NSF Awards for FOCS 2021

Thanks to generous support from the National Science Foundation, there will be a total of $15,000 in support for FOCS 2021 for eligible students and postdoctoral fellows. 

Due to the recent Covid spike, FOCS 2021 will be held as a virtual conference. The NSF awards are available to support US-based students and postdoctoral fellows for the conference registration. Reimbursement will be made after the conference (receipts will be required. )

To apply, email the information listed below to travel.ieee.focs@gmail.com. Please use the following subject line: “FOCS 2021 NSF Award Application”.

  1. Title of paper, if you are an author, and whether you will be presenting the paper.
  2. Whether you are a student or you are a postdoctoral fellow.
  3. University name.
  4. Amount of other funds that are available to you.
  5. A short statement describing your academic standing and interests, your expected graduation date and degree, advisor’s name, and, if available, a URL for a working Web page. Also indicate whether and when you have attended previous major theory conferences (e.g., STOC and FOCS) and whether or not you have received other awards to do so.
  6. (For students) a supporting statement from your advisor confirming your status, recommending your attendance, and describing the availability of other funds. This should be included in a message with your name in the subject line which should be emailed by the advisor to the travel.ieee.focs@gmail.com, the address above. (Note: vague statements such as “funds are tight” are not informative).
  7. The NSF encourages applications from members of underrepresented groups for these awards.
  8. (Optional) Please indicate if you are part of such a group or at an institution that is not typically represented at IEEE FOCS.
  9. (Optional) your demographic information

This information (except for Item 9, which is for information only as part of the NSF grant) will be used to prioritize the awards (see the prioritization for awards below). Due to the change from physical to virtual FOCS’22, we will not have an application deadline and will try our best to process the applications in a timely manner.

Priority for NSF Awards will be based on the following:

  • Student authors and co-authors of accepted papers who do not have other support.
  • Members of underrepresented groups or from institutions not traditionally represented at the conference who have research interests in areas covered by FOCS and whose attendance would broaden participation at the conference.
  • Student applicants whose statements and supporting information make particularly cogent justification for the benefit they will receive from attending the conference.
  • Postdoctoral authors of accepted papers who do not have other support.
  • First-time applicants and students who have not received other travel-related stipends to FOCS or STOC in the recent past.