Information for Foreign Nationals:

Foreign Nationals please register for the conference and the tour by June 30, 1998. Please provide all requested information to QUESTION 7 in the registration section. All Foreign Nationals must have their passports in their possession at the time of the tour of Marshall Space Flight Center in order to be allowed admittance to the Center.

Registration Deadline:

Registration deadline is July 6, 1998.

Registration Fee:

A registration fee of $200.00 will be charged. This will include the cost of continental breakfasts, refreshment breaks, the registration reception at the Huntsville Museum of Art (July 13), the banquet at the Huntsville Depot Roundhouse (July 14), and box lunches (July 14 and 15). Students will be exempted from paying the registration fee. (Students: In order to obtain the exemption you must fax proof that you are currently enrolled in a college or university to Dannah McCauley at 205-544-8762.) U.S. government employees will be charged $25.00 to attend the banquet. Pre-payment of the registration fee is preferred and receipts will be available at registration. Payment must be in U.S. funds or in a check drawn on a U.S. bank. Checks should be made out to the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Travelers checks will be accepted at the Conference. Credit cards cannot be accepted.

Registration Reception:

A registration reception will be held Monday, July 13, from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the new Huntsville Museum of Art, 300 Church Street South. The Museum is located in Big Spring International Park and is across the street from the Huntsville Hilton Hotel. This is an opportunity to renew old acquaintances, meet new co-workers, and socialize before the Conference in a convivial surrounding. Refreshments will be available. Registration will continue at the conference site, the North Hall of the Von Braun Center, on Tuesday, July 14, beginning at 8:00 a.m.

Banquet:

The banquet will be a dinner at the Huntsville Depot Roundhouse on Tuesday, July 14, from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. The building is a former railroad passenger depot which has been adapted as a transportation museum. You will be able to tour the museum, part of which is outdoors. The Depot is located at 320 Church Street. The menu will include beef, chicken, and vegetarian entrees. Lemonade, ice tea, and coffee will be provided. Guest tickets for the banquet can be purchased for $25.00.

 

Banquet Speaker:

Dr. Roger Crouch, Payload Specialist on the First Materials Science Laboratory (MSL-1/STS-83 and MSL-1R/STS-94), will be the speaker at the Banquet on Tuesday, July 14, 1998, 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. at the Huntsville Train Depot Roundhouse.

Tour:

An escorted tour of the Marshall Space Flight Center microgravity facilities will be conducted on Thursday afternoon, July 16, 1998. Tour buses will depart from the Von Braun Center. The times and further details will be posted at a later date. Foreign nationals must bring their passport and answer all parts of number seven in the registration portion of the conference web site.

PRESENTATION INFORMATION

The "Oral Presenters" and "Poster Presenters" links (below) lead to two lists of presenters. Those lists include the presenter's name, the title of the investigation, and a link to the abstract (if available).

Presenters:

Presentations will be either oral or poster. Oral presentations will be assigned either 20 or 30 minutes reflecting the maturity of the investigation. Flight projects (i.e., those that have completed SCR or beyond) will be allotted 30 minutes, flight definition and ongoing ground-based investigations will be allotted 20 minutes. 1996 NRA ground-based investigations will be presented as posters.

 

Each PI must submit a two-page summary and a stand-alone research report of up to six additional pages for each investigation. Printed copies of the two-page summaries and research reports and the 3.5-inch floppy disks with the presentations in Word format (PC or Macintosh) or an e-mail attachment with the file in Word should be sent to Dannah McCauley. The two-page summary should arrive no later than June 1, 1998 (submissions received later than June 1 will not be included in the bound volume distributed at the conference). The research report must be submitted at the time of the conference. See below for more detailed instructions regarding the requirements for the two-page summaries and research reports.

Oral Presenters:

Any oral presenter requiring audiovisual equipment other than an overhead or carousel projector must contact Dannah McCauley before the conference. We appreciate any forewarning you can give us. The audiovisual equipment we intend to have available in each room will be two overhead projectors and one 35 mm slide projector. A television/VHS VCR unit will only be available by advance request.

Poster Presenters:

Posters may be put up on the morning of July 14 starting at 8:00 a.m. and should be put up by 9:00 a.m. on July 15. Posters must be removed prior to 2:00 p.m. on July 16. The space available for each poster will be two panels. Each panel is 36-inches wide and 8-feet tall. The total area will be 6-feet wide and 8-feet tall, but the two panels will be angled into a V. (Therefore, do not bring a straight, 8-foot-by-6-foot item -- it will not work.) Attachment will be by Velcro which will be provided at the conference. Do not plan to stick anything (e.g., push pins) into the panels. Do not expect the panels to support a lot of weight -- they are intended for posters only.

 

The poster session will be held from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15. A box lunch will be provided. Posters will be on display from Tuesday morning through the end of the Conference on Thursday.

