GRAND has the opportunity to participate in an NSF-Funded Doctoral Symposium on Social-Computational Systems. Social-Computational Systems, as defined in the NSF solicitation of the same name, "seeks to reveal new understanding about the properties that systems of people and computers together possess, and to develop theoretical and practical understandings of the purposeful design of systems to facilitate socially intelligent computing."

Details
Participation:  Limited to approximately 35 doctoral students from US institutions, plus 3-4 doctoral students from Canada.

Dates: June 9-11, 2011

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Format:  The doctoral symposium itself will be a six-hour event at which advanced students (those at the stage of dissertation work) will present their work for feedback (in break-out groups with other students and faculty). Early-stage students are invited to participate in the discussions, but will not be asked to present their work.

The symposium is followed by a two-day workshop on Social- Computational Systems (SoCS) (attended by faculty researchers, as well as the symposium students) exploring a wide range of subjects including interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical issues in research, and promising research topics.

Funding:  Participating students will have their travel and meals paid for as part of their participation in the symposium. Canadian students will have their travel paid by GRAND.

Selection Criteria: We anticipate more applicants than we can accommodate. Selection will be made by a program committee of faculty, with priority given to:
-- students working on current SoCS projects
-- students in the mid-stage of their degree (finishing 2nd through 4th year of Ph.D. program)
-- students from institutions that would otherwise notbe represented

In addition, we will diversify selection by home discipline, and will be seeking students with excellent academic records and high potential to become contributors to the field.

Submission: Canadian students should be nominated by a member of their supervisory committee who is a GRAND researcher. Include the following information in one PDF document. The letter of reference PDF can be sent separately, with a subject line including your name. 

All correspondence should be emailed to Grace Battiston

-- full name, contact information, school/degree program, and year in program
-- curriculum vitae
-- for students at the stage of dissertation work, a 4-page summary of dissertation work (including summary of work already completed and plans for remaining work)
-- for students prior to the stage of dissertation work, a 2-page position statement introducing your area of interest, prior experience, and current work
-- a letter of reference from your advisor or other senior researcher familiar with your work
-- this may be sent separately by the advisor with a subject line including your name

Deadline: March 1, 2010 (very soon!).  GRAND was only offered this opportunity this week. The U.S. deadline for submissions has already passed.

Faculty Mentor Opportunity 
There is also an opportunity for one GRAND researcher to participate as faculty mentor.