CALL FOR PAPERS

The Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference is soliciting scientific presentations for the January 6-9, 2020, meeting at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing, in Philadelphia, PA. This meeting is a joint conference of the Northeastern Regional Branch of the American Society of Agronomy – Crop Science Society of America – Soil Science Society of America, the Northeast Region of American Society of Horticultural Sciences, and the Northeastern Weed Science Society. Scientific topics will include but are not limited to: Agriculture, Turfgrass Management, Pest Management, Invasive Species, Ecology, Organic Plant Production, Forestry Pests, Soil Science, and Plant and Pest Physiology.

Submitting Titles and Abstracts

Title Submission

  • Login to http://wssaabstracts.com. If you do not have an account, select “Setup New Account” on the upper right of the page, and follow the instructions to create a login.
  • Select “Join a Conference” in the upper-right of the page, above the dandelion, and select “2020 Northeastern Plant, Pest, and Soils Conference”.
  • Once you’re in the meeting site, you can create or update your profile using “Edit my Profile.”
  • Select “My Titles and Abstracts” to enter your title and author information. The presenter should enter the title for multi-author titles to retain editing access to the submission.
  • Title Guidelines: enter titles in ALL CAPS (change from 2019), limit total characters to 150, use WSSA-approved weed common names, italicize scientific names and enclose them in parentheses without authority. Avoid using herbicide trade names.
  • Add authors from the existing list, or add new entries manually. Make sure to check the box for presenter, and use the green up/down arrows to set the author order.
  • When your submission entry is complete, select “Save and Submit”. The account holder and presenter will receive an email confirmation. Check your spam/junk folders for email from admin@apexwebstudios.com. You may now log out.

Abstract Submission

Deadline: January 3, 2020

Detailed instructions for authors for abstract submissions are available here.  Briefly summarized, your abstract needs to fit on one page (tables or figures on one additional page), using 12-point Arial font, with margins 1-inch top and side, 0.75-in bottom.

You will use the wssaabstracts.com site to submit your abstract, by pasting it into the available field. Do not include the title in your upload – that will be automatically applied.

Abstracts need to express metric units. Non-student presentations and posters may include English units, if you must.

All abstracts will be published in the NEPSSC proceedings electronically.

PowerPoint Slides Submission

Deadline: January 5, 11:59 PM EST.

Please direct questions related to presentation uploads to or formatting to program chair Art Gover (aeg2@psu.edu), or to the Chair of your presentation Section. Contact info will be available in the program, which will be emailed to all presenters as soon as it is final in late October. Your session chair will contact you with reminders and updates as the deadline approaches.

Sessions

Papers will be categorized as Oral Presentations or Posters.

  • Oral Presentations are limited to 15 minutes with typically 12 minutes of presentation and an additional 3 minutes for questions.
  • Student posters may not exceed 36 inches by 48 inches.

Student contest sessions will be general sessions.  Concurrent sessions of oral presentations will include both student and nonstudent presentations. Students will be able to present papers in separate oral or poster contest sessions. Student contest sessions will be weighted, or segregated by society in some cases, to ensure equitable judging of papers. Contest presentations will be judged by individual societies and are subject to rules of the respective society. Students of ALL societies will be limited to one contest presentation and students that compete in the contest must choose only one host society while registering titles. All other presentations from the participating societies will be integrated in sessions with overriding themes related to commodity or broader academic focus.

Concurrent sessions include the following areas:

  • Agronomic Crops: cultural and pest management inputs in production of feed and fiber crops.  Research results may include but are not limited to fertility; cultivar evaluation;soil management;pest management, and cross-disciplinary research.
  • Fruit, Vegetable, and Herb Crops: cultural and pest management in fruit, vegetable and herb crops. Research results may include but are not limited to fertility; cultivar evaluation; soil management; pest management, and cross-disciplinary research.
  • Turf & Ornamentals: golf, athletic, lawn, utility, and sod turfgrass culture and pest management; ornamental plant production and ornamental landscape management including selection, culture, and pest management.
  • Vegetation Management & Restoration: Industrial vegetation management including but not limited to roadside, utility, fallow areas, and aquatic habitats, restoration of native habitats, and cross-disciplinary research.

Allocation of Papers to Concurrent Sessions

Criteria for allocation of papers to various sections will be based first on author’s choice but may be altered at the discretion of the program chair to meet program requirements. Authors will be requested to provide up to three possible session choices for each paper. In case of an overflow of papers in a given session, the author’s second or third choice will be utilized only after the author has been notified of the desired change. Section chairs will also have the liberty to move papers across sessions or to the poster session or reject papers as needed to ensure organizational flow and highest quality of information exchange. Abiding by submission deadlines and submitting quality abstracts are imperative.