Ontario Pest Management Conference Call for Submitted Papers and Posters - Students

Crop Life Student Graduate Student Paper and Poster Competition  OPMC Undergraduate Student Poster Competition

Call for Submitted Papers and Posters - Students         

               This year the Ontario Pest Management Conference (OPMC) will be held November 13, 2014 at the Victoria Park East Golf Course, Guelph, ON. Research presented at the OPMC will focus on all aspects of pest management associated with food and fibre production, and animal and human health. The theme of this year’s conference is “Advancing Plant Health in a Changing World”. 

               Once again, CropLife Canada – Ontario Council will be sponsoring awards of $500 each for Best Student Paper and Student Poster presented at the 2014 OPMC. In addition, OPMC provides a $250.00 award for the best undergraduate student poster presentation.

The 2014 agenda has openings for a maximum of 6 graduate student papers (oral presentations), 6 graduate student posters and 4 undergraduate posters.  Student submissions will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. We hope that you make a decision to participate in this year’s OPMC as early as possible. Your abstract for the 2014 OPMC should be sent to Dr. Melanie Filotas, melanie.filotas@ontario.ca (OMAF and MRA) by 4 pm on Monday, September 22, 2014.

Categories of presentation:

• Paper (Oral) Presentation – One $500 award (Crop Life-Ontario Council) and plaque for a graduate student
• Poster Presentation – One $500 award (Crop Life-Ontario Council) and plaque for a graduate student
• Poster Presentation – One $250 award (OPMC) undergraduate student

Eligibility:

• The student must either be currently enrolled in a degree program (undergraduate or graduate) or have graduated from a degree program (undergraduate or graduate) since the last conference (November 2013);
• The student must be the principal investigator and presenter of the paper or poster; and
• Canadian and International students are eligible to participate in the competition.

Paper (Oral) Presentations: 12 minutes + 3 minutes for questions and discussion

All presentations should be in Power Point format.. To minimize potential incompatibilities between the software versions you use to create your presentation, limited use of animation, and use of common Windows fonts for text and symbols fonts for equations is recommended and you are asked to test the final copy on a different computer than the one used to create it.. You will be asked to email a copy of your presentation to the conference organizers 2 days prior to the conference (by Tuesday, November 11) so it can be pre-loaded on the conference computer. Bring a back-up copy of your presentation on a USB memory stick to the conference. All presentations will be placed on one computer to facilitate close adherence to the schedule.     

Poster Presentation:

Posters must be 4’ (length) x 3’ (width), portrait format. Compliance with these dimensions is important. The header should include the title, authors and institution where the work was conducted. Photos of the student presenting the poster also can be included on the right side of the header. You must be present at the poster during the designated judging time. Following submission of your abstract and acceptance of your poster you will be given a Poster Number. A copy of your poster must be sent to Dr. Melanie Filotas by email (melanie.filotas@ontario.ca) three (3) days prior to the conference – Monday, November 10, 2014, by 4 pm.  This is so the judges can have access to your poster content ahead of time, ensuring efficient judging at the conference.  Failure to submit a copy of your poster by November 10 could result in disqualification from the competition. When you arrive at the conference your poster should be placed on the board displaying your Poster Number. Posters can be set up beginning at 8:00 am on November 13 and must remain in place until afternoon coffee is over. Any posters not claimed at the end of the conference will be removed and discarded by organizers unless other arrangements have been made.

Conference Web-site:

               More information on the 2014 OPMC can be found at www.opmconference.ca.

Abstract Submission Requirements:

               Abstracts should contain no more than 250 words. Editors reserve the right to shorten your abstract should it exceed this word limit. Abstracts must be submitted by email in Word format. Include the following information with your abstract:

• Author(s) names(s) – indicate name of presenter in bold
• Address of each author – use superscript numbers to indicate the proper address for each author, including telephone, fax and email information.
• Abstract – 250 words or less
• Indicate presentation category:  Graduate Paper (Oral), Graduate Poster or Undergraduate Poster.
• You will be notified by Dr. Melanie Filotas within 10 days of submission whether your presentation has been accepted in the category request.

Deadline for Submissions: 4pm,  Monday September 22, 2014

Abstract should be sent to:

Dr. Melanie Filotas Specialty Crops IPM Specialist Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Ministry of Rural Affairs Email: melanie.filotas@ontario.ca