Doctoral Symposium

Goal

The symposium will be a one-day workshop held in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification, and Validation. The symposium has three goals: (1) to provide constructive feedback and guidance to doctoral students who are performing their dissertation research in the field of software testing, verification, and validation; (2) to develop a supportive community of researchers and potential collaborators; (3) to help students interact with established researchers and practitioners in the field.

Scope

The symposium will serve both "early" post-qualifier PhD researchers who have some preliminary results as well as ABDs who have at least another six months before their dissertation defense. Each student will write a short research summary and make a public presentation at the symposium. We expect all students to give a short presentation (not just the ABDs). After the public presentation, the students will receive oral feedback from a panel of researchers and practitioners. The students may also seek advice regarding such things as completion of a PhD, how to perform research in testing, how to design and execute empirical research, etc. Accepted research summaries will be published in the conference proceedings. Upon notification of acceptance, all authors of accepted research summaries will be asked to complete a Copyright form and will receive further instructions for preparing their camera ready versions.

Scholarships

A limited number of travel grants will be available to PhD students. Priority will be based on need and date of submission.

Review Process

The organizers will apply a screening process based on the research summary and an advisor's recommendation. The following criteria will be considered:

  • Quality of the research
  • Relevance of the research to software testing, verification and validation
  • Quality of the summary
  • Strength of the recommendation
  • Diversity of background, research topic, and approach
  • Potential for practical benefits
  • Stage of the research

What to Submit

1 A research summary of at most two pages. Your summary must include:

  • Student name, university, research advisor, and project name
    To clarify: The student is the author of this document, and the advisor is acknowledged.
  • The problem to be addressed by your thesis (justify the importance and show that it has not yet been addressed)
  • Your research hypothesis
  • The expected contributions of your dissertation research
  • Your proposed research approach
  • Summary of results to date
  • How you plan to evaluate your results and a dissemination plan

Your research summary must conform to the ICST 2017 Format and Submission Guidelines and must be a maximum of two pages with main text in 10 point font, including all text, references, appendices, and figures. All submissions must be in English.

2 A letter of recommendation. The letter should be from your dissertation advisor and must include:

  • Name of the student
  • Name of the advisor
  • A candid assessment of the current status of the student's dissertation research
  • An expected date for dissertation submission.

The letter should be in PDF and should be sent directly to: icst17phd@gmail.com with the subject: "ICST Doctoral Symposium Recommendation".

How to Submit

Please send your research summary submission as an email attachment in PDF to icst17phd@gmail.com with the subject: "ICST Doctoral Symposium Submission".

The submission deadline is January 16, 2017.(extended)

Please ensure that your advisor sends the letter of recommendation as an email attachment with the subject "ICST Doctoral Symposium Recommendation" to icst17phd@gmail.com.

Presentations

Presentations will be 15 minutes and limited to 12 slides. The time limit will be strictly enforced. Student presentations will be followed by 15 minutes of feedback from four panelists. Student advisors will be asked to leave the room during their student's presentation. The audience will be asked to hold questions until the end of each session.

Important Dates
(old) Submission Date: December 2, 2016
(new) Submission Date: January 16, 2017 (extended)
(old) Notification of Acceptance: December 16, 2016
(new) Notification of Acceptance: January 23, 2017 (extended)
(old) Camera-ready copy of paper due: January 22, 2017
(new) Camera-ready copy of paper due: February 6, 2017 (extended)

Doctoral Symposium Committee Co-Chairs

Panel Members

  • Jeff (Yu) Lei, University of Texas at Arlington
  • Mike Papadakis, Luxembourg University
  • Tanja Vos, Open University
  • Tingting Yu, University of Kentucky