NESCAI08: The Third North East Student Colloquium on Artificial Intelligence

2-4 May 2008, Ithaca, NY

Hosting NESCAI 2009

The first three NESCAIs have been held at Cornell. We are considering having the next NESCAI at a different location. Cornell had some significant advantages: it is central (many major universities with strong AI programs are within a 5-6 hour drive) and prices for hotels are relatively low compared to bigger cities. However, there are also advantages in having NESCAI move around: new schools and students move into driving range, the venue stays fresh, and new organizers bring new ideas.

If you are interested in hosting NESCAI 2009 at your institution, we encourage you to submit a proposal to do so.

The proposal should include the following:

  • The names of at least two senior PhD students willing to act as general chairs for the conference.
  • The name of at least one faculty member who has agreed to oversee and assist in conference organization (see below).
  • A list of major universities with strong AI programs that are within driving distance (5-6 hour drive), roughly ordered by proximity (e.g. 1 hour, 2 hours, ...). Please also note which large North-East departments would fall outside this distance limit and which new ones were previously outside that range from Cornell.
  • An indication of what accommodation is available and the cost.

While NESCAI is entirely student run, the involvement of a faculty member is essential to assist the student organizers in:

  • Obtaining recommendations from faculty at other universities to put together a suitable 8-10 person program committee, consisting of senior PhD students at a number of major research universities and in various subfields of AI.
  • Ensuring funding is obtained (e.g. from the NSF, corporate sponsors and/or the department hosting the conference).
  • Ensuring administrative support is provided (e.g. to assist in making the necessary conference facility bookings, food services, hotel bookings, producing conference materials).

Note that previous organizers will be available to provide organizational advice, but the proposed organizers would be responsible for organizing NESCAI in its entirety. It is expected that NESCAI remain a student run regional conference in the North East, without published proceedings, and with minimal costs for attending students.

Submissions should be emailed to

  nescai-L at cs.cornell.edu

and CC'd to

  halpern at cs.cornell.edu

no later than 31 September 2008.