IEEE VIS 2013 will host a Doctoral Colloquium to support the next generation of visualization researchers. Ph.D. students at any stage of their research are invited to apply to participate in the colloquium. Students who will be completing their proposal defense near the time of the colloquium are particularly encouraged to apply. The colloquium will be run as a single day invitation-only event at the beginning of IEEE VIS. It will incorporate contributions from the scientific visualization, information visualization, and visual analytics student communities.

The colloquium will allow students to discuss their research directions in a supportive atmosphere with a panel of distinguished leaders and with their peers. Students can expect helpful feedback and fresh perspectives on their research topics and possible career paths, and will have the opportunity to interact closely with expert researchers in their field. The colloquium will support community-building by connecting beginning and advanced researchers.

The DC is open to Ph.D. students in all stages of their studies, regardless of whether they are presenting research work at the main conference or not. Only selected applicants will be allowed to participate in the colloquium, and will be expected to attend the full day of events. Preference will be given to students that have formulated a dissertation topic but is still a year or more away from graduating. In North American terms, this corresponds to students that will or have recently defended their thesis proposal. Students who are in the process of formulating their research topic are particularly encouraged to apply, as this is the time where external feedback can have most impact. It is our experience that students who participate in the DC too early in their studies will not be able to get focused and useful feedback, whereas participating too late means that any significant feedback received will not be possible to incorporate in the student's dissertation due to time constraints.

All research topics suitable for the IEEE SciVis, IEEE InfoVis, and IEEE VAST main programs are also appropriate for the Doctoral Colloquium. Lists of these topics of interest are available at:

• IEEE SciVis
• IEEE InfoVis
• IEEE VAST

FORMAT

The colloquium will likely consist of both parallel sessions of student presentations as well as common discussions with the expert panelists. A lunch is also planned that will give student participants the opportunity to interact more informally with panelists.

IMPORTANT DATES

Application Submissions due: July 5, 2013
Posters Submissions due: July 5, 2013
Notifications of Acceptance: Early August
Doctoral Colloquium: October 12, 2013 (the Saturday just before IEEE VIS 2013)

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants to the Doctoral Colloquium should submit:

• A four-page summary of their thesis research, including the problem being addressed, methodology and plan of research, and a description of the progress to date.  Please distinguish between work that has been accomplished and that which remains to be completed. 
• An email from the student's advisor supporting the student's attendance at the colloquium and confirming that the student is in a good position to benefit from participating. Note that this should NOT be a letter of recommendation; a brief statement of support is sufficient. The e-mail should be sent directly to doctoral_coll(at)ieeevis.org.
• (Optional) A draft poster if PDF format (see below.)

Student submissions should be sent via email to doctoral_coll(at)ieeevis.org. Formatting guidelines and LaTeX/Word templates can be found at http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~vis/Tasks/camera.html.

Student submissions will be peer-reviewed and selections will be made on the basis of their contribution to the colloquium's goals, strength of research direction, and the advisor's assessment. Accepted submissions will be printed for colloquium participants.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Accepted participants of the Doctoral Colloquium will also be allowed to present their work as a poster that will be displayed together with the regular poster program.  Please consider including a draft poster with your DC submission.  Participants may be asked to refine their posters and summaries based upon reviewer feedback.

The posters themselves have no predefined formatting, but dimensions may not exceed A0 paper size (841mm x 1189mm / 33.1" x 46.8"). Participants are responsible for bringing a hardcopy poster for display during IEEE VIS.  They should be available at the poster to discuss their work during the scheduled evening poster session(s).

The poster session chairs will have a final say in accepting all poster submissions, even for DC participants.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Inquiries may be directed to doctoral_coll(at)ieeevis.org.

CHAIRS

Remco Chang, Tufts University
Jian Chen, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Niklas Elmqvist, Purdue University