Best Student Paper Award
Description:
To recognize the best student paper published and presented at the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. The purpose of this award is to stimulate students to submit outstanding papers to the annual SMC conference Prize:US$500, and Plaque and/or Certificate for the finalist; if there are multiple student authors, the prize will be split equally and each student author will receive a plaque and/or certificate. All semi-finalists receive a ticket to attend the awards banquet at the annual SMC Conference
Funding
Funded by the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society which provides the Student
Activities Committee with an allocation for activities involving students at the annual SMC Conference
Eligibility:
A submitted paper for publication in the conference proceedings must be accepted by the Conference Committee. When camera-ready copies of accepted papers are submitted, students must check the box on the paper certification form to participate in the competition. Submissions for the competition are not accepted after the deadline for submitting camera ready copies of papers for printing. Award eligibility is contingent on the lead author being a major contributor to both the written paper and the results described in the paper. The lead author must be or have been a student at the time the paper was completed. The lead authors of the semi-finalist papers are required to attend the conference and present their submission in both a special student papers session as well as in their regular session. Membership in IEEE or Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society is not required for eligibility.
Basis for Judging:
Students whose papers are to be considered are required to select the contest consideration statement on the paper certification form which is required when the camera-ready paper is submitted for publication. All papers which are to be considered for the award are forwarded to the Student Activities Committee. Each paper is reviewed by three reviewers who rate the content; significance to related research; existence of adequate references; written clarity and organization; overall presentation; and overall quality of the paper. An attempt is made to match paper content to reviewer expertise. Papers with the highest ratings are selected as semi-finalists. All semi-finalist selections are required to attend the conference. If one of the primary selections cannot attend the conference, that selection will be replaced with the next highest rated submission. The semi-finalist papers are sent to the Judges for review prior to the paper session at the conference. The semi-finalist papers are presented by the lead author at the conference. During the presentation, the Judges completes a presentation review and is permitted to ask the presenter questions. Factors that the Judges consider are quality of presentation content, overall oral presentation quality, ability to communicate the topic, ability to answer questions, overall rating for the paper and presentation, and a ranking for the author compared to the other presenters. The presenter with the highest rating is determined the winner. If there is a tie, the Judges determine the winner. Finally, the Student Activities Chair recommends the selection of the Judges to the Chair of the SMC Awards Committee.
Presentation:
The presentation of the Best Student Award occurs at the annual IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. The award is presented for the competition at that specific conference, not a previous conference. The award is presented in the name of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society.