ICSE 2014 Call for Papers - ACM Student Research Competition (SRC)

ACM Student Research Competition (SRC)

ICSE 2014 will host an ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), sponsored by Microsoft Research. This competition offers undergraduate and graduate students a unique forum to experience the research world, present their research results to ICSE attendees, and compete for prizes.

The ACM SRC at ICSE 2014 consists of three parts: (1) research abstract submission; (2) poster presentation; and (3) research talk. The winners of the competition will be invited to participate in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals.

Participate in this exciting competition: Submit your work to the ACM Student Research Competition at ICSE 2014. Win a travel stipend to attend the ICSE conference in Hyderabad!

How to Participate: Submit a Research Abstract

To participate in the competition, submit a 2-page research abstract related to the main themes of the conference (see the Technical Research Track for a list of conference topics). The submission should describe: the research problem and motivation, background and related work, approach and uniqueness, results, and contributions. Papers will be judged based on how well they cover these aspects of the work.

The research abstract must conform at time of submission to the ICSE 2014 formatting and submission instructions, and must not exceed 2 pages, including all text, appendices, and figures. However references do not count against the page limit: the list of references may expand into a third page, i.e., the third page, if any, should contain nothing except all or part of your references. All submissions must be in English and in the PDF format.

Papers must be submitted electronically through CyberChair by November 22, 2013. A panel of experts will review the submissions and select the students to participate in the Student Research Competition, which will be held at ICSE 2014 in Hyderabad, India. Accepted submissions will be published in the conference proceedings.

Students who are selected to participate in the main competition at the ICSE conference round are entitled to a stipend for their travel expenses, up to a maximum of US$500.

First Round Competition: Present a Poster

The first round of the competition will take place in Hyderabad at the ICSE 2014 conference and will be a poster session. This is your opportunity to present your research to conference attendees and leading experts in the software engineering field, including the SRC committee.

Judges will review the posters and speak to participants about their research. The judges will evaluate the research (quality, novelty, and significance), the presentation of the research (poster, discussion), and select students to advance to the second round of the competition.

Second Round Competition: Give a Presentation

Selected students will give a short presentation of their research before a panel of judges in a special session at ICSE 2014. After each presentation, there will be a short question and answer session.

Evaluations are based on the presenter's knowledge of his/her research area, contributions of the research, and the quality of the oral and visual presentation. Three winners will be chosen in each category, undergraduate and graduate, and receive prizes.

The SRC Grand Finals

The first-place undergraduate and graduate student winners from the SRC held at ICSE 2014 will advance to the SRC Grand Finals. A different panel of judges evaluates the winners of all SRCs held during the calendar year against each other via the web. Three undergraduates and three graduates will be chosen as the SRC Grand Finals winners. They are invited, along with their advisors, to the annual ACM Awards Banquet, where they receive formal recognition.

Prizes

The top three winners in each category (undergraduate and graduate) will be recognized during the conference and will receive prizes of US$500, US$300, and US$200, respectively. The winners of the ICSE SRC are also invited to compete with winners from other conferences in the ACM Student Research Competition Grand Finals.

Requirements

Participants must be undergraduate or graduate students pursuing an academic degree at the time of initial submission. Participants must be current student members of the ACM, and must provide their ACM member number. Supervisors of the work may not be listed as co-authors; you must submit a single-authored version of your work for the competition.

For More Information

For additional information, visit the official ACM Student Research Competition website.

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I am a PhD student. Am I eligible to participate in the SRC?
Yes. As a PhD student, you will compete in the Graduate category of the competition.

Q: What should be part of the research abstract?
A submission to the competition should describe recently completed or ongoing student research related to the topics covered by ICSE. It is important that your research abstract discusses (1) research problem and motivation, (2) background and related work, (3) approach and uniqueness, and (4) results and contributions. The committee will assess your research abstract along these dimensions.

Q: Based on what criteria will judges evaluate the abstract/research?
The judges will assess research abstracts based on four criteria: Problem and motivation; Background and related work; Approach and uniqueness; and Results and contribution. For the poster presentation, the criteria are: Oral presentation; Visual presentation; Research methods; and Significance of contribution. For the conference presentation, the criteria are Knowledge of research area; Contribution of research; and Presentation.

Q: I noticed that first round participants receive a travel reimbursement of up to $500. Will the participants also qualify for a registration waiver and/or free/discounted student lodging?
There is no registration waiver and no free/discounted student lodging for first round participants of the SRC. Students will still have to pay for conference registration and lodging, for which they can use the travel stipend.

However, there are additional programs to help students keep the cost down (the programs can be combined with SRC):
* Consider applying as a student volunteer.
* SIGSOFT has a great travel support program for students: SIGSOFT CAPS

Q: My research is not related to software engineering or any of the main themes of the ICSE conference. Can I still participate in the Student Research Competition?
Yes, but not at ICSE. Participate in a SRC at conference that is related to your research.

To participate in the competition at ICSE, your research needs to be related to the main themes of the ICSE conference (see the topics for the technical research track).

If your research is not among the topics relevant for ICSE, please check the list of current SRC calls to find a conference that is better related. If you don't find a conference that covers your research, you can participate in the SRC competition at the SIGCSE conference.

Sponsor

Important Dates

Paper Submission November 22, 2013
Notification January 31, 2014
Camera-Ready Version March 7, 2014

ACM Student Research Competition Chair

Aditya V. Nori (Microsoft Research India)
Romain Robbes (University in Chile, Chile)

ACM Student Research Competition Committee

Alberto Bacchelli, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Earl Barr, University College London, United Kingdom
Alexandre Bergel, University of Chile, Chile
Eric Bodden, Fraunhofer SIT & Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
Massimiliano Di Penta, University of Sannio, Italy
Thomas Fritz, University of Zurich
Shi Han, Microsoft Research Asia, China
Akash Lal, Microsoft Research India, India
Walid Maalej, University of Hamburg, Germany
Mayur Naik, Georgia Tech, United States
Daryl Posnett, UC Davis, United States
Michael Pradel, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Neha Rungta, NASA Ames Research Center, USA, United States
Koushik Sen, UC Berkeley, United States
Mike Whalen, University of Minnesota, United States
Tao Xie, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States
Xiangyu Zhang, Purdue University, United States
Thomas Zimmermann, Microsoft Research Redmond, United States

Formatting and submission instructions

Please review the submission and formatting instructions carefully. Submissions that do not comply with the instructions and size limits will be rejected without review.

Cyberchair submission link

After you have carefully reviewed all instructions on this page, please use the following link for submissions: SRC cyberchair submission link