Shadow Program Committee

IEEE Security & Privacy will be organizing its fifth Shadow Program Committee in 2020. Shadow PCs allow students and post-docs interested in future PC service to read submitted papers and go through the reviewing process, ultimately arriving at a shadow conference program. Note that in past years this committee has been called the “Student Program Committee”. This opportunity allows future PC members to learn first-hand about the peer-review process and gain experience as a reviewer. The Shadow PC will consist of students and post-docs and will provide reviews on a subset of submissions to the conference (paper authors may choose to opt-out of shadow reviews).

The Shadow 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. Papers submitted for the December 2019 deadline will be considered for the Shadow PC. Shadow PC reviewers will have to abide by the same rules and restrictions applicable to regular PC members. This includes, but is not limited to rules against discussing the papers outside of the PC context, or using in any way results from reviewed papers before such papers have been published. Delegated reviews (i.e., external reviews) are not allowed for the Shadow PC. Making a submitted paper available to Shadow PC is optional; authors will have the opportunity to opt-in during the paper submission process. Shadow reviews for papers that are reviewed by the Shadow PC will be sent out after the actual review process for the December deadline has finished (end of January 2020).

The Shadow PC meeting will be held in New York on TBD.

The Shadow PC will be chaired by Tom Moyer of University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

If you are interested in participating, please apply by filling out the Google Form here by October 25, 2019 (see below for instructions).

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why hold a Shadow PC?

A. The Shadow PC is intended primarily to be an educational experience. The Shadow PC will write reviews of the real submissions to IEEE S&P in real time and will have an in-person Shadow PC meeting that closely simulates the full PC meeting. The Shadow PC members will debate papers and select a full program of papers. In addition, there will be two activities to help Shadow PC members better understand the conference paper selection process. Before reviews are assigned, there will be a teleconference discussing the components of good and bad reviews. Following the Shadow PC meeting, there will be a meta-discussion about the process. This discussion will focus on how to effectively review papers and the dynamics of choosing a conference program. After the Shadow PC, the Shadow PC reviews will be sent to the authors of the papers (marked as Shadow PC reviews).

Q. Who can participate in the Shadow PC?

A. The Shadow 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, CCS, NDSS, 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 Shadow PC members?

A. Because the Shadow PC reviews will be available to the senior PC and paper authors, requirements are similar:

• Shadow PC members will be expected to review 5-15 papers (depending on the number of submissions for the December deadline) on time and participate in online discussion.
• Shadow PC members are required to attend the in-person Shadow PC meeting. Please note that funding to attend the in-person Shadow PC meeting is not guaranteed. You should consult with your advisor and department about funding to participate in the in-person PC meeting.
• Shadow PC members must follow the ethical standards of peer review, respect the anonymity of the review process and not share which papers they have reviewed or solicit sub-reviews. Shadow PC members who do not adhere to the review deadlines will be excluded from the process.
• Shadow 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.
• Shadow PC members are not allowed to separately serve as sub-reviewers for the senior PC.

Q. Why should I participate?

A. While being a member of a Shadow 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.
• 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. If you are interested in participating, please apply by filling out the Google Form here by October 25, 2019. The following information is asked for:

• Name, position/year of study, expected graduation year, institution and supervisor
• A brief (0.25-1 pg) motivation statement explaining why you would like to participate in the student PC
• 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 Shadow PC meeting.

Important Dates

All deadlines are 23:59:59 AOE

• Deadline to apply for Student PC October 25, 2019
• Student PC membership notification November 1, 2019
• Conference submission deadline December 1, 2019
• Bids for papers to review December 6, 2019
• Review deadline January 10, 2020
• Discussion period January 11-21, 2020
• Student PC meeting TBD

Student Program Committee

Chair Tom Moyer, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Students

Abhishek Bichhawat
Abhishek Shah
Akram El-Korashy
Akshith Gunasekaran
Ashish Bijlani
Babak, Amin Azad
Ben Nassi
Benjamin Lipp
Dhiman Chakraborty
Di Wang
Eihal Alowaisheq
Fatemah Alharbi
Guyue Liu
Hanan Hindy
Haojian Jin
Hoda Naghibijouybari
Hülya Evkan
Igibek
Irwin Reyes
James Conners
Jan Pennekamp
Jayneel Vora
Katharina Kohls
Lea Schönherr
Lovedeep Gondara
Mahimna Kelkar
Mahsa saeidi
Matthew Bradbury
Matthew Jagielski
Muoi Tran
Mustakimur Rahman Khandaker
nathan reitinger
Nikos Vasilakis
Peixuan Li
Prabhu Karthikeyan Rajasekaran
Priyanka Bose
Richard Roberts
Roland Meier
Rudra Prasad Baksi
Sanaz Sheikhi
Santosh Kumar Nukavarapu
Sarah Scheffler
Sebastian Köhler
Seyedhamed Ghavamnia
Shachee Mishra
Shubham Jain
Stan (Jiexin) Zhang
Wajih Ul Hassan
Weijia He
Wen Wang
Won Park
Xiong Fan
Xueyuan Michael Han
Zhengxiong Li