MWSUG 2012 Student Scholarship Program

The MidWest SAS Users Group (MWSUG) exists to serve users of SAS software in the Midwestern region by providing educational opportunities and resources and by facilitating communication among SAS users and SAS Institute, Inc. To further these goals, MWSUG will provide up to ten scholarships to full-time, degree-seeking students to attend the 2012 MWSUG Conference on September 16-18 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

If you are a student who uses SAS and you would like to attend MWSUG 2012, we invite you to apply for a student scholarship. We are now accepting applications through August 3.

Scholarship Details

Two levels of scholarships will be awarded pending availability:

1. Full Scholarship
   Students with an accepted abstract (presentation or poster) will be eligible to receive the full scholarship. It includes conference registration fees and a stipend designed to offset the cost of two nights at the conference hotel (room and tax only).
2. Partial Scholarship
   This scholarship includes conference registration fees only.

Eligibility

Any student who meets the eligibility requirements is encouraged to apply for scholarship. Students who apply do not need to live or attend school in the twelve state MWSUG region; all geographies are welcome to apply. All applicants must complete the scholarship application. The applicant must:

1. Be a full-time, degree-seeking student.
2. Use SAS software for research or study.
3. Submit an abstract for presentation. Students who do not submit an abstract will only be considered for the partial scholarship program.
4. Participate in MWSUG 2012 as a volunteer. For more information on volunteering, please visit the volunteer webpage.

Application

We are now accepting applications. Click here to apply!

Important Details:

• The deadline to apply is August 3, 2012.
• Notifications will be made by August 7, 2012.

Scholarship Decision Process

Scholarship winners will be chosen based on the submitted presentation abstract and responses to the essay questions on the application. Students who do not submit an abstract will only be eligible for the partial scholarship and, consequently, will only be rated on the essay questions.

Each applicant will be rated on a 100 point scale:

1. Presentation Abstract Submission (70 pts)
   
   1. Writing / Abstract Communication (25 pts)
      Rates the quality of the written abstract. Is it well written? Does it effectively explain and communicate what the proposed talk will discuss?
   2. Technical Merits of the Topic (25 pts)
      Here the focus is the content of the abstract. Are the proposed methods accurate, and does the abstract describe a solution that will work?
   3. Topic Appeal (20 pts)
      This determines how appropriate the presented topic is to the conference. Is it a new and interesting discussion, or a novel way of approaching an older problem?
2. Essay Submission (30 pts)
   
   1. Writing / Communication (15 pts)
      Did the student effectively communicate their point? Is the essay written well?
   2. Argument / Content (15 pts)
      Here the grader will assess the value of the points that the student brings up about their intended benefits from MWSUG attendance.