Call For NAACL Scholarship Applications To The Two-Week Undergraduate Summer School At The 2022 Annual Jelinek Memorial Workshop On Speech And Language Technology (JSALT)

The North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL) is again offering an exciting summer school opportunity for a limited number of undergraduate students interested in the field of Human Language Technology.

What is this scholarship for? A continuation of the Johns Hopkins University CLSP summer workshop series from 1995-2020, JSALT brings notable researchers and students together to collaborate on selected research topics for six weeks, following a special two-week undergraduate education session. Those first two weeks provide students with general introductions to the major areas of study within the field of Human Language Technology (e.g., Natural Language Processing, Automatic Speech Recognition, Machine Translation, Information Retrieval), as well as sessions on specialized research topics of current interest in the field.

What does the scholarship cover? The NAACL scholarship is used to support undergraduate students from the Americas to participate in the two-week summer school. Specifically, it covers the mandatory registration and housing costs for the full duration. In addition, up to $650 USD will be given to the student to offset travel costs. Additional travel support may be available for students with exceptionally high travel costs. Meals and other incidental expenses are not covered.

Who can apply for this scholarship? Students must be enrolled or pre-enrolled at an institution in the Americas to qualify. Preference will be given to high-quality undergraduate students at a stage in their careers during which attendance at the summer school will provide maximum benefit; in particular, undergraduates who have completed at least their junior year of study. Graduate and Postdoctoral applications will not be accepted. Students who are selected for the summer school are expected to attend all two weeks of the summer school.

How do I apply for this scholarship? Easy! Fill in the form at https://forms.gle/XdhghF4QhtN45EWL9 and arrange for one to two short letters of reference to be sent to naacl-jhu-workshop@googlegroups.com by Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

Important Facts and Dates:

Summer School Dates: June 13 (Monday) to June 24 (Friday), 2022
Summer School Location: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD
Summer School Website: https://www.clsp.jhu.edu/2022-eighth-frederick-jelinek-memorial-summer-workshop/
Scholarship Application Deadline: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 11:59pm PDT
Notification date: Friday, May 13, 2022

This is a very firm deadline, and applications submitted prior to this date will be much appreciated. The deadline also applies to reference letters. Applications with late references will not be considered. The application form is here: https://forms.gle/XdhghF4QhtN45EWL9


Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ):

Q: I am currently attending a university that is not in the Americas. Can I apply? A: As stated above, no. Since this is a NAACL sponsored event, it is only available to undergraduate students enrolled or pre-enrolled in institutions located in the Americas. This includes North, Central, and South America as well as the Caribbean.

Q: I will be attending graduate school in the fall, but have not started yet. Am I eligible? A: Yes.

Q: What about visa issues? A: If you are selected and are from a country that requires a visa, we will work with you on necessary paperwork. Note that there could be a big delay to obtain US visas due to the pandemic situation, which is not necessarily compatible with the gap between the notification date and the summer school’s start date. You can check your visa wait times here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html

Q: Must all materials be submitted by the deadline, including the letters of recommendation? A: Yes, the deadline is strict and it applies to the entire application package.

Q: What does the scholarship include? A: Most of the scholarship is paid directly to the JSALT summer school to cover registration and housing. Furthermore, up to $650 USD is available to cover travel costs.

Q: What application materials should I submit? A: The application includes the web form linked above, plus 1–2 reference letters.

Q: Where should I send the application material? A: Please email your reference letters to naacl-jhu-workshop@googlegroups.com. You can expect to receive a response verifying the receipt of your application within one business day.

Q: What’s the schedule? A: It’s not yet finalized, but the summer workshop schedule from 2019 can be found at https://www.clsp.jhu.edu/workshops/19-workshop/2019-hlt/

Q: If I have any questions, who should I contact? A: Please email us at naacl-jhu-workshop@googlegroups.com