LIBRARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
GEOLIBRARY
HISTORY OF NEERS
HONORARY MEMBERS
MEETING HANDBOOK
NEERS ABSTRACTS
NEERS AWARDS
NEWS
PAST MEETINGS
PAST PROGRAMS
RECIPES

HOME


NEERS SPRING 2004 MEETING
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

March 7 -9, 2004
Wyndham Burlington, Burlington, VT

Hosted by
Rubenstein Laboratory and School of Natural Resources, University of Vermont

MEETING SITE:

The Spring 2004 New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) meeting will be held at the Wyndham Burlington (formerly the Radisson Hotel) in Burlington, Vermont. The hotel is located along the shoreline of Lake Champlain and offers a spectacular view of beautiful Lake Champlain and the breathtaking Adirondack Mountains of New York. Sessions on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday will be held in the Wyndham Burlington.

The meeting will begin Sunday afternoon at 12:00PM. Sunday afternoon and all day Monday will feature contributed papers from NEERS and scientists from Vermont and the Great Lakes region. Tuesday will feature a symposium entitled ?The Status of Aquatic Monitoring and Indicator Development? beginning at 8:00AM, please see attached for details.

REGISTRATION:

The pre-Registration fee for this meeting is $75.00 for NEERS members, $95.00 for non-members, and $40.00 for students. Included in this fee: all coffee breaks and lunches, Sunday night reception at the new ECHO Center, Monday poster social, and post-banquet party. All this in addition to the presentations! The pre-registration deadline is February 26, 2004. Pre-register on the web. It is a HUGE help to the organizing committee to know about how many people will attend, plus you save money. PLEASE PRE-REGISTER, Print your WEB registration form or fill out the attached registration form and Mail with a check made out to NEERS to Dr. David Burdick, Jackson Estuarine Laboratory, 85 Adams Point Road, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. Use this opportunity to make sure your NEERS dues are paid. If you didn’t pay last year – it was $15 for 2003 and now is $20 for 2004.


CALL FOR PAPERS:

Abstracts must be RECEIVED BY 8 AM THURSDAY, JANUARY 22 to assure timely preparation and distribution of the Meeting Program. Abstracts must be submitted through the NEERS web site. All submissions will be confirmed (although not instantaneously) and the lead author will be notified of his/her scheduled time. If you have any special restrictions concerning the timing of your presentation, please alert the NEERS program chair via e-mail ( ) prior to the abstract deadline. Changes in the program are difficult after it is formulated.


INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING ABSTRACTS:

All abstracts have a 1750 character limit (about 250 words). The character limit includes spaces, and applies to the body of the abstract only; the authors and titles are excluded from the character limit. Web submissions are constrained automatically to the allotted amount of text, so do not be too verbose. Even if you would prefer an oral presentation, please consider checking the "oral or poster" option if you are willing to present a poster instead. This makes things easier in making up the final program. Please indicate on the web submission form if you are submitting your abstract for presentation in the General Session (Sunday-Monday) or the Aquatic Monitoring and Indicator Symposium (Tuesday). Author(s), address(es), and presentation title must appear in the proper format. Use footnotes to minimize the space for addresses when multiple authors are from more than one institution. Include e-mail for the presenting author. All words in the title should be CAPITALIZED.


SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATIONS:

Oral presentations will be limited to 15 minutes with an additional 5 minutes for discussion. Poster presentations will be on display for the duration of the meeting, and highlighted during specified poster sessions. Reports of work in progress as well as completed work and reviews of relevant subjects are invited. Relevant contributed presentations to the special symposium on Monitoring and Indicator Development are particularly encouraged. NEERS Students may compete for the Ketchum and Rankin awards for oral presentations, or the Dean and Warren Prizes for posters (see below). Every presenter must be, or become a NEERS member. To become a NEERS member, please contact NEERS Treasurer , 603-862-5129; you may pay for membership with your pre-registration check – just add $20 to the conference costs.


PROJECTION:

To facilitate the smooth running of the meeting, we are requesting that everyone intending to use PowerPoint plan to submit their presentation by MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd. We plan to be strict about this timetable. This may be done by mailing a CDROM, zip disk, or sending the file as an attachment of an email to:


Battelle
397 Washington St., Duxbury, MA 02332

No one should plan to use their own computer for their presentation. Everyone should plan to bring overheads as a back up in case of a technological crisis.


