This is funding to support a joint doctoral research colloquium (workshop) of approximately 20 promising doctoral students from the United States and abroad (up to 2 international participants to be supported by NSF), to be selected through a peer review process, along with two panels of 4 invited outstanding researchers from both academic and industrial labs (of these, 18 will be supported by NSF funds and the remaining 10 from sponsorship and other sources). The event will take place in conjunction with the 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) and the 18th ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computing (ISWC), to be collocated in Seattle on September 13-17, and which are sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery.
The ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp) is the result of a merger of the two most renowned conferences in the field: Pervasive and (the former) UbiComp. While it retains the name of the latter in recognition of the visionary work of Mark Weiser, its long name reflects the dual history of the new event. UbiComp is a premier interdisciplinary venue in which leading international researchers, designers, developers, and practitioners in the field present and discuss novel results in all aspects of ubiquitous and pervasive computing. This includes the design, development, and deployment of ubiquitous and pervasive computing technologies and the understanding of human experiences and social impacts that these technologies facilitate. Relevant research topics include, but are not limited to, systems and infrastructures, devices and techniques, applications and experiences, methodologies and tools, and theories and models. More information about the conference may be found at www.ubicomp.org/ubicomp2014.
ISWC is a conference dedicated to cutting-edge research in wearable technologies, and is the premier forum for wearable computing and issues related to on-body and worn mobile technologies. Every year, ISWC brings together researchers, product vendors, fashion designers, textile manufacturers, users, and related professionals to share information and advances in wearable computing. The 18th edition of ISWC is scheduled to include dedicated workshops, a juried design competition, a lively gadget show, and high-quality paper presentation sessions revealing the latest in wearable computing progress. More information about this conference may be found at http://iswc.net/iswc14/.
The goals of the ISWC/UbiComp Doctoral Colloquium are: to provide a forum that will allow senior-level doctoral students to attend the ISWC/UbiComp conferences and take part as contributors to the program, as well as encourage further participation in the future; to give emerging ISWC and UbiComp researchers the opportunity to present their work and receive feedback, guidance, and encouragement from respected researchers to whom they may not have ready access at their home institutions; to provide opportunities for discussion among senior-level doctoral students to expose them to new perspectives on their field and in closely related fields; to foster the building of research relationships that will continue to benefit the students as they progress in their careers; and to expose the diversity and depth of research in the field as being undertaken by junior researchers to the greater UbiComp/ISWC community. To these ends, the format of the doctoral colloquium will facilitate the open exchange of ideas and in-depth discussion among members of the next generation of wearable and ubiquitous computing researchers and established top researchers in the area. The colloquium will begin with a joint "madness" session in which all participants will present a 1-minute version of their research. Subsequently, participants will present in-depth in two parallel tracks, attended by the respective conference panels. Students will be encouraged to move freely between the sessions, attending presentations according to their interests. The colloquium will close with a joint career development panel. Meals and breaks will be shared. Presentations will be scheduled with ample time allotted for questions and constructive feedback from the panel and from the other student participants. Particular emphasis will be given to such topics as focusing research questions and ensuring that research activities appropriately address the research questions, the selection and application of fitting and correct methods given the intended contributions of the work, and the appropriate analysis, framing, and communication of findings, results, and contributions. Additional opportunities for more informal discussion and networking will be during the DC lunch and dinner events. Extended abstracts from the DC will be distributed in the conference's adjunct proceedings to all conference attendees, and indexed in the ACM and IEEE digital libraries, offering further exposure. Finally, colloquium participants will also be asked to prepare a poster for a joint ISWC/UbiComp DC poster session as part of the main conference.
The doctoral colloquium will help expand the participation of young researchers pursuing graduate studies in the various fields associated with ubiquitous computing, by affording them an opportunity to gain wider exposure in the community for their innovative work and to obtain feedback and guidance from senior members of the research community. It will further help foster a sense of community among these young researchers, by allowing them to create a social network both among themselves and with senior researchers at a critical stage in their professional development. Several participants in past UbiComp doctoral consortia have since gone on to high profile research careers. To support diversity among the student participants, the event organizers have committed that no more than 2 students will be accepted from any one institution.
