Call for Project Proposals: IEEE SPS ME-UYR Program - Mentoring Experiences for Underrepresented Young Researchers

Call for Project Proposals

Mentoring Experiences for Underrepresented Young Researchers (ME-UYR) Program

Application Deadline: 10 November 2024

What is it?

Mentoring Experiences for Underrepresented Young Researchers (ME-UYR) is a mentoring program sponsored by the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS).

• ME-UYR helps you to establish a connection with a mentor at another institution.
• You and your mentor work on a research topic in signal processing, write a paper together, and submit it to a special poster session at IEEE ICASSP 2026.
• IEEE provides funding for you to attend ICASSP (mandatory) and, optionally, to visit your mentor’s laboratory.

Who can apply?

Applications are invited from undergraduate and graduate student members of the IEEE SPS who are part of gender, racial, ethnic, or other minority groups that are underrepresented in the IEEE SPS. The applicant must be an IEEE SPS Member at the time of the application.

Each mentor and each mentee can only submit one project proposal.

In each project, mentors and mentees must be from different institutions, and preferably from different countries.

How do I apply?

Students interested in participating in the program must go to the program website page and look for the list of available mentors and their research areas. Then, they shall contact a mentor in the list to express their interest. After agreeing to a plan, both shall write together a two-page (maximum) project proposal (minimum 11-point font, minimum 2.5cm margins, A4 or 8.5x11 paper). The proposal should cover the following points:

• Names and affiliations of the student and potential mentor.
• Start and end date of the project.
• Brief outline of the aim of the project.
• Rough outline of the project planning.
• Plan and budget to attend of ICASSP (mandatory) and for an optional visit to the mentor’s lab. The budget must be between $2,000 and $4,000.[1]
• Overview of the needed resources and confirmation that the mentor can provide for these [2]
• Brief narrative of how this project would benefit the student in their future career in signal processing.

The evaluation criteria include:

• Feasibility of the project topic and project planning.
• Quality of the project submission.
• Potential impact of the project for the student’s future career.

Additionally, geographical and gender distribution will be taken into account in awarding the grants.

If the student does not find a suitable mentor in the provided list, they might invite additional mentors to register to the program by 15 September 2024, the instructions for the mentors can be found on this document.

The list of Potential Mentors for the program can be found on the ME-UYR page.

For students that have not decided on a mentor by mid-September, there will be a connecting event on 23 September 2024 (tentative date), where registered mentors will introduce themselves to potential candidates. More information on the event can be found on the program website.

All the project proposals should be submitted by email to sp-me-uyr@listserv.ieee.org.

What will happen if my application is accepted?

• The student and mentor work out a research plan together.
• Students and mentors work together and have remote meetings for nine months.
• The student runs experiments, with guidance from the mentor.
• The mentor can provide data, computing, and/or contacts with senior students.
• After nine months, you submit a paper together to a special poster session at ICASSP 2026.
• An event will be held at ICASSP 2026 where the papers that were not accepted can be presented. [3]
• The student must use the project funds to attend ICASSP 2026.
• The student may use the remaining project funds to visit the mentor’s laboratory.
• Yearly events will be held during ICASSP where current and former participants of the program and their mentors can meet and network.
• An extra event might be planned during ICIP, depending on the number of projects related to image and video processing.
• Participating students will be encouraged to attend the Women in Signal Processing Lunch and the Student Job Fair which are held during ICASSP and ICIP.

Papers that are not accepted to the special poster session at ICASSP 2026 will not be published as part of the conference proceedings and will still be eligible to be submitted to another venue.

IEEE SPS ME-UYR Committee

• Lucas Thomaz
• Ruchy Pandey
• Ryan M. Corey
• Odette Scharenborg
• Tirza Routtenberg
• Mark Hasegawa-Johnson