The IEEE Lasers & Electro-Optics Society established the Graduate Student Fellowship Program to provide Graduate Fellowships to outstanding LEOS student members pursuing graduate education within the LEOS field of interest (electro-optics, lasers, photonics, optics, or closely related fields). Up to twelve Fellowships of $5000 each will be awarded, based on the student membership in each of the main geographical regions:

Americas - Europe/Mid-East/Africa - Asia/Pacific
Prize: Up to twelve Fellowships of $5,000 each will be awarded every year. A travel grant of up to $2,500 towards travel and lodging expenses plus a complimentary conference registration, will be available to each Fellowship recipient to attend the LEOS Annual Meeting for the award presentation.

Eligibility: Fellowship applicants must be an IEEE LEOS student member pursuing a graduate education within the LEOS field of interest. Students should normally be in their penultimate year of study at the time of application and be planning to submit their thesis on a timescale of 6 to 18 months after the application is submitted (i.e. those applying in May 2008 would normally expect to defend their thesis during 2009).

Schedule: In a given year, application packages will be due at the LEOS Executive Office by 30 May and recipients will be notified by 30 July of the same year. The Fellowships will be presented at the LEOS Annual Meeting.

Fellowship Application Package Requirements:
• Cover letter to include name, address, email, IEEE member number, expected date of submission of the thesis, names and contact information of two references.
• A one-page CV, including all degrees received and dates.
• One copy of educational transcripts.
• A 300-word statement of purpose describing the student’s research project and interests. The statement is to include the background to the project, what the student has achieved so far and how the research will be continued and developed by the student over the rest of the project
• A list of the student’s publications with the most significant paper indicated and a 100-word description of the significance of the paper.
• Two reference letters from individuals familiar with the student's research and educational credentials.
• Note that additional information and submissions over the specified word count will not be forwarded to the evaluating committee.
Guidelines have been established for the 2008 application process. Please check the LEOS web for more details (www.i-leos.org).Submission information is now available
For more information contact: soc.leo@ieee.org