Microsoft Fellowship 2004

PhD Candidates: Dou Shen, Yichen Wei, Xinyan Zhang, and Jian Ma

4 Awardees Out of 33 From All Over the Asia Pacific Region

Mr. Dou Shen, Mr. Yichen Wei, Mr. Xinyan Zhang, and Mr. Jian Ma, PhD candidates of the Department of Computer Science, have been awarded Microsoft Fellow 2004. This award is considered as a remarkable honor and recognition to a researcher's accomplishments. Our PhD candidates continue to do well in the competition. We have a total of 9 PhD candidates being awarded as Microsoft Fellows in the past few years, apart from the 4 candidates as mentioned above, we had another 2 awardees in 2003 and 3 in 2002.

There are 33 students being awarded as Microsoft Fellows this year, and we are pleased to announce that we are the university which has the most students (4 PhD candidates) being awarded this honor, and the second most is Tsinghua University (3 PhD candidates). Microsoft Research Asia had received 76 nominations from 38 leading research universities for the fellowship this year, including distinguished students from China, Australia, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. A stipend of an amount of US$6,000 will be provided for attending professional conferences, and also a salaried internship at MSR Asia.

The mission of the Microsoft Fellowship is to empower young academics in Aisa Pacific to realize their full potential in computer science related research. Candidates must major in Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, information science or applied mathematics. It is opened to early year of PhD candidates. The Review Committee of Microsoft Research Asia based on candidates' technical merit, academic potential, and value to MRS Asia and community to deliver the fellowship. Campus ceremony co-hosted by universities and MSR Asia will be held from Nov 2004 to May 2005.

Since its establishment in 1999, a total of 120 "MS Fellows" from 39 universities have been granted in the past 6 years. The program is designed to provide opportunities for high-caliber PhD candidates in computer and related fields, to facilitate the collaboration between Microsoft Research Asia and other research institutions, and to jointly educate top talents to realize their fill potential in research.