Chair: James Noble, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, doc_symp@oopsla.acm.org

Overview Important Dates Submission Process Submission Guidelines For More Information NEW: Student Research Competition

Overview
OOPSLA 2002 will provide a forum for an invited group of doctoral students to present their work and obtain guidance from university and industry researchers as well as from other symposium participants. The goal of the symposium is to expose students to helpful criticism before their thesis defense and to provide advice for job interviews. Mentors provide constructive criticism about the current status of the work, and give advice about its future direction and focus, as well as about jobs and job interviews. In the past, some mentors have established long-term collaborations with particular students.

Symposium Organization
A group of 8 to 10 selected students present their research to each other and a group of 4 to 5 mentors in a workshop format closed to outside participation.

Each presentation consists of the following:

• a two minute overview stating the most critical issues of the research
• a twenty minute description of the research, which must be structured as follows:
  • Description of Purpose (What exact problem, issue, or question does this research address?
  • What limitations or failings of current understanding, knowledge, methods, or technologies does this research resolve?
  • How significant is the problem, issue, or question?)
  • Goal Statement (What new understanding, knowledge, methods, or technologies will this research generate? How does this address the purpose of the work?)
  • Approach (What experiments, prototypes, or studies will be done to achieve the stated goal?
  • How will achievement of the goal be demonstrated and the contribution of the work measured?
• a question and answer period of approximately twenty to thirty minutes involving the student, mentors, and other participating students.

The two major parts of the presentation will be strictly timed. Questions and interaction will generally not be allowed during the presentation.

Each symposium participant will have a two-page short paper published in the Conference Companion proceedings, and are strongly advised to have a poster at the Poster session, which provides the student with an opportunity for additional feedback and suggestions on the dissertation work, contacts for further interaction, and experience in communicating with other professionals. Each participant will also receive a certificate of participation.

Support For Student Participants
Student participants will receive reimbursement for conference-related expenses, including travel, conference registration, and two nights of lodging, as well as some of the benefits of a Student Volunteer.

Back To Top Of Page

Important Dates
Applications must be submitted no later than: 19 July 2002, but earlier is strongly recommended.
Notification of acceptance or rejection: 23 August 2002

Back To Top Of Page

Submission Process
Doctoral students who are within one year of thesis completion with an approved committee and topic are invited to apply. Students should be advanced enough to have a specific research proposal and some preliminary results with enough time remaining to benefit from the symposium experience.

To apply, please submit a two-page description of your thesis research, a brief statement of how far along in your thesis work you are (how much more research and dissertation draft writing are left to do), a statement of what kind of feedback you are seeking, the names of your school and thesis advisor, and a brief letter of recommendation from your advisor. Electronic submission of applications is required through the OOPSLA submission system. Other applications will not be accepted.

Applications may be modified up to the submission deadline.

Back To Top Of Page

Submission Guidelines
Simultaneous application to both the Doctoral Symposium and the Student Volunteer program are permitted, but a student will lose Student Volunteer status if accepted to the Doctoral Symposium.

Applying to the Student Volunteer program does not affect a student’s chance of selection for Doctoral Symposium, and vice versa.

Back To Top Of Page

For More Information
Answers will appear once some questions have been asked.

For additional information, clarification, or questions, please contact the Doctoral Symposium Chairman, James Noble, doc_symp@oopsla.acm.org.

Back To Top Of Page