FOCS 2011 Travel and Registration Support Information

Travel and Student Registration Awards for FOCS 2011

Thanks to generous support from the National Science Foundation, the IEEE TCMF, which sponsors FOCS 2011, and from Google, there will be a total of nearly $22,000 to support travel and student registration for FOCS 2011.

The NSF travel awards are available to students and certain postdoctoral fellows. Through NSF funding, there is roughly $14,500 available in travel support (airfare and shared hotel accommodation but not registration) to fund at least 24 attendees. The NSF awards are only available to those at US institutions. We have some additional funds (through Google) to support student travel that are not restricted to US institutions. Receipts will be required for all travel awards. Reimbursement will be made after the conference.

The IEEE TCMF awards are for student registration only. There is no restriction on the institution of origin for this award. If you are applying for a registration award you must APPLY AT LEAST 1 WEEK PRIOR TO THE EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE. You should WAIT TO REGISTER until you have heard the outcome of your request.

There is one combined application process to apply for both awards. Subject to demand and availability, it is possible to receive both awards.

Preference will be given to students who are FOCS 2011 authors. To apply, email the information listed below to focs-travel at cs dot washington dot edu, by September 22, 2011. Please use the following subject line: "FOCS 2011 travel-registration application".

1. Are you applying for a travel award, registration award, or both?
2. Title of paper, if you are an author and whether you will be presenting the paper.
3. Whether you are a student or you are a postdoctoral fellow
4. University name and country.
5. Amount of other travel funds that are available to you.
accomplishments and interests in attending the conference.
6. A short statement describing you academic standing and interests, your expected graduation date and degree, advisor's name, and, if available, a URL for a working Web page. Also indicate whether and when you have attended previous major theory conferences (e.g. STOC and FOCS) and whether or not you have received other travel awards to do so.
7. (For students) a supporting statement from your advisor confirming your status, recomminding your attendance, and describing the availability of travel funds. This should be included in a message with your name in the subject line which should be e-mailed to the focs-travel address above. (Note: vague statements such as "funds are tight" are not informative).
8. The NSF and IEEE encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups for these awards.
   (Optional) Please indicate if you are part of such a group or at an institution that is not typically represented at IEEE FOCS.
9. If you are at a US institution and requesting travel support you should submit a US dollar estimate of the airfare/transportion cost to the conference and the number of nights you will be staying.

This information will be used to prioritize the awards (see the prioritization for travel awards below). The awards will be announced by Monday September 26. Late applications will not be accepted.

You should receive an email acknowledging your application within 3 weekdays. If not, please resubmit or contact the conference organizers by some other means.

Student and postdoctoral fellow travel to FOCS 2011 is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants CCF-1049485 and CCF-1147364.

Priority for Travel Awards will be based on the following:

Institution:
• Most, but not all, travel awards are for individuals at US institutions only. Some funds are restricted to at most one travel award per institution so awards will be made to ensure coverage of as broad a spectrum of institutions as possible.

Individual:
• Student authors and co-authors of accepted papers who do not have other support.
• Members of under-represented groups or from institutions not traditionally represented at the conference who have research interests in areas covered by FOCS whose attendance would broaden participation at the conference.
• Student applicants whose statements and supporting information make particularly cogent justification for the benefit they will receive from attending the conference.
• Postdoctoral authors of accepted papers who do not have other travel support.
• First-time applicants and students who have not received travel stipends to FOCS or STOC in the recent past.
• Financial need and stage in research career.