Call for Mentees

Become a Mentee

Conferences provide unique opportunities to network with colleagues. Moreover, conferences are also a fantastic venue for students to learn more about programs, research topics, emerging technologies, and to meet professionals from their area of interest.

For the first time, ISMAR is offering a conference-sponsored mentorship program to assist students in finding mentors, and to aid mentors in finding interested students.

Why You Should Apply

Are you a graduate student interested in academia for computer science? You can establish relationships with faculty recently off of the job market who can give you a fresh perspective, or faculty currently looking for prospective applicants.
Are you an undergraduate student curious about graduate school? There are tons of graduate students and faculty that could help answer any questions you may have, and give you ideas for prospective programs.
Are you interested in industry? Similarly to prospective professors, you can meet people recently off the job market, people actively hiring, and find experienced long term mentors.
Are you new to conferences, and just wanting guidance on how to get the best experience?

Anybody can network and establish relationships with other attendees at the conference. However, sometimes making first contact can be daunting. Participating as a mentee assures you’ll make connections, and helps remove barriers associated with first contact. And if the fit is right, perhaps you will have found a long-term mentor in your field! These relationships can result in all kinds of opportunities in work, research, and service.
There will be at least two mentor/mentee official meetings toward the beginning and end of the conference. At these large group gatherings, mentees will also have the opportunity to meet with other mentees and mentors involved in the program.

Logistics

Anybody can sign up to be a mentee.

Undergraduate students can be mentored by graduate students, faculty, or industry professionals
Graduate students can be mentored by senior graduate students, faculty, and industry professionals
Post Docs can be mentored by faculty and industry professionals
Less experienced professionals or faculty can be paired with more experienced faculty or industry professionals

Graduate students, post-docs, and faculty can sign up to be mentors AND mentees. Mentor type preferences (i.e., grad student vs. faculty, etc.) can be indicated in your application. We will try our best to accommodate mentor preferences and areas of interest. Finally, based on turnout, mentor relationships may be one-on-one, or in groups with other students sharing the same mentor. It will be up to each individual mentor to determine if they would like to have group meetings with all their mentees, or individual meetings.
We will try to pair virtual mentors/mentees together, and in-person mentors/mentees together. However, as due to the evolving nature of COVID-19, it is possible that an in-person attendee may end up paired with somebody who had to switch to virtual at the last second.

Selection Guidelines and Eligibility

Mentee awards are competitive based on mentor availability. Applications are open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as new professionals. The following considerations will influence mentee selection:

Availability of mentors,
Preference will be given to first time conference attendees and student volunteers,
Underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply

Expectations

Mentees will be required to:

Participate in a group mentoring session at the beginning of the conference,
Participate in a group mentoring session at the end of the conference,
Attend 2 or more sessions a day,
Be responsive and engaged with mentors,
Be respectful and professional to attendees, mentors, and mentees.

Important Deadlines

Submission Deadline: ~~September 5, 2021 (23:59 AoE)~~
Match Notification: September 20, 2021 (23:59 AoE)

How to Apply

To apply to be a mentee, please fill out the application form.

Data Privacy Information

All identifiable information provided by applicants and sign-ups will be accessible only to members of the Student Volunteer Committee and Inclusion, Diversity, and Accessibility (IDA) Committee. This information will be used for selection purposes.

After September 10th, all data will be de-identified and anonymized by the Student Volunteer Committee, with identifying markers being destroyed (deleted). This anonymized data will then be used by the IDA Committee for planning future iterations of ISMAR. This anonymized data helps us understand how many applicants to plan for, what countries are underrepresented, the kinds of accessibility resources we need to provide, etc.

Applicants can request for data corrections or for removal of their data from the pool until September 10th by contacting Cassidy Nelson at cassidynelson@vt.edu.