IEEE RAS 2008 Fellowship in Robotics and Automation

The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society is sponsoring a fellowship for a Ph.D. student in the areas of roboticsand/or automation, to be expended before the end of the 2008 calendar year. Proposals for the “2008 IEEE RASFellowship” are now solicited. This fellowship is intended to support a student who will have a significant futureimpact on the fields of robotics and/or automation, and increase gender diversity in the field. The primaryevaluation criteria are the applicant’s past research accomplishments, potential for future technical contributions,and impact on gender diversity in robotics and automation. Thus, it is anticipated that the successful applicant will be a student who is fairly advanced in the academic program. A similar fellowship in 2007 had 38 applicants. The winner and honorable mentions are listed at http://www.ieee-ras.org/news/enews.php?n=1191265200#4.

Award: The fellowship carries an award of $12,500 to be used for stipend or tuition support, and we require that
the funds be fully obligated by November 1, 2008 for supporting a student up to but not beyond December 31,2008. The fellowship does not continue beyond the end of the calendar year.

Eligibility: Doctoral students who are fully admitted to a Ph.D. program at an academic institution are eligible to
apply. The nominee and nominator must be IEEE RAS members. The applicant must be a registered student for at
least the period September-November 2008. The proposal should be submitted through the sponsored projects
office of the applicant's institution. Applicants and their faculty advisors are urged to contact their institution's
sponsored projects office before beginning the application process to verify that the institution is willing to
administer this award under the constraints described below. IEEE will review the institutional approval; no funds
will be released unless the method of spending and invoicing meets IEEE approval.

Proposal: The proposal must include the following information (in a single pdf file, in the order shown):

• Name, academic institution, mailing address, email address, current academic standing, and IEEE Membership Number of applicant
• Name, affiliation, mailing address, email address, and IEEE Membership Number of nominator
• Name, affiliation, mailing address, email address, and phone number of an authorized representative of the institution (from the institution's sponsored projects office)
• The following statement, undersigned by the authorized representative listed above: "The institutionthat I represent is willing to administer this award under the constraints mandated by IEEE. We agreeto waive any indirect (facilities or administrative) costs for this fellowship. We will invoice the fullamount of the Fellowship to IEEE RAS on or before November 1, 2008." (Scan page so hand-writtensignature is shown in pdf file.) Instructions for billing will be provided to the winner.

2. A nomination letter from the applicant's Ph.D. advisor or other person who has first-hand knowledgethe applicant's background, field of interest, and qualifications. Nominators who have other sources of funds to enable support for the applicant for the remainder of the full academic year are preferred. (1 page maximum, 12-point font).

3. Description of the applicant's background, field of interest, and qualifications for the fellowship in
narrative form, written by the applicant. (1 page maximum, 12-point font)

4. The curriculum vitae of the applicant. (4 page maximum, 12-point font)

Schedule:

• Applications must be received by August 1, 2008.
• The winning candidate and nominator will be notified by August 15, 2008.

Applications must be submitted in a single pdf file by email to both of the following:

Professor Allison Okamura
Johns Hopkins University

and

Professor Nancy Amato

Texas A&M University