2024 WAIS Workshop

Thirty-First Annual WAIS Workshop
November 11–14, 2024
Hilton UF Conference Center
Gainesville, FL USA

The 2024 WAIS Workshop will be held in Gainesville, Florida, at the Hilton UF Conference Center, located on the University of Florida campus. This NSF- and NASA-sponsored meeting hosts transdisciplinary and societally critical science focused on marine ice-sheet and adjacent Earth systems, with particular emphasis on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and how it will impact global coastlines, including our host state's. The 2024 meeting is hosted locally by Mickey MacKie (University of Florida) and the rest of WAIS Organizing Committee (Knut Christianson, Brooke Medley, Lauren Miller, Peter Neff, and Matt Siegfried). The 2024 abstract booklet and agenda can be found here. 

The meeting begins with an icebreaker pizza dinner on Monday evening, November 11. Sessions are organized by topic, with keynote speakers for some sessions, followed by contributed talks and concluding with a panel discussion. Poster sessions will be held separately. We anticipate about 40-45 talks. The formal meeting agenda will end at lunch on Thursday, November 14, followed by afternoon short-courses led by conmunity members for anyone interested in attending. We will also continue our annual workshop-wide community discussion as part of the scientific agenda.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are embraced at the WAIS Workshop, and we are committed to creating and maintaining a workshop environment that is safe, inclusive, harassment-free, and welcoming to all genders, races, identities, self-expressions, ethnicities and cultures. Please see the WAIS Workshop policy on harassment for more information.

Deadlines

The deadline for Abstract Submission was September 19 at 5:00 PM PDT (UTC-7). Abstract submission is separate from the registration process. Abstract submission is now closed
Early-career travel support request deadline was also September 19 We have limited funds to support air or ground travel to the meeting as well as registration fees and lodging. Travel support request deadline has passed
Registration deadline was October 4 at 5 PM PDT, but our workshop has reached capacity before this deadline in the past, so register early! Registration is now closed. 
 

Registration

Registration for the 2024 WAIS Workshop is now closed. The registration fee includes Monday dinner, breakfasts, lunches and dinners on Tuesday and Wednesday, and breakfast and lunch on Thursday. Please indicate any dietary restrictions you may have on the registration form and the caterer will do their best to accommodate. There is no registration required to view the conference livestream. A link for livestreaming will be sent to the WAIS Workshop email list.

Lodging at the Hilton UF Conference Center will be in their hotel, where we have a block of single king or double queen rooms reserved for all participants at a reduced rate of $107/night. The booking port for lodging through the WAIS Workshop is now closed. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any lodging concerns you may have. 

Registration fees: 

The registration fee for all WAIS Workshop participants includes meals for the 2.5 day meeting, but does not include lodging this year. Early career registration is $200 and standard registration is $300. 

Refund policy:

Registration types can be changed with any price difference refunded (or charged) to the attendee until the registration close date on October 4. Registration can be canceled and refunded with $25 fee until October 4 and a $100 fee until October 12, after which there will be no refunds. If there are any questions, please contact us. 

A note about the virtual livestream: The 2024 WAIS Workshop will have a free livestream option that will allow viewing all talks and discussions free of charge, with an opportunity to submit questions/comments for presenters and panelists digitally. Additional details, including links, will be sent to the WAIS Workshop email list. Like in years past, all sessions except our Community Health session will be recorded and archived on YouTube after the conference.

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Agenda

You can view the 2024 agenda here. Plan to arrive Monday, November 11 for dinner and socializing; dinner is included in the registration fee and we ask for a small donation to cover drinks. The WAIS Workshop is 2½ days, with the formal program concluding with lunch on Thursday, November 14. We will have around 40–45 talks that cover all aspects of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet system or other marine ice-sheet systems, including research from glaciologists, oceanographers, atmospheric scientists, biologists, computer scientists, and engineers at all career stages. We also enourage abstracts that discuss relevant aspects of communicating WAIS science beyond the research community, particularly those that cover impacts of WAIS change on society, as well as ideas to improve the diversity, inclusion, and equity of our field. Following each set of oral presentations, a panel of the session's speakers and a moderator will lead an open discussion about the general theme, and examine what the significance of new insights presented in the talks is for the West Antarctic system. For 2024, sessions themes will include: 

