National Graduate Student Symposium (NGSS) Terms of Participation

Airfare and Accomodations

As a selected NGSS participant, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has committed to incur the costs for your airfare and accommodation. Your flight and hotel reservations will be made to cover the duration of the symposium. The symposium schedule allows only for the inclusion of the selected participants. Family members and other individuals cannot be accommodated and cannot stay in hotel rooms with participants during the NGSS.

Airline travel arrangements will be made for you by the St. Jude Travel Office per St. Jude travel policies. You will be responsible for arranging and paying for transportation to and from your local airport. The costs of any supplemental airline services you arrange (i.e. checked luggage, special seat assignments, etc.) are also your responsibility and will not be reimbursed by St. Jude.

Your airline ticket will be purchased using the information you provide on your registration and your e-ticket confirmation will be forwarded to you by email. Please note that changes cannot be made after your ticket is purchased, so please ensure that the information you provide is accurate.

Your flight to Memphis will be scheduled for Monday, March 20. The NGSS will conclude at 4:30 pm on Thursday, March 23. Transportation to the Memphis Airport will be provided on Friday, March 24 for participants with flight departures on that date. If you would like additional time to explore the city of Memphis, you may request to have your return flight booked for a later date. Participants electing to stay in Memphis past Friday, March 24 will be responsible for arranging and paying for their own transportation to the Memphis Airport and for their own accommodation starting on Friday, March 24.

A representative from the Academic Programs Office will meet participants when they arrive at the Memphis International Airport on Monday, March 20, and will direct them to the transportation St. Jude is providing to the hotel. All NGSS participants will be staying at the SpringHill Suites Memphis Downtown at ‎85 West Court Avenue. Each participant will be matched with a roommate of the same gender to share a non-smoking suite containing two queen beds, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. Transportation will be provided from the SpringHill Suites Hotel to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital each morning and return transportation will be provided at the conclusion of the symposium activities each evening.

There will be a reception with light snacks available at the hotel during the registration period on Monday, March 20 followed by an orientation meeting and dinner. The SpringHill Suites Hotel provides a complimentary breakfast buffet. Participants will be responsible for eating breakfast before they are picked up from the hotel at the start of each day. Meals will be provided for NGSS attendees from the evening of Monday, March 20 through the conclusion of the symposium at 4:30 pm on Thursday, March 23.

Presentation and Program Requirements

Each NGSS participant is required to present a poster during the NGSS poster session on Thursday, March 23. Participants will set-up their posters in the morning on Tuesday, March 21 and keep them posted for viewing through the end of the poster session. It is your responsibility to prepare and print your poster and to transport your poster to Memphis. The dimensions of your poster cannot exceed 48" wide and 60" high.

All NGSS participants are also required to present a 12-minute talk summarizing their research. Each presenter will be allowed a maximum of 15 minutes to present his or her talk and to answer questions from the audience. A PC will be provided in the seminar room for the presentation of your talk slides. You should prepare your talk using PowerPoint and ensure it is formatted to display correctly on a PC. Due to time constraints, participants will not be able to use their own computers for their presentations. Participants will also be required to submit their final talk slides in advance of their travel to Memphis to allow for logistical arrangement of the oral sessions.

The abstract and abstract title you submitted with your application will be printed in the NGSS program book and will also be used to describe and advertise both your poster and oral presentation. Please ensure that your talk and your poster focus on the work described in the abstract submitted with your original application and use the title from that abstract.

All participants will receive a copy of the NGSS program book with their registration materials. The program books will also be available to St. Jude faculty members. The program book will contain the symposium schedule, participant research abstracts, as well as biographical information about the NGSS 2017 class. A picture, name, university, and email address for each student participant will be featured in the program. You will be required to upload a head-shot photograph for use in the program to complete your NGSS registration. This photograph should be a high-resolution jpeg image up to 2MB in size.

Select research images from the NGSS class are used as artwork for the program book—on signage and in promotional materials. Participants are not required to submit images, however this is an opportunity for you to showcase your research. Given space limitations, all submissions will be reviewed and only select images used. Upload images for consideration when submitting your registration. Research image files must be in jpeg format and the total size of all images uploaded cannot exceed 2MB. Should you wish to submit larger files, please contact the NGSS coordinator at NGSS@stjude.org for a link to the St. Jude FTA site.