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Doctoral Symposium

Chair: Laurie Williams, North Carolina State University, doc_symp@oopsla.org

Go to the Doctoral Symposium submission system.

The goal of the OOPSLA 2004 Doctoral Symposium is to provide useful guidance for the completion of the dissertation research and initiation of a research career. The Symposium will provide an interactive forum for doctoral students in one of two phases in their doctoral progress.

1. Apprentices: Students who are just beginning their research, are not ready to actually make a research proposal, but are interested in learning about structuring research and getting some research ideas.
2. Proposers: Students who have progressed far enough in their research to have a structured proposal, but will not be defending their dissertation in the next 12 months. This 12-month stipulation is set in place because we would like for the students to have sufficient time to incorporate the advice and suggestions discussed in the symposium.

TThe symposium consists of a dinner on Sunday night (October 24) followed by a full-day workshop on Monday (October 25).

The Apprentices will be observers during the symposium, can attend the symposium dinner, and will participate in critiquing and providing feedback to the proposers. Selected apprentices will be awarded a student volunteer position of your choice. To apply to be an apprentice, you must have your advisor send a letter of recommendation to Laurie Williams (williams@csc.ncsu.edu) by July 2, 2004. Four Apprentices will be selected.

Doctoral students who are at least one year of thesis completion with an approved committee and topic are invited to apply as a Proposer. These 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, mirroring the topics of the presentation defined below. Electronic submission of applications is required through the OOPSLA submission system. Additionally, your advisor must send a brief statement of how far along you are with your thesis work you are and a statement of recommendation to Laurie Williams (williams@csc.ncsu.edu) by July 2, 2004. Eight Proposers will be selected. Proposers are expected to attend the symposium dinner and to participate in the workshop for the entire day.

In the workshop, Proposer presentations will consists of the following:

• a two-minute overview stating the most critical issues of the research (the "elevator talk")
• a separate, strictly-timed 20-minute description of their 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, the results validated, and the contribution of the work measured?

Each symposium Proposer will have a two-page short paper published in the Conference Companion proceedings and are strongly advised to have a poster at the OOPSLA Poster session and to attempt to compete in the ACM Student Research Competition. These vehicles provide 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.

Student participants will receive conference registration and up to $1000 in travel-related expenses

Applications must be submitted no later than July 2, 2004, but earlier is strongly recommended.
Notification of acceptance or rejection: August 2, 2004.

For additional information, clarification, or questions, please contact the Doctoral Symposium Chairman, Laurie Williams, doc_symp@oopsla.org.

Program Committee

Laurie Williams, North Carolina State University
Bjorn Freeman-Benson, University of Washington
Jim Coplien, Vrije Universiteit Brussel , University of Manchester
Philippe Kruchten, University of British Columbia
James Noble, Victoria University of Wellington
Mario Wolczko, Sun Microsystems, Inc.