2020 Fall: A Virtual Joint Meeting of SEERS and AERS
The 2020 Fall Meeting will be a joint meeting of AERS and SEERS held virtually November 2-6, 2020, hosted by East Carolina University. Register by October 30! Rates and a link to register are below.
Schedule at a Glance
Detailed schedule and program will be available on the virtual conference platform.
November 2
Posters and opening remarks from Jim Fourqurean, CERF President (pre-recorded)
Posters will be theme-based using the exhibitor type system
November 3
Release fun task associated with theme of sessions (guided by Student Reps) (pre-recorded)
November 4
7:45-12:15 The Coastal Society Career Workshop (live meeting, see description below)
November 5
1:00-2:00 Welcome and keynote (webinar style)
2:30-4:00 Session 1 (webinar style)
4:00-5:00 Networking breakout time – theme based using the exhibitor type system
November 6
8:30-10:00 Session 2 (webinar)
-scavenger hunt break-
10:30-11:30 Business meetings (meeting style, separate rooms for SEERS and AERS)
1:00-2:30 Session 3 (webinar)
-scavenger hunt break-
3:00-4:30 Session 4 (webinar)
4:30-5:00 Thank you and closing ceremony
Special Event:
Coastal and Ocean Career Workshop
Interested in kick-starting your coastal or ocean career? TCS’s virtual workshop will offer you key tips and advice straight from the professionals.
The Coastal Society is joining AERS and SEERS to host a virtual coastal and ocean career workshop on November 4 (7:45am – 12:15pm EST). The morning will begin with four talks on academic options and professional opportunities across academia, government, the private sector, and non-profits. Speakers will address the sciences, resource management, policy, and other career paths. Those insights will be helpful to students, recent graduates, and early professionals as they chart their future. The rest of the morning will be spent in smaller break-out groups, each with a discussion leader selected for a specific skill such as grant writing, virtual interviews, effective networking, identifying a mentor, and more. We’ll do two break-out skill sessions so everyone will experience all six topics.
This workshop is partially sponsored by a Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation grant for professional development and networking. CERF’s funds will subsidize the workshop cost for the first 17 CERF AERS and SEERS members to register at the link below. After 10 days for early-bird registration for CERF members (or when the 17 free registrations fill), the remaining openings will be offered more broadly on the TCS website. Registration is limited to 36 registrants to keep break-out group size manageable.
Date/Time: Wednesday, November 4, 2020, 7:45am – 12:15pm (corrected from an earlier version)
Venue: This workshop will be a virtual Zoom event, in consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overview: As part of the Margaret A. Davidson Coastal Career Development Program, The Coastal Society (TCS) will host this half-day virtual workshop designed to provide valuable skills and information to the next generation of coastal and ocean practitioners, particularly college students, recent graduates, and early-career professionals. This will be the 11th event in the MAD Program series, launched in 2018. Information on past events is available on the MAD Program web page.
Draft Program: This event will feature personal insights from seasoned professionals on pathways to coastal-related career options in the governmental, private, and non-profit sectors. We’ll also focus on honing skills and sharing tools to boost your career – job searches, resume preparation, virtual interviews, networking, and more. View the draft agenda for the latest program information. Watch for a final program in the coming weeks.
Further Information: Contact Tom Bigford at tebigford@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Deadlines
- Tuesday, Oct. 13: last day for abstract submission
- Friday, Oct. 30: last day for registration (closes 11:59 pm)
Registration Rates
| regular member | $ 85.00 |
| non-member | $ 100.00 |
| student member | $ 65.00 |
| student non-member | $ 75.00 |
Make sure your society membership is up-to-date to receive the best registration rates! Registration is handled by East Carolina University at this link:
After you register, you’ll receive an email invitation to the virtual meeting platform.
Sponsorship
SEERS welcomes sponsorships for our meetings. One of our top priorities is to encourage participation of student colleagues. Sponsorships allow SEERS to offer reduced registration prices for students and provide monetary awards for selected students (who are presenting their research) to participate in the meeting. We offer three paid sponsorship levels with a range of benefits. To arrange for cash sponsorships, please visit our event management site.
Judging Student Presentations
As with previous AERS and SEERS meetings, student presentations will be judged. We will have four overall winners (regardless of affiliation) in the following categories:
- Best Graduate Student Oral Presentation
- Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation
- Best Undergraduate Student Oral Presentation
- Best Undergraduate Student Poster Presentation
Poster Presenters: please be on the lookout for an email from AERSScience@gmail.com. Contained in this email will be a Google Form with some questions to answer regarding your poster presentation. Please follow all directions in returning this form.
Oral Presenters: please be prepared to answer questions immediately after your presentation as usual.
Judges: Please be on the lookout for an email from AERSScience@gmail.com regarding your judging assignments.
Travel Awards
Since travel is not associated with this virtual conference, we couldn’t feel justified to ask our sponsors for travel expenses. Please know that students will get a discounted registration rate as for previous SEERS meetings.
Abstract Submission
Abstracts are submitted separately from registration for this meeting. Abstracts for oral or poster presentations should highlight scientific research, education, or outreach in the field of estuarine science. If you have any questions about whether your topic meets these guidelines, please contact the program chair well ahead of the submission deadline.
Only one presentation (either oral or poster) per person is allowed, though you may be an author on multiple presentations. Each abstract may be submitted only once for presentation at the conference, i.e., an abstract with multiple authors must have one designated presenter.
Abstracts are limited to 200 words. Please limit your title to 250 characters. For the author list:
- First, please provide a numbered list of affiliations in order of authorship.
- Second, please list author names (first two initials and then last name without any punctuation) and affiliation number in order of authorship.
- Third, please place an asterisk (*) next to the presenter name.
- You will be asked about the student status (or not) of each author.
- If there are more than five authors, please send the complete list – including name, affiliation, and student status – to benfertig@gmail.com.
Submit your abstract here by Oct. 13: