SIGCOMM 2010

AUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 3

NEW DELHI, INDIA

ACM SIGCOMM 2010 Travel Grants

Submission deadline for all travel grant programs extended to June 12, 2010 (11:59pm PDT).


This year, as in years past, the Conference Organizing Committee is working hard to provide as much travel support to as many conference attendees as possible. Travel support has been provided from many different supporting organizations. Through this support, we will be able to assist dozens of attendees.

Support is provided for a variety of different types of attendees, from graduate students to post-doctoral scholars to junior faculty. The amount of support depends on the type of attendee and available funding. Attendees from around the world, particularly India, are encouraged to apply.

Support for SIGCOMM 2010 has been provided from the following organizations:
  1. NSF will continue the tradition of sponsoring a number of US-based graduate students. Support will also extend to a limited number of US-based postdoctoral scholars.
  2. Euro-NF funding is available for students studying in Euro-NF partner institutions. To qualify, a student must be a member of the Euro-NF team in a participating university and/or research center at the time of application.
  3. ACM Sigcomm GeoDiversity travel grants are available for attendees in their early career (at most five years of full-time, full-level, non-postdoc, post-PhD employment) from under-represented countries, based on need, distance to the conference venue, and impact of their attendance in increasing the diversity of conference participation.
  4. We are working on government support specifically for Indian students and researchers to attend Sigcomm. This includes PhD students, faculty and researchers at all universities in India.
  5. The Sigcomm Executive Committee and various corporate sponsors have provided additional support to increase support for attendees across all categories.
In addition, a portion of the corporate sponsorship pool will be set aside to provide additional travel support.

Please consider the following important information before applying:

Selection Criteria 

The following criteria will be used in the selection process:

  1. Preference will be given to applicants that do not present a paper in the conference. The rationale for this criterion is that the participation costs for a presenting author should be covered by their home institution.
  2. Students presenting posters are encouraged to apply though. The rationale is to support the participation of students who do not present papers but contribute to the conference in other ways.
  3. Evidence of a serious interest in networking, as demonstrated by coursework and/or project experience, will be required. Advanced students close to graduation or in the job market will also be given priority, when possible.
  4. We also encourage participation of women and under-represented minorities. Special attention will be given to applicants from minority-serving institutions.
  5. After giving priority to the above criteria, (co-)authors of papers may be considered but will be given lower priority. The rationale is to support people that contribute to the conference and cannot attend otherwise due to budget or other constraints. (An example is a student who is a second author but does not present and would not be able to attend the conference otherwise. Another example is a postdoc who presents work with a past affiliation or without affiliation and thus is not supported neither by its past nor by its current institution. In both cases, the applicant and the letter-writer should explain in their letters why it is impossible to support the applicant from other sources.)

Important Dates

Submission deadline for all programsJune 12, 2010 (11:59pm PDT) June 5, 2010
Award notificationJuly 2, 2010 June 29, 2010
Deadline to accept/decline the awardJuly 6, 2010

Where and How to Apply

All application materials (applicant's info, CV and and letters) should be submitted electronically to the following website: http://nmsl.cs.ucsb.edu/sigcomm_2010_travel_grants/.

The applicant should create an account in the submission system and upload:

  1. an up-to-date CV
  2. an application letter, and
  3. a letter from their supervisor (Ph.D. advisor for students, Ph.D or postdoc advisor for postdocs, or supervisor for faculty/researchers).
The applicant's letter should be clearly divided in the following sections:
  1. an explicit identification of (a) the applicant's current country of study/work, (b) academic status (student, postdoc, or junior faculty member), and (c) whether the applicant qualifies for a Euro-NF or GeoDiversity travel grant (see above);
  2. whether the applicant plans to attend any of the workshops;
  3. brief summary of where the applicant is studying/working (provide a URL for a home page if one exists) and the applicant's advisor/supervisor is; the applicant feels is relevant to support their case;
  4. a brief summary of research interests and plans for future research; and
  5. why the conference attendance is important to the applicant's research
The supervisor's letter should be clearly divided in the following sections:
  1. the applicant's good standing in the institution;
  2. explain why the applicant would benefit from attending SIGCOMM as well as how he/she could contribute to the conference;
  3. explain the current funding status and why the applicant is in need of the travel grant.

Supervisor letters may either be uploaded directly to the site by the applicant (preferred) or may be emailed (PDF only!) to almeroth@cs.ucsb.edu.

Questions and email communication should be addressed to the Travel Grants Co-Chairs. Indian applicants should contact Huzur Saran at saran@iitd.ernet.in. All others should contact Kevin Almeroth at almeroth@cs.ucsb.edu.

Reimbursement Process

All grants will be handled via reimbursement by check. The NSF-sponsored awards will be reimbursed through a grant at UCSB. The EuroNF-sponsored awards will be handled as supplements to existing EuroNF grants. Travel grants of students from Delhi and post-docs will be reimbursed through grants awarded by the Delhi Government. Awards from ACM SIGCOMM and industrial sponsors will be handled through ACM.

For any expense that is covered, a receipt is required. An expense report form and other required forms will have to be turned in after the conference. The reimbursement will be sent as check via mail after the documents are received. The details will be announced to the award recipients.