SMPTE Confirms Upcoming Submission Deadlines

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has issued a call for papers for the SMPTE Student Paper Award. It is also accepting applications for the Louis F. Wolf Jr. Memorial Scholarship, designed to help students further their undergraduate or graduate studies in motion pictures and television, with an emphasis on technology.

"Education is a fundamental part of SMPTE's mission," said Pat Griffis, SMPTE education vice president. "We are pleased to have so many students looking to expand their academic education by joining SMPTE and taking advantage of practical, standards-oriented training and networking opportunities that can help them advance their future careers."

A number of initiatives aimed at students and recent graduates have helped student membership rise to almost 15% and the number of SMPTE Student Chapters has increased to nearly 25 percent.

The SMPTE Student Membership Challenge fund, founded and funded by William C. Miller, SMPTE membership vice president, along with a growing number of his SMPTE colleagues, pays for the first year of membership for new Student Members. SMPTE also supports Student Chapters at colleges, universities, and institutions where courses are offered in technical areas of film, video, and television.

Student Chapters give students the opportunity to meet industry leaders and professionals, and to interact outside of the classroom with other students and faculty who have an interest in the motion-imaging industry. A full list of Student Chapters is available online here.

"SMPTE has been using outreach and educational events to make the Society more accessible to students, and our local Sections have done great work with Student Chapters to fuel greater engagement and participation in SMPTE events," said Mr Miller. "We're very proud of the Society's recent growth in student membership, and we look forward to corresponding increases in submissions for the Student Paper Award and Louis F. Wolf Jr. scholarship."

The Student Paper Award honours a SMPTE Student Member who prepares and submits an outstanding paper dealing with some technical phase of motion pictures, television, photographic instrumentation, or their closely allied arts and sciences. The paper will be published in the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal, providing recognition both for the author and the institution at which the work was done. The application form, requirements, and examples of papers from previous years are online here.

The Louis F. Wolf Jr. Memorial Scholarship offers $5,000 toward the cost of tuition at the student's educational institution. The scholarship is open to SMPTE Student Members who are full-time undergraduate students enrolled in an accredited two- or four-year college or university. Applicants must be majoring in a program which emphasises the engineering, science, advanced technologies, or fundamental theories associated with motion imaging, sound, metadata, and workflows consistent with SMPTE's field of interest, and each must have completed a minimum of four courses toward said major and be in good academic standing. The application form and requirements are online here.

The application deadline for both the Student Paper Award and Louis F. Wolf Jr. Scholarship is 18 May, 2016. Recipients will receive a full conference registration for the SMPTE 2016 Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE 2016), where they will be recognised during the SMPTE 2016 Honors and Awards Ceremony on Monday, 24 October.

To learn more about the programmes, SMPTE is inviting students to the Society's booth (L28) at the 2016 NAB Show on Tuesday 19 April. Students will have the opportunity to interact with SMPTE Members, including board members, directors, and staff, who will discuss their work in the media and entertainment industry and how students can become involved with SMPTE.

Image: MPTE Education Vice President, Pat Griffis, SMPTE Education Vice President, with Arnav Mendiratta, SMPTE 2015 Louis F. Wolf Memorial Scholarship Recipient, at graduation at the University of Southern California.

www.smpte.org

(JP/LM)