GENERAL
The Student Paper Contest (SPC) is one of the main technical activities in Region 8. It was established in 1967 and since then it is an excellent occasion for personal leadership and involvement of student members in a prospective IEEE scientific/technical activity and to increase the visibility of the student branch. It also makes possible further promotion of IEEE among students. The success of the SPC relies heavily on the input from the Student Branch Officers, especially the Student Branch Counselor and the Student Branch Chair, but also on academic members especially those who form part of the local IEEE section.
Once every year, each IEEE R8 Student Branch (SB) may hold and organize a local Student Paper Contest under its own responsibility. The organization of a local SPC generally means that contest should be announced publicly in advance and that all submitted papers are to be locally reviewed by qualified specialists. Additionally, all R8/Sections/Chapters IEEE Conferences, having student papers sessions included in their programs, could and should also be used to get additional proposals for SPC. As long as a SB is formally supporting and accepting any type of a student papers contest activity, it is in line with the existing SPC rules. Student Branch Counselors should be fully involved in all local SPC activities, as well as all other local IEEE officers (Section Chairs, Chapter Chairs, student activities officers, members of executive committees…).
The winner(s) of each local Student Branch Contest may compete for the Region 8 Contest. A Student Branch may submit one paper per every 100 Student Branch members or part thereof, with a maximum of three papers per SB. At the same time, especially in small branches where the managing of a local contest is difficult, the IEEE section officers can encourage students to submit their work as a paper to the SPC. This is a good exercise for students, especially those who intend to continue to a doctorate.
WHO COULD PARTICIPATE
IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest is for IEEE R8 student members or graduate student members who have not yet started their PhD. Only IEEE R8 student members could be authors of the IEEE R8 SPC papers. Since the five finalist papers are being included in the conference proceedings as well as in IEEE Xplore Library, the rules will now allow that the name of the supervisor/mentor may be added, as an author, to the final version of the paper. This does not change in any way the basic rule that the submitted paper is the work of the student. Each student author must be a member of an IEEE Student Branch at the time of the original submission of the paper to the Branch Contest, and a member (student or not) of the IEEE at the time of the R8 Oral Finals presentation. The work presented has to be completed before the student receives the engineering degree that entitles her/him to start preparing a doctoral thesis. The submission of the paper to the SPC must be completed within 12 months after graduation. A doctoral thesis is not considered. Published work is excluded from the Contest.
CHARACTER OF THE PAPER
Papers should cover technical and engineering aspects of a subject reasonably within or related to the areas with which the IEEE is concerned with. The work need not be original in engineering or scientific content, but should be original in treatment and concise in coverage of the author’s contribution to the subject.
PAPER REVIEW, JURY, FINALISTS, ORAL FINALS AND PRIZES
A first evaluation phase (paper review) will be carried out by four jury members including the SPC Coordinator. The jury members may also use the experts in the pertinent subject area as reviewers. They will grade the written papers sent by Student Branches to the Regional contest without knowledge of the identity of the authors and of their school. Based on this evaluation, the SPC Coordinator will decide which five papers will be accepted for presentation at the Regional Oral Finals. All five finalists will be invited and financially supported to present their papers at the IEEE R8 flagship conference MELECON 2022, June 14-16, Palermo, Italy. Papers presented at the Oral Finals will be published in the Conference Proceedings and included in IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The Jury members will grade the oral presentations and three best finalists will get prizes ($800, $500, and $200 respectively). The student branch of the student who wins first prize also gets as an award of $250.
DEADLINE AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The deadline to send full papers to IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest 2022 is December 1, 2021 December 15, 2021. Please send papers by email to [email protected].
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