Graduate Students Symposium

• May 27th 2012, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Call For Paper - Deadline 15 Feb 2012

 

AI 2012, the twenty-fifth Canadian Conference on Artificial Intelligence, invites graduate students to submit four-page extended abstracts of their thesis for possible inclusion in the AI 2012 Graduate Student Symposium and the Canadian AI proceedings published by Springer.

 

Symposium Objectives

The Symposium provides an opportunity for Master's and PhD students to discuss and explore their research interests and career objectives with their peers and with a panel of established researchers in Artificial Intelligence, helping to develop a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research.

The symposium will be a one-day pre-conference event, where students of accepted abstracts will be invited to give a presentation on their thesis work before a group of peers as well as a small team of expert AI researchers who would offer a critique of each presentation and provide support, advice, and mentoring. Each student may also be invited to participate in the poster session during the main conference. In addition, a small selection of the best student submissions will be invited to give a short talk during the main conference.

PhD and Master's students are invited to submit original work in all areas of Artificial Intelligence. Submissions should have emphasis on work in progress, with directions for future research clearly indicated wherever appropriate. More weight will be placed on the significance of the work, the proposed ideas or solutions, and the overall presentation than on submissions which present work with complete results.

 

The Application Package

Applicants to the symposium need to submit the following materials. Please combine all materials into one PDF document:

1. A four-page thesis summary that outlines the problem being addressed, the proposed plan for research, and a description of the progress to date. The most successful applications directly address all three of these components. Please be sure to distinguish between work that has already been accomplished and work that remains to be done. Be sure to include a title for your work. All submissions must be written in English. Abstracts may be up to 4 pages in length and must be formatted according to Springer's LNCS style. Please follow the instructions for authors at Springer's site for authors. The use of the LaTeX2e style file available at the web site is strongly encouraged.
2. Include a CV (at most two pages) that describes your background and relevant experience (research, education, employment). Your CV needs to include your anticipated graduation date, or it may be rejected without review. Please include any additional items that may indicate your potential contribution to, and benefit from, the symposium.
3. A letter of recommendation from your thesis advisor. It must include an assessment of the current status of your thesis research, and an expected date for thesis submission. In addition, your advisor should indicate what he or she hopes you would gain from participation in the symposium.
4. Participant's Expectations. A short (one page or less) statement of what you expect to gain from presenting and participating in the symposium, as well as what you think you can contribute to the symposium. For best consideration, your statement must address both of these expectations. To submit your application package, please go to CAI-GS'12 Submission Server at EasyChair and follow the instruction.

 

The Reviewing Process

Each abstract will be reviewed by a team of program committee members. Presenting students will be selected based on clarity of the submission, stage of research, advisor's letter and evidence of promise such as published papers or technical reports. (Partial) Financial assistance for travel and accommodations may be available to the students presenting at the Symposium.

All students are encouraged to attend and participate in the Symposium, whether or not they apply to present their work. All the selected student presenters are expected to actively participate in the full Symposium, as we envision participants gaining as much by interacting with their peers as by having their presentations critiqued by the faculty panel. In addition, a senior AI researcher and faculty member will be invited to give a talk on a topic of interest to graduate students.

 

Important Dates

• Package submission due Feb 15th, 2012 (EXTENDED)
• Notification of acceptance March 3rd, 2012
• Final paper due March 8th, 2012

 

Program Co-chairs:

Ebrahim Bagheri, Athabasca University

Jocelyne Faddoul, Dalhousie University

 

Program Committee (alphabetical order):

Scott Buffett, National Research Council Canada

Maria Fernanda Caropreso, Department of National Defense Canada

Eric Charton, Ecole Polytechnique de Montrel

Liqiang Geng, National Research Council Canada

Diana Inkpen, Universite d'Ottawa - University of Ottawa

Vlado Keselj, Dalhousie University

Leila Kosseim, Concordia University

Adam Krzyzak, Concordia University

Gordon Mccalla, University of Saskatchewan

Arash Shaban-Nejad, McGill University

Mohak Shah, Accenture, Chicago

Stan Szpakowicz, Universite d'Ottawa - University of Ottawa

Julita Vassileva, University of Saskatchewan

Paolo Viappiani, Aalborg University

Nur Zincir-Heywood, Dalhousie University