IEEE Control Systems Society Graduate Collaboration Fellowship

To promote and provide support to initiate collaborative research with a hosting faculty member of well-established institutions in the area of Systems and Control for outstanding graduate students in developing geographical regions by visiting leading institutions in countries outside their own.

The visiting period should last at least three months.

The IEEE Foundation supports the award through the Control Systems Society Fund, the scope of which comprises the consolidation, extension, and growth of activities in developing countries.

Historical Background:

Established in 2022

Prize:
Up to ten fellowships will be awarded annually. Each awardee receives a plaque and a funding of maximum of $10,000 USD.
Funding:
The award will be funded via the CSS Fund managed by the IEEE Foundation. The funding amount is specific to the application and depends on what is requested and how the Selection Committee allocates funds based on the application. The maximum amount per award is USD 10,000, and the overall budget is at most USD 100,000 per year. The funding will be sent to each awardee directly in two or more instalments upon positive evaluation by the Award committee of intermediate and final progress reports providing evidence of achieved impact and deliverables.
Presentation:
Grant recipients will be announced during the CSS Awards Ceremony held in December in conjunction with the Annual Conference on Decision and Control.
Basis for Judging:
- The application package should include a nominating letter from the graduate advisor of the candidate, a support letter from the potential host, a research proposal, a timeline for the visit, and a budget. The details will be specified by the Selection Committee in the call for nominations.
- Each member of the committee evaluates the documents submitted by the applicants and assigns scores during the first round. The chair will generate for each nomination a scoring table with averages to be distributed to the members of the committee.
- In the second round, the members will have a discussion on the scores and other merits of the applications, and then decisions will be made through majority voting by the members. The chair will not vote except for breaking ties.
- Applications are evaluated based on the novelty and expected technical impact of the proposed study, relevance of the topic to systems control, the quality of writing and presentation, the need for financial support, and applicant's performance during his/her studies.
Eligibility:
- A full-time graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the area of Systems Control at a nationally accredited university in a developing country.
- Candidate’s advisor must be a member of the IEEE and the CSS at the time of nomination. (There is no requirement of IEEE membership for the candidate.)
- No more than one nomination per graduate advisor will be considered.
- A hosting faculty member can serve as a host only once within a 3 year time-window.
- A one-time awardee may apply for the second time for continuing the collaboration with the same host in the case exceptional progress can be evidenced and further significant impact can be expected by continuing for another year.
- IEEE has identified developing countries based on data released by the World Bank. (Priority for acceptance to this program will be given to applicants from the countries marked with an asterisk on this page): https://www.ieee.org/membership/join/emember-countries.html.
Nomination Details:

Nomination packages are due by May 15 and must be submitted using the IEEE Control Systems Society Awards nomination system at http://awards.paperplaza.net. The following documents should be included in the package. The Nomination Form (available from the link below) and the rest should be prepared in separate PDF files to be uploaded through the online nomination system.

  1. Nomination Form filled by the candidate's graduate advisor.
  2. Support letter from the potential host in another country stating that research collaboration can be pursued and the candidate will be able to visit their group for at least three months.
  3. One letter of recommendation from faculty members (other than the nominator) familiar with the candidate’s research and education qualifications.
  4. One-page biographical summary of the candidate.
  5. Two-page maximum professional/academic summary CV of the graduate advisor. Include his/her IEEE membership number.
  6. Unofficial copies of the candidate's transcripts from all colleges/universities attended. Include an explanation of the grading system.
  7. One page (single-spaced) statement, written by the candidate, outlining the education and research goals and accomplishments. This can include summer internship experience, undergraduate, and graduate work.
  8. Research proposal, no more than 5 single-spaced pages, that specifically provides the following information:
    • Title page containing the title, university name, and contact information of the faculty member submitting the nominating package and the candidate. Include email addresses and phone numbers.
    • Research proposal describing the work to be completed by the application. Objectives, approach, potential impact, and estimated start and completion dates should be included.
    • Timeline for the visit, plans for preparation and follow-up periods. Any variation during the timeframe of the grant support should be discussed/approved by the Award Committee Chair.
    • Budget for the project. Explicitly outline how the funds from this fellowship will be allocated. The fund should be used mainly for costs of the visit. If needed, it can be spent on attending conferences and workshops, purchase of hardware/software, and publications. The need for financial support should be described.
  9. A letter of support from the faculty member’s department/institution administrator must be submitted. This letter must include an explicit statement about the fact that no institutional indirect cost (of any type) will be assessed by the recipient’s institution.
     

Any inquiries regarding the CSS Graduate Collaboration Fellowship and the nomination process should be addressed toKarl H. Johansson, VP Diversity, Outreach, and Development, by email at [email protected].

Nomination Form

 

Muhammad Farooq Aslam, Paulo Henrique Foganholo Biazetto, David Erazo-Caicedo, Yingjie Gong, Sebastián Martínez, Dinesh Patra, Chendi Qu, Seyed Shahram Yadollahi, Jiaxin Yu, and Hanxu Zhao

Jorge Luis Anderson Azzano, Miguel Felipe Castiblanco, Hao Li, Ashish Kumar Shakya, and Shuixin Xiao