15th Northwest Student Chapter Meeting for the Society of Marine Mammalogy Register for the meeting at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SNKSQMG Our apologies for cross-posting. This year's meeting is to be held at the University of British Columbia on the 7 May 2011. Meeting registration and abstract submission is now open. The deadline for registration is the 15 April. We welcome all those interested to attend, student or not. Highlights of the meeting: * Student presentations * Student poster session * Plenary presentations by Dr. Dr. John Calambokidis of Cascadia Research and by Dr. Dom Tollit of SMRU Ltd. * Tour of the blue whale skeleton at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (optional) * Saturday night potluck dinner (optional) * Sunday morning tour (optional) Registration and abstract submission: Registration for the 2011 NW Student Chapter meeting for the Society of Marine Mammalogy is now open. The deadline for registration will be the 15 April. This year we have produced an online form in order to make the process of registration quicker and easier for you. Please ensure you click the "done" button when you have completed the survey or it will not submit your response. Please follow the link below for registration. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SNKSQMG The registration fee for the meeting will be finalized after all registrations have been received, but in the past has ranged between $15 and $20. This registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, and snacks, but does not cover additional costs for the Saturday dinner, Sunday event, or accommodations in Vancouver. We do have limited accommodations available with students, and we will be able to offer these preferentially to those who are presenting or participating in the optional social events. While we encourage everyone working with or interested in marine mammal research to attend, only students are eligible to present at the meeting. All students are encouraged to present their work, whether this be a completed project, an update, a side-project, or a proposal. Due to the growing numbers of attendees over recent years we are trying something new this year. We would like to include a poster session in order to provide an opportunity to everyone that wishes to share their work at the meeting. If you are interested in presenting, please include the title of your presentation and an abstract (approximately 250 words) on your registration form, and indicate whether you would prefer an oral or poster presentation. We will do our best to accommodate everyone's preferences. If you are interested in a list of presentations given at previous chapter meetings, go to this link <http://www.marinemammalscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar ticle&id=136&Itemid=171> . Social Events: We are hosting three optional events following the student chapter meeting. Immediately following the chapter meeting, Dr. Andrew Trites will be giving a tour of the Blue Whale skeleton exhibited in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (http://www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca/). There will be no fee for this event. On Saturday evening, we will be hosting a potluck dinner. Food will be provided by the students of the Marine Mammal Research Unit. We just ask that attending guests provide beverages. On Sunday morning, we will be hosting a tour of either the UBC/Vancouver Aquarium Open Water Steller sea lion research facility (http://www.vanaqua.org/conservationinaction/sealions/open_water.htm) or a behind-the-scenes tour of the Steller sea lion and Northern fur seal research facility at the Vancouver Aquarium (http://www.vanaqua.org/). Event details will be confirmed prior to the meeting and will depend on the number of registrants. There will be no fee for this event, however, there may be a small cost associated with transportation and parking. We look forward to seeing you at this year's meeting and hearing of your work. Further details will be sent out closer to the meeting. Should you have any questions regarding the registration and/or abstract submission, feel free to email f.robertson@fisheries.ubc.ca or m.wong@fisheries.ubc.ca Cheers, Frances and Mandy Northwest Student Chapter of the Society for Marine Mammalogy <http://www.marinemammalscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar ticle&id=127&Itemid=163> Frances C. Robertson O PhD Candidate Marine Mammal Research Unit University of British Columbia AERL 2202 Main Mall Vancouver, BC Canada, V6T 1Z4 f.robertson@fisheries.ubc.ca http://distantfin.com CA 604 339 4967 USA 360 420 4403