The International Microwave Symposium (IMS), the annual conference and exhibition of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), is now offering a Graduate Student Challenge. This new competition encourages graduate student members attending the conference to form teams, conduct brain storming meetings, develop new ideas and propose practical applications based on the papers presented at IMS. The winning team will be presented a $2,000 cash award at the closing ceremonies.

All IMS registered PhD and MS students are eligible to participate in this event. Student teams will compete by giving short presentations detailing their ideas to judges from industry and academia. The winning team for the Graduate Student Challenge will be announced on Thursday, June 9th, the last day of the conference.

“The Graduate Student Challenge not only stimulates creativity and encourages working in groups, but also allows young researchers to get to know each other, exchange views and network,” said Amir Mortazawi, Chair of the Education Committee at IMS 2011. “The MTT-S values and strongly encourages the participation of graduate students this year and beyond, and looks forward to the high level of quality and innovation coming from each submission.”

Students interested in participating in this new competition are asked to attend a meet and greet on Tuesday, June 7 at 7:00 AM. The two-person student teams must be from different universities; transnational teaming is encouraged. Each team is charged with developing new ideas and proposing novel applications consistent with their chosen theme. The selection criteria will be based on the originality, content, practicality and clarity of the presentations.

Competition schedule:

Tuesday, June 7, 7:00 AM: The introductory meeting for the Graduate Student Challenge Competition will be held at the Calloway Room of the Hilton. At this meeting rules will be reviewed, teaming will take place, and themes for the competition will be disclosed.

Thursday, June 9, 12:00 PM: Each team must turn in the final version of their presentation no later than 12:00 PM at the Poe Room of the Hilton. This is the file that the student team will use during the presentation to the judges. In the interest of fairness, any presentations turned in after 12:00 PM will be disqualified.

Thursday, June 9, 2:20 PM: Each team will give their presentation in front of the judges. While the presentations will be open to general attendance, members of other teams will not be allowed to attend, but must wait in the Blake Room of the Hilton.

Thursday, June 9, 4:20 PM: The winner of the Graduate Student Challenge will be recognized at the IMS2011 Closing Ceremony.

Registration:

A description of the fellowship program, eligibility requirements, as well as the application procedure and an application form can be examined in the Graduate Fellowship document. Further guidelines for preparing a good application are also available on the Application Preparation page.

Advance registration for IMS2011 is available until June 3. In addition to IMS 2011, Microwave Week includes the collocated RFIC Symposium and the ARFTG Conference. Early Bird registration for IMS 2011 is available until May 20 and offers a 25 percent discount. For more details on IMS 2011 registration visit: http://ims2011.mtt.org/Registration/IMS_registration.html.

MMT-S Fellowships and Scholarships:

Beyond the student competitions, MTT-S is proud to offer fellowships and scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students pursuing full-time programs in RF and microwave engineering. The Society offers this support to encourage future leaders and key technical contributors in their pursuit of careers in RF and microwave engineering.

The support includes annual and renewable $6,000 microwave engineering graduate fellowships; up to two annual fellowships in the amount of $6,000 to assist graduate students pursuing a graduate degree focused on applying microwave engineering to medical applications; and $1,500 annual undergraduate scholarships. Student members can also form MTT-S student branch chapters at their university. For more information and to apply, visit http://www.mtt.org/education.html.