Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing 2003 Conference

Doctoral candidates are faced with numerous choices on current research and future directions, and often the opportunity to obtain feedback can be limited. The Richard A. Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing 2003 conference is offering Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to discuss research interests with noted researchers in their field at an all-day workshop on the first day of the October 15-18 conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Ph.D. students will present, discuss, and explore their research interests and career objectives with a panel of established researchers.

The deadline to submit proposals to the Doctoral Consortium is June 20, 2003. Limited support for participants may be available.

According to Nina Berry of Sandia National Laboratories, chair of the Tapia 2003 Doctoral Consortium, "The consortium is a unique opportunity for doctoral candidates to meet leaders in their field and obtain personal, direct feedback on their research and career interests. The input from our panel of leaders will be invaluable to the participants, and could possibly lead to future interactions."

Proposals must include a thesis summary (two pages), background information, and the participant's expectations. All submissions must be made online at the conference Website, http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Conferences/Tapia2003/. Information about scholarships to support attendance at the Tapia 2003 conference is also available at this site.

The Tapia conference is a bi-annual event that provides a unique forum at which researchers and students can come together to share technical advances while honoring and celebrating diversity. This year's theme is "Building Diverse Leadership in Computing," which will be a focus in all aspects of the conference.

The conference honors the contributions of Richard A. Tapia of Rice University to the growth of diversity in computing and related disciplines. Tapia, an internationally acclaimed scientist, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the first recipient of the Computing Research Association's A. Nico Habermann Award for outstanding contributions to aiding members of underrepresented groups within the computing community, a member of the National Science Board, and recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Clinton.

The Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing 2003 conference is being planned by the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC)—http://www.cdc-computing.org/—whose mission is to increase the visibility of people of color in computing research. CDC is a joint organization of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Computing Research Association (CRA), and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS). Tapia 2003 is sponsored by the ACM and CRA in cooperation with IEEE-CS. It is supported by Silver Supporters ACM, AGEP Program at Rice University, Microsoft, Inc., National Center for Supercomputing Applications, National Computational Science Alliance; Bronze Supporters AAAI, Argonne National Laboratory - Mathematics and Computer Science Division, EOT-PACI, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; and Contributors Portland State University and Ohio Supercomputing Center.

Contact Information:

Portia Eley
Boston's Community Medical Group
Pme89@hotmail.com