October 27-30, 2024

Chicago, IL, USA

Travel Awards for Students and Postdoctoral Fellows

This year, the deadline to apply for funding to support participation in FOCS 2024 is September 13, 2024 September 20, 2024. Travel awards for eligible US-based students and postdoctoral fellows (to partially support the travel for attending the conference) are made possible thanks to generous support from the National Science Foundation, and from the IEEE TCMF budget. Members of underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged to apply for support. Reimbursement will be made after the conference (receipts will be required).

We also have travel award funds (thanks to our sponsors) for students and postdocs who are not US-based. In this case, please use the same application process and indicate that you are not US-based. 

TCS for All Travel Scholarship for FOCS 2024: TCS for All also has travel scholarships for FOCS 2024. This is a separate application process, that you can find at this link

Application Process

To apply, email the information listed below to [email protected]. Please use the following subject line: “FOCS 2024 Travel Award Application”.

  1. Title of paper, if you are an author, and whether you will be presenting the paper.  (It is not necessary to be an author of a FOCS 2024 paper to receive travel funding.)

  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 [email protected], the address above, by September 20, 2024. (Note: vague statements such as “funds are tight” are not informative).

  7. (Optional) The NSF strongly encourages applications from members of underrepresented groups for these awards. Please indicate if you are part of such a group or at an institution that is not typically represented at IEEE FOCS.

  8. (Optional) your demographic information

This information (except for Item 8, which is for information only as part of the NSF grant) will be used to prioritize the awards (see the prioritization for awards below).

You should receive an email acknowledging your applications by September 16 September 23, 2024. The awards will be announced around September 23 September 30, 2024. Late applications will not be accepted.

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.