1. The Sigma Xi Poster Session will be in Hall D on Level 2 of the Washington Convention Center, Mt. Vernon Square, May 18-19, 2004.
   • Floor Plan for the Convention Center (PDF File)
   • Floor plans for the new Convention Center
   • Metro/Stationmasters map for the Mt. Vernon Square station (7^th St., NW) and the new Convention Center
     
     
2. The deadline for submission of Poster Abstracts has passed; it was Friday, February 27, 2004
   
   
3. Poster guidelines for the 10^th Annual FDA Science Forum require the following:
   • The research or work described by the poster must be relevant to FDA's mission.
   • The abstract and poster must have received appropriate Center or Office clearance or approval for presentation in a public forum.
   • The poster may be one that has been presented at a recent scientific Meeting (or will presented at an upcoming meeting).
   • The poster should be based on work that has not been presented at previous FDA Science Forums unless there are new and significant results to be reported.
     
     
4. All Abstracts will be printed in the Forum Program and will posted on the FDA FIRST web site (intranet - FDA access only); Presenters may select to have them posted on the FDA Sigma Xi web site (internet - available to the public). A Publish Only option is available for those scientists who would like to submit an abstract, but do not wish to present a poster.
   
   
5. This year the Science Forum will include two poster-discussion sessions, one on Anti-microbial Resistance, and the other on Methods Development. For each session, several outstanding abstracts will be selected from the total submissions in these areas. Authors of selected abstracts will be invited to give a short slide presentation, summarizing their poster. The session chair will give an overview of the area and moderate the session and subsequent discussion. Posters being presented will be on display in the breakout room. Poster authors wishing to have their abstracts considered for one of the poster-discussion sessions should check the appropriate box when submitting their abstract electronically.

   Note: The poster category is selected by the author for their abstract and may be different, but still eligible for the Anti-microbial Resistance or Methods Development Poster Discussion Sections. For example, an author submitting an abstract on biosensors under the category Engineering and Physics, may still choose to have their abstract considered for inclusion in a poster/discussion session (e.g. in Methods Development).

6. Set-Up for Posters: You may set-up your posters on Tuesday, May 18, 2004 as early as possible so the Judges and Forum participants will have an opportunity to view them. The Scientific Poster & Exhibition Social will be held on the afternoon of May 18, 2004.
   
   
7. Take-down for Posters: Posters should be taken down Wednesday, May 19, 2004, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
   
   The Science Forum and Sigma Xi is not responsible for posters not removed by 5:30 and they may be discarded; those who cannot be there to remove their posters should make arrangements with a colleague to help them.
   
   
8. Poster boards are 4 ft. tall and 8 ft. wide. Pushpins will be provided, but you may want to bring your own, just in case we run out of them.
   
   
9. Poster board numbers will be printed in the back of the FDA Science Forum program, sorted by category and author. Those Abstracts to be included on the Intranet and/or Internet are available at the following sites:
   • FDA Intranet - Science Forum home page (412 abstracts; FDA employees only): http://first.fda.gov/sf2004/search/search.cfm
   • Internet - Sigma Xi 2004 Science Forum page (306 abstracts; public): http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sxsfin04.html
     
     
10. Abstract Submission:
    • FDA employees may submit abstracts on-line from the FDA Intranet at http://first.fda.gov/Scienceforum/abstract/
      (Please use the Mircosoft Internet Explorer browser).
    • If you are a non-FDA submitter, or have problems with the submission process, please contact Fred Fry, 301-436-1976, frf@cfsan.fda.gov

Contact:
Fred Fry, Sigma Xi, 301-436-1976, frf@cfsan.fda.gov   or
Jan Johannessen, Office of Science, 301-827-6687, jjohannessen@fda.gov