The SIGDA Speaker Series Travel Grant actively supports the travels of the speakers who are invited to give lectures or talks in local events, universities, and companies, so as to disseminate the values and impact of SIGDA. These speakers can be from either academia or company and are considered as good lectures that can help reach out to the audiences in the broad field of design automation. Once the application is approved, SIGDA will issue partial grants to cover the speaker’s travel expenses, including travel and subsistence costs.

This grant is to help on promoting the EDA community and activities all over the world. It will provide travel support averaging $1,000 (USD) for approximately 6 eligible speakers per year to defray their costs of giving lectures or talks in local events, universities, and companies. Priority will be given to the applicants from the local sections of SIGDA with the speakers presenting in the events supported by the local sections of SIGDA. In addition, local EDA communities or individuals, rather than local sections of SIGDA, are also encouraged to apply for this grant. For the application or additional information, please contact SIGDA by sending an email exclusively to the Technical Activity Chair (https://www.sigda.org/about-us/officers/).

Review Process

The review committee will be formed by the current Technical Activity Chair and Education Chair of SIGDA. The reviews will be reported and discussed in SIGDA’s executive committee meeting. After the discussion, the executing committee members will vote to grant or not grant the submitted applications.

Selection Criteria

The review takes the applicants/events and speakers in considerations.

• Preference is given to the local sections of SIGDA for the speakers invited to the events, universities, and companies supported by the local sections of SIGDA. In addition, the applicants from local EDA communities or individuals are also considered.
• The invited speaker should be a good lecture or researcher from either academia or industry, and has a good track record in the broad field of design automation.

Post Applications – Report and Reimbursement

• For the speaker giving a talk in an ACM event, SIGDA can support the travel grant and process reimbursements to the speaker directly. At the end of the event, the speaker needs to complete the ACM reimbursement form and send it to SIGDA or ACM Representative along with copies of the receipts. The speakers will also need to abide by the reimbursement policies/standards found here: https://www.acm.org/special-interest-groups/volunteer-resources/conference-planning/conference-finances#speaker
• For the speaker giving a talk in a non-ACM event, SIGDA will provide the lump sum payment to the legal and financial sponsoring organization, which would offer the fund as the travel grants and process reimbursements. Meanwhile, the sponsoring organization needs to indicate on the event’s promotional materials that travel grants are being supported by SIGDA. At the end of the event, the sponsoring organization needs to provide (1) a one-page final report to SIGDA reflecting the success of their goals against the funds provided and indicating how the funds were spent, (2) an invoice for the approved amount, and (3) tax form. Note that there is no specific format for the final report.

Application Form

Sponsor

Synopsys