This grant supports student participation in a doctoral mentoring consortium at the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS). The ICAPS Doctoral Consortium (DC) is a primary method for broadening participation and improving retention of doctoral researchers in the field of automated planning and scheduling. This DC at ICAPS 2013, June 2013 in Rome, Italy, is the eleventh occurrence of the event. This symposium is carrying on a multiyear tradition of holding DCs and summer schools, providing an important venue to encourage students and junior researchers in automated planning and scheduling. Activities include research panel discussions, lunch with mentors, and poster session held as part of the main conference. The DC brings together a broader community of researchers in planning and scheduling, promoting integration with other areas of AI and computer science, and encouraging junior researchers with a more focused attention to this area than is otherwise possible in other venues. Of particular note is the potential to involve participants who might not have attended an AI conference before. This is especially true for those outside of the usual AI research community: those at smaller institutions who use AI in teaching but not in research; those from smaller/liberal arts institutions; and those from institutions that are poorly represented in STEM disciplines.
One of the important, long standing events that is held annually in conjunction with the International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling (ICAPS) is the ICAPS Doctoral Consortium (ICAPS DC). The ICAPS DC is a primary method for broadening participation and improving retention of doctoral researchers in the field of automated planning and scheduling. The DC at ICAPS 2013 was the eleventh occurrence of the event, and took place in June 2013 in Rome, Italy. This project provided funding for travel awards to support student participation in the 2013 ICAPS DC. Support was provided for a total of 22 students, from 16 different countries. The ICAPS Doctoral Consortium provides an opportunity for Ph.D. students who are doing dissertation research on topics related to AI Planning and Scheduling to present their research, and to receive feedback from established researchers and from other students and conference attendees. It is intended to give students valuable exposure to outside perspectives on their work at a critical time in their research, and to provide a setting in which to explore their career objectives. The DC seeks to attract and retain doctoral student participation in ICAPS by providing students travel support and mentorship that would not otherwise be available at their institution.
