July 30-August 2, 2008
Society for Mathematical Biology Conference

hosted by the Centre for Mathematical Medicine, Fields Institute
held at University of Toronto, Medical Sciences Bldg.


SMB
2008

Call for submissions Minisymposia

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT MINISYMPOSIA
Minisymposium proposals are being accepted until January 31, 2008
Proposals should be submitted by email to (SMB2008@fields.utoronto.ca) with "SMB Minisymposium Proposal" in the subject line.

Guidelines for Minisymposium Proposals
A minisymposium can consist of four 30 minute presentations or six 20 minute presentations on a single topic of substantial current interest and importance in mathematics and its application to biology and medicine (however mini-symposium speakers are advised to allocate 2-5 minutes of their time for questions and discussions).

In conducting a minisymposium, the session organizer should provide an overview of the minisymposium, introduce the speakers, provide an opportunity for discussion and monitor the timing of each speaker. The organizer may also be one of the speakers.

Organizing a Minisymposium
Those interested in organizing a minisymposium should submit a proposal to the conference program committee by no later than (date to be announced). Organizers will select the topics to be addressed, obtain speakers for those topics, decide with each speaker on the title of his/her presentation, and provide other information as needed.

Organizers are especially encouraged to include speakers from more than one country and from underrepresented groups, including women and minorities, whenever appropriate.

Note SMB and the conference organizing committee will not be able to waive the registration fee for minisymposium organizers and speakers, or reimburse their expenses. Therefore, organizers should make no financial commitments on behalf of SMB to speakers when organizing their minisymposium. However, there may be some funding allowed for each minisymposium which is yet to be determined.

Prospective minisymposium organizers should seriously consider the following recommendations when selecting speakers in a minisymposium.

Speakers should be selected primarily for their current contributions to the topic area. Speakers should be as representative of researchers in the area as is practical. Minisymposium organizers should select the first speaker based on one who can provide an overview of the topic area, put the whole area in perspective, particularly with regard to applications, and suggest new venues for continued research and application. A minisymposium organizer may speak in the minisymposium he or she is organizing.

Minisymposium organizers are encouraged to include women and members of underrepresented minorities as speakers whenever appropriate. SMB discourages minisymposia in which most of the speakers come from the same organization or if all co-authors on the papers being presented in a minisymposium are from the same organizations.

Minisymposium organizers are encouraged to leave one speaking slot open, to allow for applicants to be considered as speakers. SMB will facilitate getting applications to organizers.

Preparation of the Proposal
The minisymposium organizer should provide the following information.

Title: Describe the subject of your minisymposium as accurately and specifically as possible in not more than ten words.
Organizer: Provide your full name, title, affiliation, address, telephone number, and, when available, fax number and e-mail address.
Summary: Describe your minisymposium in approx. 1000 words. The summary should be written to attract those who specifically work on your topic as well as those who work in related areas. Based on experience, we suggest the following outline:

a) Explain the problem area to be addressed by the speakers and why it is important in significant applications.
b) Identify current directions of research and methods being developed to solve problems, including their advantages and shortcomings.
c) Describe the scope of your minisymposium.
Purpose: Explain why your minisymposium is appropriate for the conference.
d) Audience: Describe your intended audience.
e) Speakers: Provide the full name, affiliation, and address of each speaker and the title of his/her presentation. If a final title for a speaker has not been determined, check "(Proposed)" after the title. Please indicate whether or not the speaker has been invited to participate in your proposed minisymposium and whether he/she has agreed to participate if the proposal is accepted.

Note: It is acceptable for minisymposia to be proposed before the full list of speakers is fixed. After a proposal has been accepted, the conference organizers will post a list of minisymposium topics and openings, to encourage others to apply for participation.

Proposals should be submitted by email to (SMB2008@fields.utoronto.ca) with "SMB Minisymposium Proposal" in the subject line.

Instructions to presenters:
Minisymposium talks are 30 minute presentations or 20 minutes presentations depending on time allocated by the mini-symposium organizer. Please allocated a portion of this time for questions and discussion.

All rooms will be equipped with data projectors, but please bring your own laptop computers in the event that there is not one in the room Due to the shorter time for changing machines, we suggest that contributed talk presenters bring their talks on USB drives, to be prepared to be loaded onto one machine before the session begins. It will be convenient for one presenter to have a laptop to be used for all talks, so if special software is required, or videos or other difficult-to-transfer media are used, that presenter should bring a laptop.
(All presenters please arrive 15 minutes before the session begins to check in with the session chair and to load your talk. If you travel with a laptop, please bring it to your session, in case it is needed.)

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