Welcome to Rising Stars

An Academic Career Workshop for Women in EECS

Rising Stars is an intensive workshop for women graduate students and postdocs who are interested in pursuing academic careers in electrical engineering and computer science. Launched at MIT in 2012, the annual event has since been hosted at the University of California at Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanford University.

PLEASE NOTE: In 2019, Rising Stars in EECS will be hosted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2019. For more information, visit the Rising Stars 2019 website or email risingstars2019@illinois.edu.

The 2018 event, held at MIT from Oct. 28 to 30, brought together 76 top women in EECS for research presentations, poster sessions, and candid discussions about academic careers. Visit the MIT EECS website for an article and slideshow from the event, or view the Rising Stars in EECS 2018 brochure for more coverage

Eligibility:
Applicants must be women graduate students within about 1-3 years of graduating with a PhD at the time of the workshop, or they must have obtained a PhD no earlier than 2015 and not currently hold a faculty position. All applications were required to be submitted by May 15, 2018; applications are now closed.

Selection criteria:
Final participants were selected from the submitted applications.

Application Materials:
(Note that applications are now closed.)
1) Research statement (maximum 1 page excluding references, PDF)
2) CV (no page limit, PDF)
3) List of your publications (fill out the textfield in the online system)
4) One or two letters of recommendation (second letter is optional)

Accommodations and travel:
MIT EECS will cover meals and shared accommodations for two nights, and reimburse reasonable travel expenses (e.g., air, rail).

Application Deadline: May 15, 2018 (11:59 PM EDT, but we will honor submissions until 11:59 PM PDT)
Notification: June 11, 2018
Rising Stars workshop 2018: October 28-30, 2018

From the Workshop Chairs

Welcome to the 2018 Rising Stars in EECS Workshop at MIT. We launched Rising Stars in 2012 to identify and mentor outstanding women electrical engineers and computer scientists interested in exploring careers in academia. We are pleased that the program has grown substantially since its beginning. This year’s workshop will bring together 76 of the world’s brightest women in EECS for two days of scientific interactions and discussions about navigating the early stages of careers in academia.

This year’s program focuses on the academic job search process and how to succeed as a junior faculty member. Our program includes invited presentations on targeting the academic search process, giving effective job talks, and developing and refining research and teaching statements. Panel discussions will focus on the first years of an academic career, covering topics such as forming and ramping up a research group, leadership, maintaining work-life balance, fundraising, and the going through the promotion process.

Workshop participants will also give presentations covering a wide range of specialties representative of the breadth of EECS research. These presentations will range from materials, devices, and circuits, to signal processing, communications, computer science theory, artificial intelligence, and systems.

Past Rising Stars attendees have gone on to secure faculty positions at top universities or research positions in leading industry labs. Toward this end, we are pleased to highlight and feature workshop participants here on the Rising Stars 2018 website and in the event brochure (available as both a PDF and a print brochure following the workshop).

In addition, we hope that Rising Stars will give participants a chance to network with their peers, opening the door for ongoing collaboration and professional support for years to come.

We are grateful to the advisors who have supported past participants in Rising Stars. We also thank MIT’s School of Engineering, the EECS-affiliated research labs (CSAIL, LIDS, MTL, and RLE), and the Rising Stars administrative team for their support.

We look forward to meeting and interacting with you all.

2018 Workshop Chairs