BIO-SOILS WORKSHOP

Overview | Motivation | Logistics | Agenda | Organizers | Letter to participants

LETTER TO PARTICIPANTS

Wed, 07 Mar 2007

Dear Participants,

The workshop is fast approaching and there are several items following that provide updates and require some action on your part.

1- Transportation - By now you should have airline transportation arrangements completed. To make arrangements from travel from Logan Airport to the Endicott House you have a few options. The the following van shuttle company will work: J.C. Transportation Inc. (781) 598-3433 , (800) 517-2281, http://www.jctransportationshuttle.com (cost ~$45 1-way for 1st person, $10 per additional person). If you choose this option and call them ask for Paul. They are expecting several trips on Sunday and will try to group people together. If this fails, you could take a taxi, but the rate 1 way is about US$100 (A&A Metro Transportation ˆ 1-800-437-3844). If you are driving, directions may be found here: http://www.mitendicotthouse.org/directions.htm. The Endicott House address is 80 Haven Stress, Dedham, MA 02026

2- Lodging/Meals - Lodging and meals during the workshop have been taken care of for all participants. Please notify us if you have special dietary requests.

3- Workshop Agenda - Attached is a word documents that contains the workshop agenda. Please read through this. As you will see, the workshop is highly interdisciplinary in nature. To maximize the experience for all, we have structured activities for a high degree of interaction...the catch is that the workshop success depends on your involvement!

We have selected a few participants to provide lectures that provide an overview of the boundaries and needs of our current disciplines (Sunday evening), to highlight different components of our fields (Monday am, Monday pm, and Tuesday am), and to provide insight into the interdisciplinary research techniques (Tuesday pm).

Interlaced with the Monday and Tuesday lectures will be poster sessions where researchers from certain disciplines present their posters while all other participants view the presentations. For example, on Monday morning the posters from geotechnical engineering will be up and all other participants interact with the posters and geotechnical participants. During this time, observing participants will be charged to answer one of two questions: "What have I seen/learned that is of relevance to what I do?" and "What do I do that is of relevance to what I have seen/learned?". We will then reassemble and comment on the interdisciplinary linkages we see.

On Tuesday afternoon we will shift focus a bit to the research measurement and process monitoring techniques that will be useful in exploring bio-soil interactions and engineering. There will be two planned presentations by participants. In addition, any participant that is interested in sharing a 3-5 minute "nugget" of a technique/system will be able to.

The remaining time on Tuesday afternoon will be spent in focused research interest groups to explore potential research opportunities. The exact themes of these brainstorming discussion groups will be formulated based on prior workshop discussions. These discussions will roll over to Wednesday morning, where we will discuss research opportunities, priorities, etc. as well as educational opportunities. The desired outcome from Wednesday morning is a clarified vision for future research and education in the US and UK.

4- Participant Roles - Attached is an excel sheet that summarizes the requested roles of each participant. Please review the sheet and verify that you are willing to fulfill the roles requested. If you cannot or are unable to, please notify us as soon as possible.

5- Lectures - If you are tapped to give a 20 minute lecture, please consider the diverse and technical nature of the audience. It is desirable that you briefly present the broader landscape of the field you represent before diving into technical details of specific projects (details are strongly encouraged!).

6- Posters - For poster presenters, please bring a poster that can easily be mounted on a 3' x 4' poster board. The orientation can be either landscape or portrait, but landscape is preferred. You are free to either bring an existing relevant poster or create a new one for the workshop. When you check-in we will take the posters and have them up and ready for the appropriate poster session.

7- Research Measurement and Process Monitoring Technique "Nuggets" - As stated above, if you have an instrument/technology that you believe may be useful to others, please prepare a 3-5 min powerpoint "nugget". We'll collect these and include them in this session.

8- Participant Bios - Attached is a word document template for a bio page. Please complete this and email it to the return address by March 20. We will include these is the workshop proceedings that are handed out at the workshop.

9- Vision - We are tackling a highly interdisciplinary and emerging field. Unlike other "this is what has been done" workshops, we are exploring new territory. Between now and the workshop I encourage all of us to be brainstorming/visioning about future possibilities and opportunities.

Please feel free to contact us if you have questions/comments/concerns.