Micro Mentoring Experience Program

Micro Mentoring Experience Program (MiME)

Program Mission

The Micro Mentoring Experience (MiME) program is a new program sponsored by SPS that will take place during SPS flagship conferences (ICASSP and ICIP) starting in 2023, in the context of the 75^th anniversary celebrations of the society. This program aims to enhance the conference experience for first-time conference attendees and other society members that believe they can benefit from a short-time mentoring experience during the conferences.

This program intends to help mentees better enjoy the experience of a large conference, like ICASSP and ICIP. In such conferences, the technical program can be so overwhelming for first-time conference attendees, that they are unable to properly navigate it, and end up missing events and technical sessions that could greatly benefit their conference experience. Furthermore, the program will also provide an opportunity for mid-career researchers to connect with more experienced ones and get helpful insights about career development and their research topics. For experienced researchers, this could be an interesting venue to find prospective students and new candidates for open positions.

Program Scope

The program is intended to take place during SPS flagship conferences, where the mentees will have the opportunity to meet the assigned mentors and discuss the most interesting way to enjoy all the events and technical sessions of the conference. Mentors and mentees are invited to experience the conference together, eventually sharing meals and participating together in technical sessions, plenaries, and/or social events.

Program Roles

Mentor

The mentor role is assigned to experienced researchers willing to share their knowledge and know-how during the conferences. The mentor is expected to advise their mentees on how to choose the technical sessions, plenaries, social and technical events which they believe the mentee would benefit the most by attending. Additionally, in some cases, the mentor can help the mentee to better introduce themselves to peers and how to behave during networking opportunities.

In the case where the mentee is a mid-career researcher, the mentor is invited to help the mentee to connect with relevant players in their research area and facilitate connections that can be useful for the mentee.

The mentor can also take the opportunity to use the program to find prospective students and new candidates for open positions in their company or research centers and universities.

The commitment of the mentor to the program is restricted to the duration of the conference (and one call with the mentee prior to the beginning of the conference). Any additional interaction or long-term commitment with the mentee is optional and should be decided between the two parties.

Mentee

The mentee role is assigned to first-time attendees of the conferences that have little or no experience in navigating the technical and social program of the conference. The mentee role can also be assigned to other conference attendees that, although have already participated in such conferences, believe they can better explore the conference program if assisted by a mentor. Finally, other attendees can apply for the mentee role if they believe a mentor could assist advance their careers and visibility in the signal processing society, by giving technical and career advice and introducing them to other relevant players in their research areas.

A mentee can also be a researcher looking for a new position, work, or internship opportunity that believes the connection with a mentor during the conference will help advance their career.

Application Process

The application process starts with the conference registration. In the conference registration form the prospective participants should answer the question:

• "Would you be interested in participating in SPS mentorship activities?" with a "YES".
• After that, they will be prompted with the question about the role, and should select the most fitting answer between Mentor, Mentee, and Unsure. A person can select multiple roles if they see fit.

The organizers will then contact the prospective participants and request additional information. The requested information shall include the following:

• Name and affiliation of the participant.
• Participant’s CV.
• Brief narrative of how this experience would benefit the mentee in their future career in signal processing, for the role of mentee.
• Brief description of which opportunities and/or experience the mentor can provide, for the role of mentor.

Application Evaluation

Whenever there are not enough participants in one of the roles to promote adequate pairings, the participants will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Potential impact of the experience for the mentee’s future career.
• Experience of the mentor.
• Geographical and gender equality.

The selection of the participants will be made according to the received information.

The applications will be evaluated by the MiME steering committee, part of the Educational Community Committee of the Education Board.

Program Events

To improve the program effectiveness, Mentors and Mentees are invited to participate in three meetings:

1. Online call between mentors and mentees, that should take place up to two weeks before the start of the conference. In this online meeting the mentees should describe what they expect to benefit by participating in the program. Mentors will advise the mentees of any actions they should take or material they should prepare prior to the conference start, including possibly registering for additional tutorials and/or social events.
2. At the beginning of the conference, before the start of the technical sessions mentors and mentees will be invited to join a breakfast event (free of charge) at the conference where they will have the opportunity to meet in person, learn more about the conference program, and plan their attendance to the conference. This event offers great opportunities for networking between different mentors and mentees.
3. At the middle of the conference, before the conference dinner, the mentors and mentees will have another opportunity to catch up and discuss the takeaways of the first few days of the conference and adjust the mentees' plans for the coming events and technical sessions.

Registration for the MiME at IEEE ICASSP 2024

Registration Link

• ICASSP participants willing to join the MiME program should complete the registration form above before 10 March.
• It is important to notice that only participants already registered for ICASSP 2024 are eligible to participate.
• Due to the limited space availability, the participants will be selected based on the criteria mentioned above.
• Please note that uploading a CV is mandatory for the Mentees.

Program Timeline

IEEE SPS MiME Committee

• Lucas Thomaz
• Tirza Routtenberg

Additional Information: Contact us via email!