Microsoft Research Contributes up to €1 Million for Exceptional PhD Research at the International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science
Scholarship programme will support the next generation of computer and science researchers.
SAARBRÜCKEN, Germany — 13 July 2007 — Microsoft Research, the Max Planck Institutes for Computer Science and for Software Systems, and the Computer Science Department at Saarland University today announced that Microsoft Research will contribute up to €1 million to help fund 15 students’ PhD research projects.
Each year, for the next three years, five PhD students from the International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science (IMPRS-CS) — the doctoral research wing of the Max Planck Institutes for Computer Science and for Software Systems — and the Computer Science Department at Saarland University will be funded by the Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship Programme.
The funding agreement was announced by Rick Rashid, senior vice president, Microsoft Research, and Gerhard Weikum, director of the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science and the Max Planck Research School for Computer Science, at an event hosted by the Max Planck Institutes and the Computer Science Department in Saarbrücken, Germany.
“It is vital for computer science research to bridge both the fundamental and applied research, in order to keep pushing the boundaries of science and innovation,” said Weikum. “The joint programme of the IMPRS-CS and Microsoft Research will enable students to gain valuable experience working in a leading academic institution and in direct contact with a leading industrial research organisation.”
Microsoft Research will invite students to attend the annual Microsoft Research Summer School in Cambridge, UK, giving them the opportunity to showcase their projects to Microsoft researchers and local academics and set up contacts with an industrial research organisation. For some of the most promising of these students there will also be the possibility of an internship at the Microsoft Research laboratory in Cambridge.
The awards will be made through the Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship Programme, which aims to recognise and support exceptional students who show the potential to make an outstanding contribution to computing and science. The Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship programme is part of the Microsoft European Science Initiative, which focuses on enabling and accelerating research at the intersection of science and computing that has the potential to create significant social, technological, scientific and economic change.
Students at the IMPRS-CS receive a first-rate, research-oriented, advanced education in their chosen area of concentration, while enjoying close supervision by a world-renowned scientist and a competitive, yet collaborative environment rich in interaction with other students, post-doctoral researchers and scientists.
“It is critical that academia, industry and governments support the education of tomorrow’s scientists through programmes such as this,” said Rashid. “We hope our engagement and contribution for exceptional students at the IMPRS-CS will help develop some of the world’s most talented computing and science researchers of the future.”
The first of the awards are expected to be made in October 2007. Leading researchers from Microsoft Research, the two Max Planck Institutes and the Computer Science Department will jointly elect the best students.
Further information about the International Max Planck Research School for Computer Science can be found at http://www.imprs-cs.de.
Further information about the Microsoft Research PhD Scholarship programme is available at http://research.microsoft.com/ero/phd.
About the Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society consists of about 80 Max Planck Institutes, which are Germany’s premier basic research facilities with an established record of world-class, foundational research in the fields of medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, technology and humanities. Since 1948, Max Planck researchers have won 16 Nobel prizes, which testifies to the quality and innovation of Max Planck research programs.
About the Max Planck Institutes for Computer Science and for Software Systems
Founded in 1990, the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science was the first Max Planck Institute inside the Max Planck Society devoted to Computer Science. More than 150 researchers, including more than 50 senior researchers holding a PhD, investigate basic research questions in the areas of computer algorithms, formal methods, bioinformatics, computer graphics, database and information systems, and machine learning. Where the Computer Science institute investigates the building blocks of computer science, the recently formed sister institute, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, investigates the design, analysis, implementation and operation of complex software systems. Founded in 2004, the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems is dedicated to research in all areas related to the design, analysis and engineering of software systems. The institute is located in Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken. Currently, the institute has leading research groups in programming languages, formal methods and verification, distributed/operating systems and networked systems. The institute will grow to a strength of up to 17 tenured and tenure-track researchers and about 80 doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers.
About the Computer Science Department in Saarbrücken
Since its start in the 1970s, the Computer Science Department in Saarbrücken has been ranked among the top five computer science departments in Germany. The department consists of 29 chairs for computer science, covering the full breadth of computer science research and education.
About Microsoft Research
Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies. Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. Microsoft Research employs more than 700 people in five labs located in Redmond, Wash.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; Beijing, China; and Bangalore, India. Microsoft Research collaborates openly with colleges and universities worldwide to enhance the teaching and learning experience, inspire technological innovation, and broadly advance the field of computer science. More information can be found at http://www.research.microsoft.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential.
About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft employs more than 13,000 people in over 60 subsidiaries, delivering products and services in more than 138 countries and territories.
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