The University of Virginia's Link Lab for cyber-physical systems recently joined forces with Leidos, a Link Lab corporate partner since 2017, to create a new career skills-building experience for graduate students. The Link Lab Student Seminar awards Ph.D. students who demonstrate academic excellence the opportunity to present their research in the Link Lab. The program supports Link Lab's mission to prepare graduating engineers to hit the ground running in evolving, cyber-physical systems industries, immersing students in interdisciplinary research and providing professional development for career-aligned skills building. “We really want to support our students and one way is through this type of distinguished seminar. In addition to our audience getting to see a highlight of excellent research that is happening in the Link Lab, the Ph.D. candidate can practice delivering a talk to an audience of peers, faculty and industry partners and receive feedback on their talk,†said John A. Stankovic, BP America Professor of computer science and Link Lab director. “An opportunity like this is particularly important for Ph.D. students who are about to leave the Link Lab and go into the real world.†The inaugural awardee is Esen Yel, an engineering systems and environment Ph.D. student. She gave her talk at the first Student Link Lab Seminar, held virtually on Dec. 3. Yel was selected in recognition of her work to advance drones and self-driving vehicles, or autonomous systems.