Introduction to the GRS Program
Note: This page is a resource for Chairs of Graduate Research Seminars ONLY. If you are chairing a standard GRC, please refer to the Advice for Chairs (GRC) section instead.
The Gordon Research Conferences and The Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology & Science have established the Gordon-Kenan Graduate Research Seminar program (GRS), a series of highly successful and unique opportunities for young researchers to share in the GRC experience. Graduate students and post docs come together to discuss their current research while building informal networks with their peers that may lead to a lifetime of collaboration and scientific achievement. These two-day seminars are organized by graduate students and post docs, with the support from the leading scientists from the related Gordon Research Conference. The seminars are held in conjunction with the related Gordon Research Conference, beginning the weekend prior to the start of the GRC, and the students generally stay to participate in the GRC.
Congratulations on becoming a Chair of your Graduate Research Seminar!
We appreciate the time and commitment you are making to further the mission of the GRS program and serve your scientific community. The GRC staff is here to assist you in developing a very successful GRS and this Advice for GRS Chairs material should provide you with information you need to plan and execute a successful GRS. If you have any questions or concerns about your meeting or about any information in this document, please do not hesitate to contact the GRC office. Additional resources and guidance are available at the Chair Resource Center on the GRC web site.
GRC organizes our meetings into two sessions based on when they are held:
- Session I Meetings: Meetings held January 1 - May 31st
- Session II Meetings: Meetings held June 1 - December 31st
This document covers your major areas of responsibility in roughly the order in which you will have to deal with them: the scientific program, selection of speakers and discussion leaders, GRS publicity, financial arrangements, selection of conferees, social functions, your role during the GRS and the GRS evaluation.
You will have a web page for your GRS, which will include a link to the associated GRC. You should post a meeting description and the session topics from your GRS application as soon as possible. You can add information to this web page by sending the information to the GRC office (your IT contact information will be sent to you separately).
As Chair, you will begin to receive a weekly list of applicants (Session I in September and Session II in February). Those you admit (or "accept") will receive registration information by email.
It is expected that the majority of your Speakers will be selected from the GRS applicants. As Chair of a GRS, it is recommended that you post on your meeting web page a deadline for GRS applications and abstracts for those that are interested in speaking.
The quality of each GRS depends on the Chair. The Chair is ultimately responsible for the scientific program, for ensuring that the speakers present lectures of the desired type, for seeing that the discussion periods are properly organized and conducted, and for establishing a pleasant and stimulating atmosphere.
A GRS may have more than one Chair. Typically, the Chair of a GRS is a student or post doc and the Chair of the associated GRC serves in a mentoring capacity. If there is more than one GRS Chair, one student/post doc will be designated the "Corresponding Chair", and the other will be identified in our records as "Co-Chair". The "Corresponding Chair" is the person designated to correspond with the GRC Office. All communications and correspondence from GRC will be directed to the GRS Corresponding Chair ONLY. It is expected that the GRS Corresponding Chair will communicate with his or her Co-Chair and the Chair of the associated GRC as necessary and will be responsible for communicating with the GRC office.
All Graduate Research Seminars will have a standard, pre-GRC, weekend format. The format is:
- Arrival on Saturday
- Poster Session 4:00 - 6:00 pm
- Dinner 6 pm
- Evening technical session 7:15 - 9:30 pm
- Poster Session generally continues after the evening session
- Sunday Breakfast 7:30 - 8:30 am
- Morning technical session 9:00 am - 12:30 pm (including coffee break)
- Lunch 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm (lunch is included in registration)
- GRS ends at 1:30
It is expected that the GRS will attract a minimum audience of 30 graduate student/post doc attendees. The mix should be diverse (area of research, country of origin, ethnicity, gender etc.) and Chairs are expected to reach out beyond the students/post docs at their own institutions. The GRS attendees are generally expected to stay to attend the associated GRC. Please note: the attendees of the GRS are not automatically registered for the GRC.
The Graduate Research Seminar and the associated Gordon Research Conference have completely separate applications, registrations and fees. If a student or post doc wants to attend both the GRS and the GRC - they must submit an application for each, be accepted to attend each meeting by the Chair of that meeting, register for each meeting separately, and pay the fee for the GRS and the fee for the GRC.