Dear Students,

2011's Virginia Academy of Science (VAS) meeting will be held at the University of Richmond Wednesday through Friday, May 25-27, 2011.  Mason is a member of VAS.

Oral presentations will be scheduled on Thursday morning and afternoon (May 26) as needed. A Poster Session for all sections will be set up on and will stay up all day Thursday, May 26.

This is a very suitable venue to for both graduate and undergraduate students to present their projects.  Students will compete in respective sections with both posters and oral presentations.

Incidentally, this year I am a Secretary of one of the sections - Biology with Microbiology.  For this section,  student abstract submissions shall be sent directly to me by email to [log in to unmask])">[log in to unmask] (please note that email indicated in the pdf. announcement is incorrect)

Please discuss with your PIs the possibility for presenting at this conference. Richmond is within driveable distance, and students can carpool together.  There is also on the spot student accommodation there if you want to stay overnight. Registration fee is $10. Please note that according to the tradition of VAS, oral presentations are called "papers"; this type of submission does not require writing the manuscript, but rather combining a 15-minutes Powerpoint. Thus, student presentation is called "paper", but does not preclude you from publishing  of the full-size manuscript in any other journal.

Please note that the deadline for submission is February 11th. Instructions for submission are attached. AT THE TIME OF THE DEADLINE ABSTRACT ITSELF is not required. But students who are already committed to the one or another project can submit the title of the presentation in the format attached (it's a weird format, but please follow it to the letter). By the time of the VAS presentation (in May) students will likely have material to present.

Format of the submission is in attachment (this is the example submission from one of my own students who presented last year). Another attachment is an Announcement letter.

Hope to see your students at VAS conference!

with best regards

Ancha