SPLASH 2011
Fri 21 - Thu 27 October 2011 Portland, Oregon, United States

ACM STUDENT RESEARCH COMPETITION

After its remarkable success in previous years, SPLASH is again hosting an ACM SIGPLAN Student Research Competition. The competition, sponsored by Microsoft Research, is an internationally-recognized venue that enables undergraduate and graduate students to experience the research world, share their research results with other students and SPLASH attendees, and compete for prizes. The ACM SIGPLAN Student Research Competition shares the Poster session’s goal to facilitate students’ interaction with researchers and industry practitioners; providing both sides with the opportunity to learn of ongoing, current research. Additionally, the Student Research Competition affords students with experience with both formal presentations and evaluations.

Selection Process

A maximum of 20 students (10 undergraduates, 10 graduates) will be selected to participate in the Student Research Competition at SPLASH. Students whose submissions are accepted to participate in the competition are entitled to a stipend for their travel expenses, up to a maximum of US $500.

At the conference, the first round of the competition evaluates the research during a poster presentation at SPLASH. The poster presentation is evaluated based on two facets:

The presentation of the research, including the visual aspects of the poster and the student’s oral discussion. The research, specifically its quality, novelty, and the significance of the contribution. Based on the results from the poster session, the judges will select students to advance to the second round of the competition.

During the second round of the competition, students give a 10-minute presentation of their research, followed by a five-minute question and answer period. A panel of judges evaluates the presentation, and the top three winners in each category are selected. The top three winners in each category will receive prizes of US $500, US $300, and US $200, respectively.

After the conference, the winners from each category will advance to the ACM Grand Finals of the Student Research Competition, where all SIG conference contest winners are evaluated.

Submission

Students submit a proposal that follows the requirements for a Poster proposal. Submissions must be original work that is neither in submission nor already published at SPLASH/OOPSLA or another conference or journal. Student Research Competition submissions will be simultaneously considered for the Poster track. Students who are not selected to participate in the Student Research Competition will be considered for the Poster track. The submission should describe:

The research problem and motivation Background and related work Approach and uniqueness Results and contributions Submissions are reviewed by a panel of experts, and are evaluated based upon the following criteria:

  • Quality of work
  • Novelty of approach
  • Significance of contribution
  • Clarity of written presentation

Prizes

The top three winners at SPLASH in each category (undergraduate and graduate) will receive prizes of US $500, US $300, and US $200, respectively. All winners also receive an award certificate and two-year complimentary ACM membership with a subscription to ACM's Digital Library. Winners will be recognized during the conference. These winners will also go on to compete in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals with winners from other ACM conferences.

Competition Requirements

Participants must be undergraduates or graduate students pursuing an academic degree at the time of initial submission. The contest has two categories, one for undergraduate research and the other for graduate research. Three winners will be selected in each category. Research completed while the student was an undergraduate may be submitted to the undergraduate category even if the student is now a first-year graduate student. Participants must provide a signed letter from their academic supervisor confirming that they are registered as a full-time student and that at least 50% of their working week is spent following an academic course of study. Additionally, participants must be current members of the ACM, and must provide their ACM member number.

Although the ACM and SPLASH recognize the importance of collaborative research, the Student Research Competition is meant to be an opportunity for junior students to develop their skills as researchers and to give them an opportunity to showcase their work. One of the goals of the program is to focus on the student, their capabilities as a researcher, and their potential. As such, only individual research projects will be considered for the Student Research Competition. Supervisors of the work may not be listed as co-authors; you must submit a single-authored version of your work for the competition.

For More Information

For additional information, clarification, or answers to questions please contact the ACM Student Research Competition Chair, Eli Tilevich and Sushil Bajracharya, at src@splashcon.org.

ACM Student Research Competition Committee

Eli Tilevich, Virginia Tech, USA (chair) Sushil Bajracharya, Black Duck Software, USA (chair) Doug Lea, State University of New York at Oswego, USA Emerson Murphy-Hill, NC State University, USA Jules White, Virginia Tech, USA Munawar Hafiz, UIUC, USA Yishai Feldman, IBM Research, Israel ACM SRC is sponsored by