Details subject to change!
Following a successful model used at other premier technical conferences (sometimes called a "Shadow PC"), IEEE Security & Privacy will be organizing its first Student Program Committee in 2016. The Student PC will consist of students and junior researchers and will provide reviews on a subset of submissions to the conference (paper authors may choose to opt-out of student reviews).
The Student PC will function much like an independent version of the "Senior" PC, including holding an in-person PC meeting and choosing its own program of papers. Student PC reviews will be made available (anonymized) to the Senior PC, although student PC members will not attend the Senior PC meeting and the Student PC program acceptance decisions will not be made available.
The Student PC meeting will be held on January 5, 2016 at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA (effectively co-located with Real World Crypto 2016 which will be held from January 6-8, 2016 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA).
The Student PC will be chaired by Joseph Bonneau of Stanford University and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
If you are interested in participating, please apply by sending mail to oaklandshadowpcchair@ieee-security.org by October 1st, 2015.
Q. Why hold a Student PC?
A. The Student PC is intended primarily to be an educational experience, modeled after successful Student PCs at SOSP, NSDI and other computer science conferences. The Student PC will write reviews of the real submissions to IEEE S&P in real time and will have an in-person Student PC meeting which closely simulates the full PC meeting. The Student PC members will debate papers and select a full program of papers. In addition, after the normal discussion at the Student PC meeting there will be a meta-workshop about the process with access to both the Student PC reviews and those of the "Senior PC" (blinded). This workshop will focus on how to effectively review papers and the dynamics of choosing a conference program and will include the co-PC chair. After the Student PC, the Student PC reviews will be available (blinded) at the senior PC meeting and to the authors of the papers (marked as Student PC reviews).
Q. Who can participate in the Student PC?
A. The Student PC is open to PhD students and post-docs working in security and privacy who have not yet served on a "major" program committee (e.g. IEEE Security and Privacy, USENIX Security, CRYPTO). If more applications are received than there is room, students will be given priority based on seniority in their programs and chosen to ensure diversity of backgrounds, institutions, and research interests.
Q. What is required of Student PC members?
A. Because the Student PC reviews will be available to the senior PC and paper authors, requirements are similar:
Student PC members will be expected to review a full load of 10-15 papers on time and participate in online discussion.
Student PC members are required to attend the in-person Student PC meeting. Please note that while funding is not available to support attendance, there are student stipends available to attend Real World Crypto 2016 which can be combined with attending the Student PC meeting.
Student PC members must respect the anonymity of the review process and not share which papers they have reviewed or solicit sub-reviews.
Student PC members will also be particularly expected to assist in reviewing their peer's reviews and providing constructive feedback to improve the quality of the reviews.
Student PC members are not allowed to separately serve as sub-reviewers for the senior PC.
Q. Why should students participate?
A. While being a member of a Student PC is a significant amount of work, we expect it will be rewarding for a number of reasons, including:
Gain experience reviewing papers and understand the challenges faced by reviewers reading multiple papers which may not always be in their area of expertise.
Experience how a review process operates and how a PC meeting is run.
See good quality papers as well as bad ones and see how they are viewed during a PC meeting.
Improve the IEEE S&P program through reviews made available to the senior PC.
Submitting high quality reviews makes one a more likely candidate for future senior PCs.
Network with fellow junior researchers at the PC meeting and reception.
Q. How can I apply?
A. Please email oaklandshadowpcchair@ieee-security.org by October 1st, 2015 with the following information:
Name, position/year of study, expected graduation year, institution and supervisor
Areas of research experience and expertise and any relevant publications. It is okay if you have no publications yet.
A brief note on your past review experience (such as writing sub-reviews or serving on a workshop PC). It is okay if you have none.
Confirmation that you will be able to attend the Student PC meeting.
All deadlines are 23:59:59 EST (UTC-5).
| Deadline to apply for Student PC | October 1, 2015 |
| Student PC membership notification | October 5, 2015 |
| Conference submission deadline | November 13, 2015 |
| Bids for papers to review | November 17, 2015 |
| Review deadline | December 18, 2015 |
| Discussion period | December 19-31, 2015 |
| Student PC meeting | January 5, 2016 |