FUTURE FACULTY FORUM
Location: Gallery 1, Hybrid Day 1: 16 October 2023 (Monday) | Time: 9:00 am - 12:30 pm, 14:00 pm - 18:00 pm
We are excited to host the inaugural meeting of the Future Faculty Forum, a full-day immersive experience dedicated to exploring professorship in fields associated with the transformative potential of XR technologies. This Forum aims to foster a vibrant community of scholars and educators who are eager to collaborate, learn, and advance together toward or in an academic career in the rapidly evolving field of immersive technologies. Forum meetings will be a means to introduce students who are interested in or curious about an academic career to professorship. And, Forum meetings will be a venue where colleagues can reconnect and collaboratively develop future generations of academic researchers. You can expect the following at F3 meetings:
- Engaging Sessions: Delve into thought-provoking presentations and discussions led by distinguished experts at the forefront of AR, VR, and XR in academia. Gain insights into the latest trends, opportunities, and challenges in these emerging feels as an aspiring professor.
- Mentorship and networking: Connect with experienced faculty, postdocs, and senior graduate students who have successfully integrated their interests into academic careers. Build meaningful, lifelong connections, seek guidance, and explore potential collaboration opportunities.
- Professional Development: Acquire valuable insights and resources for career development in academia. Gain guidance on navigating the academic job market, establishing your research profile, and cultivating a successful academic career that embraces immersive technologies.
This ISMAR 2023 will be the debut of F3! We will convene at future ISMAR conferences and other conferences in the XR space.
The ISMAR 2023 F3 meeting will take place on Monday, October 16 in hybrid format.
The following sections provide more details about what the XR Future Faculty Forum will look like at ISMAR 2023 and how you can participate:
ISMAR F3 - Overview & Goals Forum Format Forum Schedule Call for Participation
ISMAR F3 – Overview & Goals
This forum meeting is designed to foster mentorship, education, and collaboration among students who are curious about becoming AR/VR (or XR) faculty someday.
The meeting of the Future Faculty Forum at ISMAR 2023 will feature panels of current professors discussing various aspects of professorship, including (among other topics) tenure, creating and organizing a research program, teaching, and professional service, and more generally what aspects of their profession they really like and dislike, and why. We will attempt to include professors (on the panels) who have also worked in industry, and therefore have some basis for comparison. Additionally, the forum will include “speed advising” sessions in which students will be able to have several short advising sessions with current faculty. In this portion, students will have the opportunity to ask more specific questions pertaining to a particular professor’s experience while learning from a breadth of experiences. While brief, these meetings will help form relationships between students, junior faculty, and professors, and participants can continue their conversations later in the forum and conference. The panels and speed advising sessions will feature diverse faculty to provide students with various perspectives on the meaning of, success within, and preparation for professorship. Throughout the forum, there will be an emphasis on creating and sustaining an academic environment that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible.
Professors interested in volunteering to serve on a panel or as a speed advisor, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/zudky3H4ywkrnCYR6
Anyone interested in attending, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/iA52e1cnrhC1dkBm9
(Please only fill out one form. Professors interested in attending but not volunteering should just fill out the second form.)
Funding Partner
Conference Sponsors
Silver
Bronze
Friends of ISMAR
Advent2 Labs
Forum Format
The XR Future Faculty Forum meeting will be hybrid (both in-person and remote) and will consist of multiple panels with group discussions and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions.
Each panel will last for one hour and will be centered on a specific aspect related to being a professor (e.g. a panel on how to manage a research lab, a panel on dealing with the challenges of interdisciplinary research). For each panel, we will have a brief introduction of the panel members and the panel topic, and then move into questions and group discussions. We will have prepared some starter questions to get the discussion going, after which we will open the floor to questions and comments from the forum attendees. We will recruit professors with the appropriate background to speak on the panel topic (e.g. the panel on differences in universities will include faculty from a range of institutions and countries to best represent the different perspectives on this topic).
In order to facilitate more personalized discussions, we will also host two “speed advising” sessions. In these sessions, attendees will be paired with a professor for 15 minutes for a 1-on-1 conversation. This conversation gives aspiring professors the opportunity to get advice regarding their specific situations and questions, unlike the more general advice from panel sessions. After each 15 minute session, attendees will be rotated out so that more people can get the chance to speak to a professor.
Forum Schedule
| Time | Event |
| 9:00am – 9:15am | Welcome and opening remarks |
| 9:15am – 10:00am | Panel 1: High-level intro/overview of professorship motivations, responsibilities, workload, etc. |
| 10:00am – 10:45am | Panel 2: Professor preparation and application process |
| 10:45am – 11:00am | Break |
| 11:00am – 11:45pm | Panel 3: Differences in universities (geographical, research vs. teaching allocations) |
| 11:45pm – 12:30pm | Speed Advising 1 |
| 12:30pm – 2:00pm | Lunch |
| 2:00pm – 2:45pm | Panel 4: Lab formation and management |
| 2:45pm – 3:30pm | Panel 5: Challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary research |
| 3:30pm – 4:00pm | Break |
| 4:00pm – 4:45pm | Speed Advising 2 |
| 4:45pm – 5:30pm | Panel 6: Key takeaways and what attendees can do now to prepare for professorship |
| 5:30pm – 6:00pm | Closing remarks and feedback for future F3 events |
| 6:00pm – 8:00pm | Informal dinner/social event |
Call for Participation
The XR Future Faculty Forum will consist of multiple panels with group discussions and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions.
This forum aims to bring together current faculty and aspiring professors in augmented and virtual reality to create a whole-day event where professors can share their experience and provide mentorship to students considering professorship. Thus, we are seeking faculty who are willing and eager to impart their knowledge and expertise to the next prospective generation of professors. We are also seeking some professors with industry experience to provide comparisons between industry and academia.
This is an excellent opportunity to share your experiences and insights with graduate students and junior faculty who are passionate about pursuing a career in academia. The forum will provide a platform for discussing the unique challenges and opportunities that come with being a professor, as well as strategies for maximizing success in one’s career.
The full Call for Participation can be found here.
If you are interested in serving as a member in one or more of our panels, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/TSxMbcEbrk3ZpisD6, or send us an email at futurefacultyforum@gmail.com.
Organizers
Matt Gottsacker
Cassidy R. Nelson
Niall L. Williams
Gregory F. Welch
Joseph L. Gabbard
