the students make personal connections with international participants, setting the base for potentially long term collaborations.
