For participants interested in organizing mini-symposia as part of IABMAS 2014, proposals are requested to be submitted according to the following guidelines.

CALL FOR MINI-SYMPOSIA

Organizing a Mini-Symposium

The proposals of the mini-symposium as part of IABMAS 2014 are due on January 15th, 2013 (has been extended to March 15th, 2013). Prospective mini-symposium organizers should consider the following items prior to submitting the proposal:

1.      There are typically five presentations in a single session.

2.      A mini-symposium is normally composed of no fewer than three sessions on a single topic of substantial current interest and importance in bridge maintenance, safety, and management.

3.      Speakers should be selected primarily for their current contributions to the topic area.

4.      Speakers should be as representative of researchers in the area as possible.

5.      A mini-symposium organizer may speak as part of the mini-symposium that he/she is organizing.

6.      Mini-symposia are discouraged in which most of the speakers come from the same organization or if all co-authors on the papers being presented in a mini-symposium are from the same organization.

Preparing of the Proposal

The Mini-Symposium Organizer(s) should provide the following information:
Title : Describe the subject of the mini-symposium as accurately and specifically as possible in not more than 10 words.

Organizer : Provide the full name, title, affiliation, address, email address, telephone number, and, when available, fax number.

Summary : Describe the mini-symposium in not more than 100 words. The summary should be written to attract those who specifically work on the topic as well as those who work in related areas. Based on experience, the following outline is suggested:

l  Explain the problem area to be addressed by the speakers and why it is important in significant applications.

l  Identify current directions of research and methods being developed to solve problems.

l  Describe the scope of the mini-symposium.

Speakers : Provide the full name, title, affiliation, address, and email address of each speaker and the title of his/her presentation.

Submitting the Proposal

If you are interested in organizing a mini-symposium as part of IABMAS 2014, please send your proposal, containing the above information, via email to the conference scientific secretariat at: papers@iabmas2014.org by January 15th, 2013 (has been extended to March 15th, 2013) . In the subject of the email message, please indicate 'IABMAS 2014 MINI-SYMPOSIUM PROPOSAL'.