Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are characterized by extremely tight integration of and coordination between computational and physical resources. CPS integrate computation, communication, and storage capabilities through systems of systems that must interact with the physical world in real-time at multiple time scales and often at multiple spatial scales. The inherent heterogeneity and the non-deterministic operation of different components in these systems pose new challenges to traditional control, communication, real-time scheduling, and robotics disciplines. In conjunction with the IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium in 2009 (RTSS 2009), this project helps to support a Ph.D. student forum to discuss (i) the set of interdisciplinary research problems that arise in the context of cyber-physical systems, (ii) novel applications that become possible thanks to the integration of computing, communication, and interaction with the physical world at scale, and (iii) initial system architecture that addresses some of these research problems. The primary goal is to help students (and the real-time community) recognize that cyberphysical systems are different from the over-engineered real-time embedded systems of the past, and to provide a forum by which students can discuss their proposal for addressing the complicated aggregate systems issues that arise in this context. As such, we need to encourage constructive debate on emerging research topics. A secondary goal is to encourage student involvement in new research directions and offer a channel to discuss and reward the most innovative student ideas in this exciting emerging research field. Advisors and students will be welcome to attend the forum, but the focus will be on training and motivating the next generation of researchers.