Portland, Oregon, November 5-11, 2006
Important Dates for Inspirations
| Submission of personal statement and letters of recommendation: | September 18, 2006 |
| Notification of Acceptance: | October 2, 2006 |
| Attendance at Inspirations: | November 5, 2006 |
| Attendance at Doctoral Symposium: | November 6, 2006 |
| Attendance at Main Conference: | November 7, 2006 |
Goal and Scope
This new event is aimed at undergraduate and M.S. students who are seriously contemplating obtaining a Ph.D. and will provide them with a "taste of software engineering". The event will consist of interactive sessions with established researchers, who will share their passion for the problems they are tackling and talk about their personal motivation for being a researcher in the field of software engineering. Students have the opportunity to seek advice on all aspects of the Ph.D. process, with a particular emphasis on software engineering research. Students participating in the orientation will audit the doctoral symposium, interact with students currently in doctoral programs through a question and answer session, and spend additional time at the main conference.
Submission and Evaluation
Students will be selected to attend Inspirations based on a personal statement and a letter of recommendation by one of their professors (preferably one who teaches and is involved in software engineering or one who serves as their undergraduate research advisor). The personal statement should include a description of why you would like to obtain a Ph.D. The letter of recommendation should discuss the student's potential for successfully completing the Ph.D. program.
The personal statement should be e-mailed, in PDF, to Thorna Humphries at thumphries@nsu.edu, with the subject of "Inspirations application for <insert name of student>".
The letter of recommendation should be e-mailed, in PDF, directly from the recommender to Thorna Humphries at thumphries@nsu.edu, with the subject of "Inspirations letter of recommendation for <insert name of student>".
Both the personal statement and letter of recommendation must have been received by the midnight, September 18, 2006.
Fellowships
Through the generous support of NSF, Microsoft, and IBM, fellowships are available. These fellowships will cover travel, hotel, registration, and per diem expenses. To apply for a fellowship, please download this budget form, fill out all of the fields, and submit it in PDF format along with your personal statement to Thorna Humphries at thumphries@nsu.edu.
To be eligible to apply for a fellowship, students must be studying at a U.S. university.