The Organizing Committee of CDC 2026 is pleased to announce Student Travel & Workshop Support, made available by the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS).

The travel support funds are intended to increase the likelihood that promising students attend CDC 2026, present their papers, and become more integrated into the CSS scientific community. The limited funds available are not reimbursed to the student awardees; instead, the conference organizers apply them in advance to cover at least partial lodging expenses. Please click here for more information about the Travel Support Program. The student (or advisor) will be responsible for any other costs that are not covered, including conference registration.

The workshop support funds are meant to enhance the learning and career development of IEEE CSS Student Members. The funds will cover partial lodging expenses to facilitate attendance at the workshop. The student (or advisor) will be responsible for any other costs that are not covered, including workshop registration. Workshop attendance is required. Note that workshops are held the day before the first day of the conference. For more information about the CDC 2026 Workshops, click here; for the Workshop Support Program, click here.

NOTE: Awarded students may add one guest to their room reservation at some additional cost. If awarded, students who choose this option will be responsible for paying the additional cost directly at the hotel (more details will be provided with the award notification). There is no need to indicate a preference for the number of guests in the application, as this is not part of the selection criteria; it will be addressed later.
 

There is a single application for both programs. The application website opens on or before July 15, 2026, and closes on August 7, 2026. To apply, please follow these directions:

Students must fill in the form available through this link.

After completing the form, the responses from the completed form (sent via email) must be saved as a PDF and submitted to Paperplaza as a “Student support” submission under “Submit a contribution to CDC 2026”.

The final step requires the advisor to submit a letter of support (details below).

A letter from each applicant’s advisor is required to complete the application. This letter must be uploaded via PaperPlaza on the Student Support Letter. The letter must be on institutional letterhead, signed, certify that the applicant is currently enrolled as a student and plans to attend the CDC 2026, and include a short message of support for the student's application (less than 10 lines). In the case that the student applies for both the student workshop support and the student travel award, only one letter is required (but the letter should mention both programs).

To be eligible for either program, an applicant must be a student member of both IEEE and CSS at the time of the conference registration. Note that CSS stands for the Control Systems Society, and membership costs a relatively small additional fee in addition to IEEE Membership. Please click here for the details and benefits of IEEE CSS Student membership. Each applicant for travel support:

  1. Must be an author or co-author of a paper accepted for presentation at CDC 2025
  2. Must register at the conference (More details on registration deadlines will be provided with the award notification. Please follow the instructions therein.)
  3. Must present a paper

If the number of applicants for travel support exceeds the budget, additional criteria will be used to select among them. These additional criteria, in decreasing order of importance, prefer applicants who will present more than one paper at the conference, have been CSS student members for one, two, or more years, and can demonstrate active participation in CSS. If the number of applicants for workshop support exceeds the budget, support will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. In addition, the selection committee may decide to limit awards where more than one presenter from the same institution would otherwise be offered an award to attend the same conference.