WORKSHOP: The IEEE Virtual Reality 2019 Doctoral Consortium

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This is funding to support participation by approximately 5 promising graduate students from educational institutions in the United States, along with senior members of the academic and industrial research communities as mentors, in a Doctoral Consortium (workshop) to be held in conjunction with the IEEE Virtual Reality 2019 conference that will take place March 23-27 in Osaka, Japan. Additional international graduate students will also take part in the event, however funding to support those students from non-US institutions is not requested from NSF. Virtual reality is a multidisciplinary field involving human-centered computer simulations that seek to imitate or augment real world senses (usually sight, sound, and touch) and experiences. VR research includes the development and assessment of methods and systems, and facilitating and understanding user perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors. First organized by the IEEE Computer Society in 1993 and held annually since 1995, IEEE Virtual Reality is the premier international conference and exhibition in this field and includes technical paper presentations, workshops, tutorials, research demonstrations, and exhibits from industry. Based on prior year participation, the organizers expect IEEE VR 2019 to attract approximately 350-400 attendees; more information about the conference may be found online at http://www.ieeevr.org/2019. The goal of the Doctoral Consortium is to provide a unique venue for interactive, supportive, and prestigious mentoring for mid-level graduate students in virtual reality, to afford these students a valuable opportunity to get independent perspectives on their research from senior individuals with a wide collective breadth and depth of knowledge, and to build a cohort of young researchers within the VR community. Due to this year's timing constraints, the DC student participants have already been selected; special efforts were made to recruit participants from groups traditionally underrepresented in the field of computer science, including women, persons of color, and people with disabilities.This year's IEEE VR Doctoral Consortium builds on the successful format of the previous such events, which were also supported by NSF. The main activities of the workshop will take place on Saturday, March 23. The full-day event will include morning and afternoon sessions in which each student presents his/her work to the other student participants and a panel of senior VR researchers, with sufficient time set aside after each talk for discussion and constructive feedback that addresses the strengths of the work, challenges and issues that may arise, and implications of the results. A group working lunch attended by all the students and mentors will be particularly valuable for unifying the individual goals and projects presented within the group as part of a "big picture" envisioning of the future of the field. Additionally, a dinner will be held on Saturday, March 23, to welcome the students and provide initial mentorship and tips for networking at the conference. Beyond the main event and dinner on Saturday, small groups of 2-3 students will meet on an additional day during the week for mentoring lunches and other networking events with senior members of the VR research community. DC attendees will also take part in a poster session, which will give them more opportunities to network and discuss their research. The conference organizers will generously provide as much financial support as possible to the DC through the conference's budget, including meeting space, audio-visual rental, and food and beverage during breaks for free.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.