Two-Page Summaries:

The two-page summaries of the presentations will be posted to this Web site shortly before the conference.

 

The two-page summary or abstract should be independent of the research report. It should contain: (1) the objectives of your investigation; (2) a clear statement of the benefit or necessity of microgravity for the successful completion of your investigation or the relationship of your investigation to microgravity research; and, (3) a succinct statement of the significant results of your investigation. The two-page summaries will be bound into a volume and distributed to each participant at the conference.

 

Format for two-page summaries: These summaries or abstracts should be provided on a 3.5-inch floppy disk in Microsoft Word (PC or Macintosh format) or you can send an e-mail attachment but the file must be in Word. The summary must be limited to two pages of single-spaced, 12-point Times text. The text margins should be left-justified, and for this summary do not use any pictures, figures, or diagrams. Margins should be at least one-inch (top, bottom, left, and right margins). Do not indent your paragraphs and put one blank line between each paragraph. Keep endnotes and references to a minimum for the two-page summaries; in fact, you may want to avoid their use entirely. Spell out all acronyms and abbreviations on the first use, and try not to use equations unless absolutely necessary -- if you must use specialized symbols, submit a hard copy with your disk in case something gets lost between your computer and our computer. Do not put page numbers or anything else at the bottom of the page.

Research Reports:

The research reports will be bound into a NASA conference proceedings which will be posted at the Marshall Technical Reports Server web site as soon as possible after the conference. One copy of the publication will be mailed to each registrant automatically and additional copies will be available in the usual manner for NASA publications. The research report should contain a discussion of only that work funded under your current NASA project. Since the two-page summaries/abstracts and research reports are expected to focus exclusively on your NASA Microgravity Research Division-funded research, you may borrow, as needed, from other written material you have prepared for publication or as part of another review.

 

Format for research reports: The report format and is identical to the two-page summaries, except that the page limit becomes six rather than two and the report can include figures, tables, photos, references, etc. Other suggestions are that you should number your references in the order of their appearance in the report, but do not reference future publications unless they have been accepted for publication; cite figures, tables, and diagrams in the order of their appearance in the report; include a caption (with the appropriate reference number) for all figures, tables, and diagrams. Do not use color in the report since the proceedings volume will be reproduced in black-and-white. Submit two camera-ready copies of the report to Dannah McCauley (at the time of the conference).

GENERAL LOGISTICAL INFORMATION

Downtown Huntsville Map

Huntsville Area Map

Hotels:

It is the responsibility of each attendee to make their own reservations. We advise that you guarantee the room for late arrival since reservations are usually held only until 6 p.m. Please use your hotel as your message center: the Von Braun Center is not equipped to take messages for conference attendees, thus there will be no message board (computers will be available for use in checking e-mail). Blocks of rooms are being held at the Huntsville Hilton and the Holiday Inns in Huntsville under the name NASA Microgravity. The cutoff date for reservations at the Huntsville Hilton has been extended to July 10, 1998. Please make your reservations as soon as possible.

 

Huntsville Hilton (across the street from the Von Braun Center)

401 Williams Avenue SW

Huntsville, AL 35801

(256) 533-1400

1-800-445-8667 for reservations

Reservation cutoff date: July 10, 1998

 

Holiday Inn, Research Park (next to Madison Square Mall)

5903 University Drive

Huntsville, AL 35806

(256) 830-0600

1-800-845-7275 for reservations

 

Holiday Inn Space Center (east of Jordan Lane)

3810 University Drive

Huntsville, AL 35816

(256) 837-7171

1-800-345-7720 for reservations

 

Other Hotels you may wish to use:

 

Radisson Suites Hotel (south of Martin Road)

6000 South Memorial Parkway

Huntsville, AL 35802

(256) 882-9400

1-800-333-3333 for reservations

 

Day's Inn-Space Center West (Madison)

102 Arlington Drive

Madison, AL 35758

(256) 772-9550

1-800-329-7466 for reservations

 

Motel 6 (Madison)

8995 Highway 20 West

Madison, AL 35758

(256) 772-7479

1-800-466-8356 for reservations

 

Holiday Inn Huntsville West (Madison)

9035 Highway 20 West

Madison, AL 35758

(256) 772-7170

1-800-826-9563 for reservations

 

Howard Johnson Park Square Inn (Madison)

8721 Highway 20 West

Madison, AL 35758

(256) 772-8855

1-800-882-3067 for reservations

 

Ramada Inn Space Center (Madison)

8716 Highway 20 West

Madison, AL 35758

(256) 772-0701

1-800-272-6232 for reservations

Transportation:

The Huntsville Hilton Hotel and several of the other hotels provide free shuttle service to and from the Huntsville International Airport. You will be responsible for providing your own transportation during the Conference.