NEERS STUDENT PRIZES:

Prizes will be awarded to students chosen by the judging panel in the following categories: graduate student oral presentation (Buck Ketchum Prize, $100), undergraduate student oral presentations (Stubby Rankin, $100), graduate student poster presentation (David Dean Prize, $100) and undergraduate student poster presentation (Scott Warren Prize, $100). Papers and posters are judged by a committee in terms of overall effectiveness, scientific content, and quality of the presentation. Students are encouraged to review the scoring criteria on the NEERS website (www.neers.org and select “student center” then “presentation judging criteria”). Students who have won an award are not eligible for that award again. NEERS appreciates contributions towards the endowment fund for these prizes, so give generously when you pre-register. Free Banquet tickets are provided for students who are competing for the awards.


NEERS STUDENT TRAVEL AWARDS:

Three travel awards, each for $100, will be awarded to help cover costs associated with attending this meeting. Both graduate and undergraduate students may apply. Selection will be made by lottery and does not affect eligibility for student presentation prizes. To be considered for a travel award, you must be a member of NEERS (by the meeting time) and have your faculty advisor send an e-mail to David Burdick (dburdick@cisunix.unh.edu) by February 22nd to certify that you are a student in good standing, are presenting (include abstract) and you would benefit from the financial assistance. As always, NEERS greatly appreciates donations to the Bill Niering Student Travel Endowment fund.


NEERS POSTER TRIVIA CONTEST:

Contest forms with questions based on information on the posters will be distributed, and a lucky winner drawn from those with correct answers. The winner will receive a $25 prize, consisting of a year of NEERS dues and the balance in cash.


SOCIAL ACTIVITIES:

After the Sunday afternoon session, there will be a Social Reception at the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center (Leahy Center for Lake Champlain www.echovermont.org) beginning at 5 PM. Enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres as you visit with old and new colleagues, and learn more about aquatic systems research and activities within Vermont, New York, Canada, and the Great Lakes Region. The ECHO Center is very “kid-friendly.”

Monday will feature a Poster Viewing Social at the Wyndham Burlington from 5:00-7:30PM, we will be offering hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar during this viewing, followed by the Awards Banquet from 7:30-930PM at the Wyndham Burlington. After dinner enjoy a night of dancing and exploring among any of Burlington’s infamous venues (a list of options is forthcoming).


OTHER MEALS:

The cost for lunch, and coffee breaks (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) will be included in the registration fee. Without the pressure of finding off-site dining, the lunch breaks should be a good opportunity to look at posters and the waterfront view of Lake Champlain.


NEERS BUSINESS MEETING:

The Business meeting will be held after the last presentation on Monday afternoon.


ACCOMMODATIONS:

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Wyndham Burlington (www.wyndham.com or www.radisson.com/burlingtonvt), 60 Battery Street, Burlington, Vermont 05401. Phone: (802) 658-6500. The room rate for this block is $89.00 per room + tax. You must reserve the room by February 13th in order to get the group rate. The room block is under the name “NEERS”. A limited block of rooms have been reserved at the conference rate for the evening of Tuesday, March 9 for those who prefer to stay another night.

Other recommended hotel in the area: Sheraton Burlington, 870 Williston Rd., South Burlington, VT


GETTING to the Wyndham Burlington:


FROM ALL AREAS: Route I-89 to Burlington. Take Exit 14-W (Route 2 West – Burlington) and follow through the UVM campus. This turns into Main St. Follow Main St. past UVM campus, down a long hill (view of lake) to downtown Burlington. Continue on Main St. to end and take a right onto Battery St. Go past College St. and Wyndham Burlington is on right side (60 Battery St.). Parking garage entrances on Battery St. (south side of hotel) and on Cherry St. (north side of hotel).


QUESTIONS? Contact any of the following:
(Co-Organizer): (General questions)
(Co-Organizer): (General questions)
(Program Chair): (Abstracts or other program concerns)
(Treasurer): (registration, student travel awards)