Objective
Get first author students to attend & present their work
- Encourage a career in power electronics
- Join the sponsoring organizations (IEEE Industry Applications Society [IAS], IEEE Power Electronics Society [PELS], & PSMA)
- Support APEC by presenting work, volunteering or participating in events, mentorship, meetings, & programs.
Therefore, recipients cannot transfer their SAS recipient status or the SAS funds to a substitute speaker nor their advisor. The funding support offered to students who decline or who do not agree to the terms of the student attendance support program will be offered to another student selected by the student attendance support committee.
Student Responsibilities
- Must be a student at the time of APEC.
- Agree to the terms of the program before the invitation deadline.
- Must attend APEC to get reimbursement at the PSMA booth in the APEC exhibition.
- Attend APEC from Monday (or earlier) to Thursday to participate in multiple APEC events such as other technical sessions, industry sessions, student job fair, mentoring, volunteering, pre-APEC workshops, sponsor meetings, etc.
- Must make arrangements to attend APEC including travel documents such as passports, visas, etc., early APEC registration, travel, accommodation, etc.
- File expenses (actual receipts, not estimates) with PSMA (power@psma.com) preferably before attending APEC to expedite reimbursement.
- Inform APEC (speakers@apec-conf.org) & PSMA of withdrawals immediately. Failure to communicate in a timely manner may result in non-refundable registration and getting banned from the SAS program especially if the withdrawal was preventable. Please note if you cannot get a refund on your registration, you can specify a substitute to attend APEC at registration@apec-conf.org (unfortunately, your substitute is not qualified to receive your Student Attendance Support funding).
- All SAS recipients agree to have their names and affiliations published as part of this program.
- Must inform PSMA if graduating early (especially if graduating before APEC).
Qualified & Unqualified Expenses
Qualified expenses include:
- Early IEEE student registration (the cost difference in IEEE student registration ($475 or $375) justifies IEEE student membership). For more details on IEEE student membership see: https://www.ieee.org/membership/join#chapter=id-7311-Students-
- Extra paper fee(s) where you are the first author.
- Travel to/from APEC by air, bus, car, train, or boat.
- Hotel or accommodation during APEC.
Some common unqualified expenses include (these will not be reimbursed):
- IEEE student membership fee (tends to be < $50 depending on your country).
- Travel documents such as passports, visas, Real ID, expediting fees (start early), driver’s license, etc.
- Lunches on Tuesday-Thursday as your registration already includes lunch.
- Dinner on Wednesday as your registration already includes dinner at the social event & you are encouraged to attend.
- Breakfast on the day of your presentation as you are encouraged to attend the speakers’ breakfast
- Breakfast on the day of your Student Leaders session as you are encouraged to attend the speakers’ breakfast
- Rental car for transportation to/from the airport (however rental cars or mileage instead of airfare are qualified).
- Hotel or accommodation before or after APEC such as Friday before APEC (unless you are registered for a pre-APEC workshop) or Friday after APEC.
- Long layovers at a different location from the conference such as Hawaii.
- Raincoats or umbrellas (plan for weather to avoid unexpected purchases)
- Poster carrier or luggage (consider borrowing)
- Extra paper fees where you are not the first author
This program is sponsored by IEEE Industry Applications Society [IAS], IEEE Power Electronics Society [PELS], & PSMA. However, PSMA who founded the program still runs the logistics.
Advice
You can supplement student attendance support amount with other funding sources from your advisor, your department, your university, national or government programs.
Join IEEE as a student member to reduce APEC registration costs. Do this early so you can qualify for the early APEC student registration fee as it takes time for the IEEE student membership to process.
Car, bus, train or boat can be cost effective means to change your flight origin or destination to a cost-effective location especially if you are starting from a small airport. Use Rio2Rome.com (also available as an app) or other such resources to research various modes of transportation.
The most common reason for last minute withdrawals: not getting a travel visa in time (check here to see if a US travel visa is required: https://embassies.net/united-states-visa-exemption#google_vignette). For example, some students have reported that they finally got their visa after 5 months! Start early so if your visa has issues you have time to fix it.
Some suggestions from previous international students who successfully got a US visa:
- Avoid applying with a completely blank passport as you have a higher probability of getting a US Visa if you have at least one previous international travel record.
- Similarly consider applying for a B-2 (tourist) Visa first and visiting the US as a tourist before you need to apply for a B-1 Visa as time and circumstances allow. Not only does this greatly simply the process for a B-1 Visa, B-2 Visas have much longer expiration date.
- Complete the DS-160 form https://ceac.state.gov/genniv/ and schedule the visa interview early as processing times vary.
- Prepare all supporting documents to bring to the visa interview such as passport, DS-160 confirmation page, and appointment confirmation, the APEC invitation letter, paper acceptance letter, travel itinerary, proof of student status, proof of funding, resume/CV, publication list, advisor's resume/CV, and a short statement of the purpose for visiting the US.
From time to time, airlines may cancel your flight at the last minute especially if they oversold the seats. Therefore, check into your flight as early as possible. Sometimes you can take advantage of last-minute sales to fill vacant seats on a different flight. Again, you may need to research various modes of transport to reschedule your trip.
Bring or buy food for dietary restrictions especially if you have unusual/multiple food allergies or other dietary limits.
Engineering is about problem solving; consequently, you can see this cost-constrained problem solving as an engineering example. Explore your options.
FAQ
Q: Why do I need to be reimbursed as it would be so much easier to get the money upfront?
A: The program is designed to encourage APEC attendance. By showing up to collect your reimbursement, you will have fulfilled the main objective. More importantly, disbursing the money upfront (like a grant or prize) may have tax consequences for student recipients while a reimbursement avoids tax paperwork.
Q: Why do I need to send some emails to mentors@psma.com and some to power@psma.com?
- The mentors@psma.com handles the main logistics for running the program especially communications. The power@psma.com handles the financial side. The two are separate as PSMA, a non-profit organization, requires separate financial approvals for programs to prevent the volunteer(s) at mentors@psma.com from sending money to themselves or other unauthorized people.
Q: Will the program reimburse ALL meals?
A: No, the program encourages students recipients to participate in as many APEC events as possible such as the speakers’ breakfast for your session, the APEC social event, the APEC lunches, etc. Use this opportunity to meet new people or connect with other students. Generally, if an APEC meal is provided, external meals are not reimbursed but you can still choose to be financially responsible for external meals.