Parking and Location:

The Conference will be held in the North Hall of the Von Braun Center (facing Clinton Street). You may enter the Von Braun Center from the front on Monroe Street (across from the Hilton Hotel) and signs will direct you to the North Hall. If you are staying at another hotel you will be able to park in the garage on Monroe Street (across from the Von Braun Center) where the cost will be $3.00 per day.

Information About Huntsville:

There are many Web pages showcasing Huntsville, Alabama, with Yahoo listing 325 possible sites at the time this went online. That's too many to list each one individually, but some of the more informative ones for visitors from out of town might be the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, the Yahoo Huntsville Web Directory, the Knight Family's Huntsville Web page, the City of Huntsville Web page, some maps of Huntsville and the surrounding areas, the Von Braun Center (text overview of the meeting facilities), and the Huntsville Information Network in the Huntsville area.

 

Other Items of Interest

Material Science Research Facility Presentation:

Before the Microgravity Materials Science Conference begins, find out where materials science will be done on the International Space Station.

The Materials Science Research Facility (MSRF) will be the facility used for most materials science experiments in the United States Laboratory Module of the International Space Station. A presentation of the current status and plans for the MSRF will be given from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Huntsville Hilton Hotel on Monday, July 13, 1998. This will precede the 6:00 p.m. reception at the Huntsville Museum of Art, which is within walking distance of the Hilton.

Presenters will include Dr. Frank R. Szofran, MSRF Project Scientist, and Mr. David A. Schaefer, MSRF Project Manager. The target audience is current and potential flight and flight-definition investigators in the Microgravity Materials Science Program.

World Wide Web sites of possible interest:

NASA Home Page
NASA Headquarters - Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications
NASA Headquarters - Microgravity Research Division
NASA MSFC - Microgravity Research Program
Individual Shuttle Missions (Past and Future)
Shuttle Launch Countdown (current launch effort)
Advanced Concepts at NASA

Special thanks to these Web sites for linking to our Conference Web Site:

ASM International (the Materials Information Society)

The Electrochemical Society

Microgravity-Related Meetings (maintained by Fred Kohl at NASA LeRC)

List of Changes to this Web site:

• July 2, 1998 - Added Materials Science Research Facility Presentation --Before the Microgravity Materials Science Conference begins, find out where materials science will be done on the International Space Station.
• June 23, 1998 - Beverage tickets will not be sold for the Banquet. Links to many of the abstracts were added to the Oral Presentations and Poster Presenters lists. An Agenda is now available.
• June 11, 1998 - The cut-off date for reservations at the Huntsville Hilton has been extended to July 10, 1998. We added links to Adobe Acrobat to allow you to view the presenters abstracts (which are in Adobe Acrobat format). Added the programs for Oral and Poster Presentations. Foreign Nationals MUST REGISTER by June 30, 1998. Please provide all requested information to QUESTION 7 in the registration section. All Foreign Nationals must have their passports in their possession at the time of the tour of Marshall Space Flight Center in order to be allowed admittance to the Center. Added two photos to hightlight the exhibits available at the Huntsville Museum of Art.
• June 2, 1998 - The Microgravity logo was changed to a current logo and dendrite and mercuric photos added. The area code was changed from 205 to 256. Downtown and Area maps of Huntsville, Alabama were added.
• April 27, 1998 - The cutoff date for making reservations at the Huntsville Hilton is June 11, 1998. Two links in the "Information About Huntsville" section were removed because the links no longer worked. The "Speakers" statement was revised to more accurately reflect who will be allowed to make presentations at the conference. General presentation information and the required formats for the poster and oral presentations have been added. We added a link to the Huntsville Museum of Art's Web site in the "Registration Reception" section; the art museum is very new, opening in March 1998, and Huntsville is very proud of it -- conference attendees are enthusiastically encouraged to pre-register at the registration reception held at the HMA and browse the available art exhibits.
• February 27, 1998 - Due to limited availability of presentation opportunities, conference speakers are limited to NASA-funded investigators, NASA program representatives, and invited speakers. Additional information has been added about registration; specifically, the registration fee has been set at $200.00 (students are exempt), the registration deadline is July 6, 1998, and information about the registration reception has been provided. Preliminary information has been provided about the conference poster session. Information has been added for the banquet being held on Tuesday, July 14; three key points are that guest tickets will cost $25.00, the entrees will include chicken, beef, and vegetarian (you must specify your choice in advance, preferably when you send your registration e-mail to Dannah McCauley). Finally, information about conference parking ($3.00 per day) and transportation has been included.
• January 8, 1998 - Blocks of rooms at the Holiday Inns were added. Transportation between the conference site and the hotels is the responsibility of the attendee. An optional tour of MSFC's microgravity facilities will take place on July 16. The buses for the optional tour will depart from the Von Braun Center.
• December 10, 1997 - A separate section was added to single out the Web sites that have linked this conference from their Web pages (many thanks to them).

Author: Charlie Walker

Web Curator: Linda Porter

Responsible NASA Official: Dr. Sandor Lehoczky