Science, Science, Everywhere! It’s CERF 2009!

Report from the Conference Scientific Program Committee

The CERF 2009 Scientific Program Team

Bob Emmett, Chair, Robert.Emmett@noaa.gov

Walt Nelson, Poster Chair, nelson.walt@epa.gov 

During the last week in June 2009, the Scientific Program Committee met at the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC), Newport, Oregon, to sort through 1,300 abstracts that we received and to develop the CERF 2009 scientific program. Our work produced an excellent scientific program with 10 concurrent sessions during the first two days (Monday and Tuesday) and 11 concurrent sessions Wednesday and Thursday. The Session Schedule at a Glance is now available on the CERF web site: http://www.sgmeet.com/cerf2009/default.htm#nogo. 

Abstract Thinking

We thank everyone who submitted an abstract. The quality of the abstracts was outstanding and will make the CERF 2009 scientific program very strong. However, this also made our job of sorting the abstracts into oral and poster sessions very difficult.

      Many of the session chairs provided excellent suggestions, and we followed these as much as possible. The wide variety of session topics is a great reflection on the scientific diversity of our CERF members.

      We can not begin to describe how challenging and physically exhausting it was to read all the abstracts and place them in appropriate sessions. Thankfully, all the scientific program committee members were in excellent physical condition; and they did a tremendous job. We also believe an evening at the Rogue Brewery, located next to HMSC, helped a little in our success. 

The State of Salmon (the 51st State??)

On Wednesday and Thursday (4 and 5 November), the Salmon Data Access Working Group will have a joint session available for all CERF 2009 attendees. This group is a research/data working group formed under State of the Salmon, a joint program of the Wild Salmon Center and Ecotrust. Their task is to synthesize data and facilitate dialogue in support of sound salmon management and conservation at ever finer geographic scales. A comprehensive set of goals and principles underlies the key initiatives through which they strive to ensure that wild salmon populations thrive long into the future. Many of the scientists who will be attending CERF 2009 have been or will be working with this group. We believe the methods of this group may be transferable to other regions/species. 

New and Exciting Ideas for Poster Sessions

The poster sessions have shaped up to be an excellent venue for CERF members to present their research results and to engage in stimulating discussions with their colleagues. By the numbers, there will be two poster sessions, each running for two days. Currently, the plan is for 46 poster thematic sections, split between the two poster sessions; so there will definitely be something of interest for everyone all the time. With coffee breaks and the lunchtime poster sessions, there will be six scheduled opportunities within each 2-day poster session for poster viewing and interactions.

      For CERF 2009, we are trying two distinctly new efforts. First, we opened a second call for “Late Breaking Posters” to catch last minute research results. This gave folks who missed the first call a second opportunity to submit their research.

      The second new initiative is to provide the technology for a limited number of electronic poster presentations to be set up concurrently with the traditional poster presentations. E-posters will use laptops and large, flat screen, HD monitors for presentations, offering a highly dynamic approach to poster presentation.

      We currently have volunteers (well, actually their professor volunteered them) for some of the available e-poster slots; and we still have several openings. If you would like to request a time slot for the opportunity to present an e-poster, contact Walt Nelson, Poster Session Chair at nelson.walt@epa.gov.