In 2018, ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim will once again sponsor the Ph.D. Colloquium for Ph.D. students that are within one year of graduation (planning to graduate by Dec. 2019). Students close to graduation will be given an opportunity to showcase their work during a short presentation session during the Colloquium (apart from the regular tracks). All Colloquium students will then participate in the Colloquium Poster Session. Presenting your Ph.D. work to your peers and the larger simulation community will give you the opportunity to receive valuable feedback and ideas, as well as introduce you to a network that can be very helpful with your career once you graduate. The Ph.D. Colloquium will be conducted on Sunday, December 9, 2018, starting with lunch. The keynote speaker (to be announced) will join us for a discussion over lunch.
Ph.D. Colloquium Committee 2018
Chair:
Anastasia Anagnostou, Brunel University London, ACM SIGSIM
Members:
Emily Lada, SAS Institute, INFORMS-Sim
Weiwei Chen, Rutgers, INFORMS-Sim
Jose Padilla, ODU, ACM SIGSIM
Important Dates
| August 18 | Submit a 2-page extended abstract using the WSC 2018 submission system. The abstract should be formatted using the poster template in the WSC 2018 author’s kit. |
| September 14 | Notification of acceptance to authors, including details about required revisions. |
| September 21 | Submit final version of the extended abstract. |
| October 26 | Upload slides for the Ph.D. Colloquium presentation in PPT or PDF format. The presentations are typically between 5 and 10 minutes. The time allotted for each student for the presentation will be determined once the number of participants in the colloquium is known. |
| December 9 | Bring your poster to the WSC 2018 Ph.D. Colloquium. |
Keynote Speaker
Stewart Robinson
Dean and Professor of Management Science,
School of Business and Economics
Loughborough University, UNITED KINGDOM
Are you Building and Using the Best Model?
Simulation models provide a powerful means for representing, understanding and improving the real world. But how do you know that you are building and using the best model? As modelers and analysts we tend to focus on model accuracy as a means for improving the chances that a model is valid. We assume that a more accurate model and set of results is better, and therefore is more likely to be believed and acted upon. But is this assumption true? Does the credibility of the results depend upon the accuracy of the model? Can a wrong model still be useful? In this talk we shall explore the relation between accuracy, validity, credibility and usefulness. If our ultimate aim is to provide analyses that are useful this may challenge our assumptions about what is the best model.
Stewart Robinson is Dean and Professor of Management Science at Loughborough University, School of Business and Economics. Previously employed in simulation consultancy, he supported the use of simulation in companies throughout Europe and the rest of the world. He is author/co-author of six books on simulation. His research focuses on the practice of simulation model development and use. Key areas of interest are conceptual modelling, model validation, output analysis and alternative simulation methods (discrete-event, system dynamics and agent based). Professor Robinson is co-founder of the Journal of Simulation and the UK Simulation Workshop conference series. He was President of the Operational Research Society (2014-2015). Home page: www.stewartrobinson.co.uk. Email: s.l.robinson@lboro.ac.uk
Ph.D. Colloquium Participation Options
There are three options to participate in the Ph.D. Colloquium with different benefits:
- Poster Only: Submit a 2-page extended abstract and participate in the Ph.D. Colloquium poster session only.
Benefit 1: If accepted, both ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim provide a complimentary one-year membership. - Poster and Presentation: Submit a presentation in addition to your 2-page extended abstract.
Benefit 1: Both ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim provide a complimentary one-year membership.
Benefit 2: ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim will reimburse the conference registration fee.
Benefit 3: You will be eligible to participate in the Ph.D. colloquium lunch. - Poster, Presentation, and Full Paper: Submit a 2-page extended abstract and a presentation for the Ph.D. Colloquium. In addition, you have submitted a full paper to a regular track (a contributed paper, not an invited paper) and it has been accepted.
Benefit 1: Both ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim provide a complimentary one-year membership.
Benefit 2: ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim will reimburse the conference registration fee.
Benefit 3: You will be eligible to participate in the Ph.D. colloquium lunch.
Benefit 4: You will be eligible to compete for a best paper award, provided your full paper is accepted in a regular track.
ACM-SIGSIM and INFORMS-Sim will each award a Best Ph.D. Student Paper prize among those final year students making a presentation at both the Ph.D. Colloquium and in a regular track at the conference. ACM-SIGSIM will award a prize for the best Ph.D. Student Paper in the “Computational and Model Representation Techniques in Modeling and Simulation”. INFORMS-Sim will award a prize for the best Ph.D. Student Paper in the “Advanced Applications of Simulation and Optimization”.
Those students who have a contributed paper in a regular track will be eligible for the Best Paper awards. Note that invited papers cannot be considered for the Best Paper awards. Students interested in competing for a Best Paper award should include their contributed paper ID when completing the Ph.D. Colloquium submission. An email should also be sent to the chair of the Ph.D. Colloquium that includes the contributed paper ID and indicates intent to participate in the Best Paper competition.
Submission Requirements
Students interested in participating in the colloquium should submit a 2-page extended abstract by the deadline using the WSC submission system. Extended abstracts are used for designing the tracks and are included in the proceedings distributed to conference attendees, but they are not included in the archival version of the proceedings in IEEE and ACM repositories. The extended abstract is required for all three Colloquium participation options. The abstract should have a single author (the student) and must be formatted using the poster template in the WSC Author’s Kit. In addition, the advisor needs to send an email to the chair of the Ph.D. Colloquium Committee by September 3, 2018 that states:
- That the Ph.D. student is within one year of graduation
- That the Ph.D. student is the main author of the submission
- That the Ph.D. student will attend WSC 2018 and participate in the Ph.D. Colloquium
Students are only allowed to participate in a WSC Ph.D. Colloquium one time.
Additional Information about the Colloquium
Poster preparation guidelines:
Please bring a standard A0 size poster, or sheets which can be assembled to be that size or smaller. Your poster should cover the main points of your work and be as self-explanatory as possible. However, you should participate in the evening event when the posters are presented, as peers and society members will have additional questions. The poster session is always a great opportunity to talk about details, discuss relevant related research, and bond with fellow Ph.D. students.
Presentations:
If you submit a student paper for the conference, you can use your presentation for the Ph.D. colloquium as well as for the track presentation. You may need to edit the slides, as we may have more time constraints. You do not have to present something special in the Ph.D. colloquium that cannot be used in the regular sessions.
Student Papers:
Student papers are part of the regular conference and fall under the submission and review guidelines as documented on this WSC website. A full paper is not required to participate in the Ph.D. Colloquium. However, if you have an accepted paper at WSC 2018 and participate in the Ph.D. Colloquium, then you are also eligible to compete for a Best Paper award.