ARC fellowships for fall 2012.

Interested students should submit a brief (2 page maximum) description of a research project, including its goal(s) and proposed approach, and indicating the mentor(s)/advisor(s). In addition, one of the project advisors should submit a one-paragraph letter of recommendation (to be submitted separately from the proposal) in which (s)he succinctly argues that the student(s) and the project are worthy of support. Research topics in the broad areas of algorithms, randomness and complexity are suitable and could range from purely theoretical investigations to system building based on new algorithmic ideas. Projects could be based on collaborative efforts between two or more groups/faculty members. Please see the ARC webpages for previously funded projects.

 A proposal should describe a focused research problem, and its importance and significance should be made evident to non-expert readers. It should also contain a clear description of the approach to be taken, make a convincing case that this approach is particularly attractive, and detail potential research outcomes. Proposals should describe well-developed ideas which can be explored further during at least one semester. Proposals that are precise in explaining the problem(s) (for example which include sufficient mathematical details to state the problem) and also which are well-motivated and are clearly understandable by non-experts have been most successful in the past. Students are strongly encouraged to have their advisor(s) review the proposal before submitting it.

 Funding decisions will be made by the ARC committee consisting of Grigory Blekherman, Math; Santanu Dey, ISYE; David Goldberg, ISYE; Dana Randall, CS and Math (Adjunct) and Santosh Vempala, CS and ISYE (courtesy).

 Applications and advisor's paragraphs should be sent by email to Elizabeth Ndongi ndongi@cc.gatech.edu no later than 1 June 2012.

 Preference will be given to projects that are in line with ARC's mission and typical awards will be matching grants, i.e., the mentor/advisor supports half an RA and ARC provides the other half. 

 The committee's general policy is to pick the best applications.  However, if a student already received ARC funding in a preceding semester (SPRING/FALL), then he/she would have lower priority than others who have not been funded by ARC in the current year, but are judged worthy of funding.