• WAIS in the Community: Actionable science about the impact of WAIS and marine ice-sheet change requires civic engagement and co-production of knowledge with people outside the confines of academic and research institutions. We seek contributions that describe efforts to provide insight on and examples of community development that mutually benefit all parties involved as well as contributions that promote the development of inclusive and equitable research and learning spaces. 
• New Technology & FAIR Science: Answering the pressing questions at the end of the Earth requires innovation for both the technology we use and the open-science ecosystem in which we work. What are the new technologies that have recently or soon will come on line that will enable steps forward in the generation of WAIS scientific knowledge? How do we develop open science frameworks to accelerate our science? 
• Atmosphere & Ocean Drivers: New discoveries and insights relating to the atmospheric, such as surface mass balance, firn processes, extraordinary snow events, and atmospheric rivers, and the ocean, such as grounding line processes, ice-shelf stability, connections to sea ice conditions, sub-ice-shelf processes, and their interconnected atmospheric-ice-ocean system. We seek contributions that look at these key drivers—past, present and future—to help us understand modern and future change in West Antarctica, including insights from other glaciers and ice sheets that may inform our understanding of WAIS.  
• Observational & Modeling Gaps: We invite contributions about research that highlights data gaps that limit our ability to advance our understanding of any or all components of the Antarctic system. What are the community needs for future satellite, airborne, and ground measurements? How do we easily access and analyze the growing volume of model output? 
• Piecing the Puzzle Together: We seek submissions that integrate research and scientific discoveries across several disciplines in support of big-picture, scientific pursuits in West Antarctica, such as atmosphere-ice-ocean-bed-ecosystem interactions, linkages of surface and basal processes, modern-day connections with the paleo ice core and geologic record, and other multi-disciplinary, integrative topics that are important to WAIS and marine ice sheet dynamics. 
• Uncertainty Quantification: Ice sheet processes are (now famously) subjected to “deep uncertainty”. How do we quantify and communicate uncertainty in a complex, interconnected, multidisciplinary, non-linear system? What are the key pathways for our community to define, quantify, reduce, accept, and communicate uncertainty in the marine ice-sheet system? 

In addition to talks, WAIS Workshop will have space for posters. There will be an opportunity to give a very brief overview of a poster topic to the audience just prior to the poster sessions. Posters have historically received a great deal of attention at WAIS Workshops.

Basic Agenda:

Monday: Afternoon arrival, 4:30pm Steering Committee Meeting, 6:00pm opening icebreaker with dinner and drinks (please bring cash or Venmo for drinks)
Tuesday: Meeting begins with breakfast followed by two morning sessions of presentations, then lunch, one session of presentations, followed by the first poster session, and dinner on-site.
Wednesday:  Similar schedule to Tuesday.
Thursday: Thursday morning will begin with breakfast, two morning sessions, then lunch. After lunch we will host a set of focused breakout mini-workshops in the afternoon—details about the topics of these workshops will be provided soon.

Guidelines for Abstract Submission and Presentations

Abstract format and submission:

• Abstracts submission is now closed. Please use the same login information as your registration. This will connect your registration to your abstract and allow you to edit your abstract later if you need to.

Talk guidelines:

• Talks will be 10 or 15 minutes long, including time for questions and switching presenters. Your presentation length will be assigned by the Organizing Committee and will be noted on the final agenda, which will be released in early October. We have a full meeting so please be mindful of your time and courteous to the next presenter. A discussion period concludes each session where further questions can be addressed.
• All presentation files will be loaded on one central laptop to expedite the transition between presenters. We request you provide us with your presentation the day prior to your assigned time. Dinner time is a good time for this.
• Powerpoint or PDF files are preferred. Keynote is available. Please email wais@mines.edu if you would like to use a different format.
• After the conference, presentations will be posted with the agenda on the WAIS Workshop site. If you prefer we don't publish your presentation, e-mail the Organizing Committee at: wais@mines.edu.
• All talks will be livestreamed for those that cannot attend the conference. If you have concerns about livestreaming your talk, please contact the WAIS Workshop Organizing Committee. These livestreams will be recorded and archived on our website.

Poster guidelines:

• Preceding the in-person poster session will be a brief opportunity for poster presenters to give a one-slide/one-minute pitch about their research.
• For space efficiency, posters cannot exceed 4 feet in height or width.

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Meals

Registration fee includes Monday dinner, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on Tuesday and Wednesday, and breakfast and lunch on Thursday. Snacks and coffee are also included. Please indicate any dietary restrictions you may have on the registration form and the caterer will do their best to accommodate. 

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Air Travel and Ground Transportation

We recommend you fly into Gainesville Regional Airport, which is <20 minute from the venue, or Jacksonville International Airport, which is an easy 90 minute drive to the venue. As in years past, we have set up an electronic ride-sharing board for those wishing to carpool to or from the airport. We will update this section with more travel information as it becomes available.

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WAIS Workshop Code of Conduct

The WAIS Workshop is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for participants regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, religion, or other protected status. The WAIS Workshop is a working conference intended for professional networking and collaboration for West Antarctic (and related) researchers. While attending the WAIS Workshop science program or related social events, any participants, including speakers, attendees, volunteers, and anyone else, should not engage in harassment or bullying in any form. All event participants are expected to behave according to professional standards that promote inclusive work environments and in accordance with their employer’s policies on appropriate workplace behavior. For issues or concerns during the conference, please contact any of the WAIS Workshop organizers or the local host, all of whom will be wearing snowflake stickers on their badge. Additional contact information for our hosts and detalis about the reporting process will be available at WAIS Workshop check-in. This policy applies to all community situations online and offline, including the conference itself, mailing lists, social media, social events associated with the conference, and one-to-one interactions. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Attendees violating these rules may be asked to leave the event at the sole discretion of the conference organizers without any refund.

We hope that our policy will reflect the values of the WAIS community. To that end, this Code of Conduct policy will be refined and updated to make it represent our community as a whole as our community discussions continue.

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Early-Career Travel Support

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Questions? Please contact us at wais@mines.edu