The first annual University of Arizona Computer Science Graduate Student Symposium is an exciting new forum for UofA's CS graduate students to obtain feedback, present, and receive recognition for their world-class, unpublished research. The symposium will take place on October 30, 2009 in Gould-Simpson 906, and will be attended by all of the University of Arizona Computer Science department and is open to external sponsors or guests. This event will provide invaluable peer and external feedback to participants (among numerous other opportunities invaluable to students), and serve to highlight the best in the fantastic research performed by UofA's CS graduate students. Prizes will be awarded for the best paper submission, best presentation, and best poster, and lunch will be provided during the symposium. The GSS will be a half-day event of posters and talks, at which all submissions will be presented. Reviewers will provide feedback for all submissions, and will select the best submissions to be presented with a brief talk at the symposium.

Updated Submissions will be short papers, no longer than 3 pages, including all figures. References can spill onto 1 additional page. Each short paper should (at least) have sections describing the problem, approach, method, and evaluation. Submissions will be accepted from any current UofA CS graduate student, as long as they meet the formatting requirements. New or previously submitted (but not previously published) work in any area of CS is welcome. All submissions should be approved by the author's advisor. All entries must be submitted electronically as PDFs rendered in AAAI conference format using the paper submission site.

All submissions will be presented at the symposium. A selected set of submissions will be invited as talks and the rest will be poster presentations.

If you would like to participate as a reviewer, please contact one of the organizers. We are always looking for additional reviewers. Please watch the graduate students mailing lists for additional information, or contact Wesley Kerr or Kyle Simek.

• 9/4/2009 -- Official annoucement
• 9/7/2009 -- Begin accepting submissions
• 10/2/2009 -- Submission deadline
• 10/12/2009 -- Reviews complete
• 10/16/2009 -- Reviews and presentation notifications sent to the authors
• 10/30/2009 -- Graduate Student Symposium

The best paper recepient will receive a $100 award, a small trophy, and name on a permanent plaque. The two runners up will receive a $25 award and a small trophy.

The first prize for the best presentation award is a $50 award, a small trophy, and name on a permanent plaque. The two runners up will receive a $25 award and a small trophy.

The first prize for the best poster award is a $50 award, a small trophy, and name on a permanent plaque. The two runners up will receive a $25 award and a small trophy.

The best student reviewer will receive a $50 award and a small trophy.

Best Paper Criteria:

• The best paper and two runner-ups will be determined by the PC committee using the review form.

Best Poster Criteria:

• Technical content of the poster
• Is there enough detail to understand the idea behind the research?
• Is the idea interesting?
• Is the solution to the problem useful for the research community?
• Organization of the poster
• Is there a good balance between text and images?
• Is the content laid out in a sensible way (clear ideas, easy to follow the "story")?
• Presentation of the poster
• Did the presenter do a good job of conveying their idea in the limited time they had to present it?
• Was the presenter able to succinctly describe the key ideas on the poster?

Best Presentation Criteria:

• Quality of slides
  • Were the slides helpful in presenting the work?
  • Did they help supplement the presentation?
  • Where they well organized?
  • Was there enough content?
  • Were they concise enough?
• Presentation
• Did the speaker present the work in an understandable manner?
• Was the presentation clear?
• Did the presentation hold the audience's attention?
• Did the presenter make good use of the slides?
• Was the presentation well organized and within the time limit?
• How well did the presenter answer questions?

Best Student Reviewer Criteria:

• Student authors will nominate reviewers for this award. Nominations will count as votes with the reviewer with the highest number of votes winning the prize. The PC will break ties.
• Nominations will be based on the following criteria
• Quality of comments and suggestions
• Shows understanding of presented work
• Full consideration of all evaluation criteria

Organizers:

• Wesley Kerr
• Kyle Simek

Reviewers: - Review Form

• Daniel Hewlett
• Derek Green
• Antons Rebguns

Advisory Committee:

• Prof. Paul Cohen