Registration and Payment Information:
Registration is open as of March 11th. The deadline to register for the conference is  May 21st, 2004. We will keep the site open until the day of the conference for the few stragglers. The conference will cost $250 for registration, board and lodging and $170 for registration and board, but no lodging (see Accommodations, below, for alternative housing options). Registration and payment for the meeting and housing etc. is completely online. Here is the link to our registration page (https://apps.business.yale.edu/dc/worm/new.do).

Abstract Submission:
Abstract submission is closed as of midnight, Friday, April 30th, 2004. Thank you for your submissions. We received about 300 abstracts, ensuring that there will be lots of great science to view at the meeting. Here is a link to Leon Avery's server for you to view the abstracts before the meeting.

Platform Sessions
We were oversubscribed for talk requests. The Organization Committee tried to have most labs represented in the platform sessions with at least one talk.We selected 57 abstracts for oral presentation in platform sessions. Here is a PDF file of the selected talks. In order to accommodate as many people as possible who requested talks, but not blow away the audience, each platform presentation will be 10 minutes long, with a 2 minute question period following each talk. The schedule is very tight, and presenters are strongly advised to limit their presentation to the allotted time to allow for questions. Talks will be held in the Levinson Auditorium inside the Sterling Law School building.

Check-in for the meeting will begin at 12 noon and run to 5 pm on 6/11 at Durfee Hall room B12 (http://www.yale.edu/campusmap/central_old.html ). Here is a downloadable map in PDF format. Meeting paraphernalia, abstract books, keys, and other information will be available at this time. Buses can off load passengers at Phelps Gate outside Phelps Hall. There will be a conference service person at the front desk in Durfee until 9 PM on Friday and from 8:30 AM to 10 AM on Saturday to assist with those arriving after this time. (Please indicate on your registration if you will be arriving later than 5 PM). A housing office staffed by students will be open daily from 8:30am – 8:30pm to assist you. Please note reservation deadline dates and cancellation policies on the registration form. Check-out: Participants may check out during office hours (8 AM to 3 PM). Please contact the housing office during your stay if you wish to check out earlier than 8AM

Accommodations:
Meeting participants will be housed in dormatories on the historic Old Campus two blocks from the Law School where the conference sessions will be held., e.g. Durfee and Phelps Hall (see map link above). Most rooms are singles with a few doubles. Old Campus residence hall rooms are arranged in suites of 4 to 6 bedrooms and a shared bath. Each room contains a bed, desk and chair, dresser and closet. Bed linens, towels, blankets and pillows are provided. The buildings are not air-conditioned and do not have telephones. Please plan to bring any personal items you will need including toiletries, alarm clock and a fan. There is a laundry facility in the complex, pay telephones and an ATM machine. Every effort has been made to accommodate suitemate requests.

Those not wishing to reside among the masses can make their own arrangements with hotels in the area, e.g. the Omni Hotel New Haven, or The Colony (http://www.colonyatyale.com/). Contact the organizers for the Yale rate. We have blocked of 25 rooms at The Colony (http://www.colonyatyale.com/) ($89 per night, single; $99 per night, double) for 6/11 and 6/12 on a first come first served basis until the cut off of May 11th, 2004, at which time the unbooked rooms will be released to the public. When reserving by phone (1-800-458-8810; 203-776-1234) or email (info@colonyatyale.com), please say that you are part of the "East Coast Worm Meeting" to get the special rate.

Sponsors and Corporations:
Tables in the poster hall will be available to companies interested in participating in the conference. Representatives should register for the meeting and each company should submit a small abstract so that their table will be given an abstract number for easy identification. A small donation to the scholarship fund would be appreciated. You will be recognized in the abstract book and adored by the particiapants. Please contact the organizers for more information about sponsorship. We have facilities to allow you to make a check payable to Yale University and the funds will be deposited into the conference account. Send checks to: US mail: WORM Conference, Yale Conference Services, P.O. Box 208355, New Haven CT 06520-8355. FEDEX, etc: One Prospect Street, 11 SSS, New Haven CT 06511

Poster Session:
Posters will be available for viewing throughout the meeting. It is suggested that those presenting posters should plan to put them up in the assigned area (University Commons) as soon after sign-in as possible on Friday afternoon. Posters should be taken down by 1:00 pm on Sunday. Maximum poster dimensions are: 4 feet high by 6 feet wide. Pushpins will be provided for your use. The Poster Session will be on Saturday, following lunch. The posters will be set up in the Commons Dining room (where meals are served).

Workshops
Principal Investigators or Sponsors interested in organizing a workshop should submit a request to one of the organizers.

Abstract Book:
The ECWM 2004 C. elegans Meeting abstract book will be distributed at the meeting. Abstract titles and authors will be posted on the web once the abstracts for oral presentation have been selected. The organizers hope to have this available by mid-May.

Meals:
All meals will be in the University Commons dining room.

Travel Arrangements:
Meeting participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. Those planning to travel by airplane will be arriving into Hartford's Bradley International Airport or New Haven's Tweed Airport. Tweed is a short taxi ride to Yale, but flights are limited and usually more expensive than to Hartford's Bradley Airport or NY airports. However, Bradley is about an 45-60 minutes away, and NY is about 2 hrs away.

Upon arrival at Hartford Bradley Airport (or any of the NY airports), travel to Yale can be either by taxi (very expensive), or round-trip shuttle service can be arranged through Connecticul Limo (http://www.ctlimo.com) ($34 one way, $50 round trip to Phelps Gate). You are encouraged to book online or by phone before the meeting to guarentee a seat, but you can also contact them by courtesy phone at the airport. On Friday afternoon, you should tell the driver to drop you off at Phelps Gate and on Sunday 6/13 we will provide a shuttle bus from Phelps Gate to the CT Limo station in New Haven that will run from 11 AM to 2 PM. Please refer specific questions to the CT Limo at their web site above or call 1-800-472-LIMO (5466) or (203) 878-2222.

Maps of the Yale Campus can be found at http://www.yale.edu/campusmap/central_old.html

Driving Directions:

Interstate 95 
From the north: Connect to I-91 North in New Haven; take Exit 3 (Trumbull Street) and follow directions below for I-91. 
From the south: Connect to I-91 North in New Haven (left exit); take Exit 3 (Trumbull Street) and follow directions below for I-91.

Interstate 91
From the north or south: Take Exit 3 (Trumbull Street). Stay in the middle lane and continue straight onto Trumbull Street to the fourth traffic light. Turn left onto Prospect Street and continue for one block. Prospect Street becomes College Street at this point. Continue for 2.5 blocks. Phelps Gate is located 1/2 way down the block on the righthand side of the street, opposite the New Haven Green.

Parking:
Protected indoor parking will be available in a secure garage on campus for $8.00 for the weekend. Please request this parking sticker from the registration desk at check in. We would appreciate payment by cash in exact change. Directions will be provided at housing check-in. This lot is unfortunately on the opposite end of campus, but we will be running a shuttle bus to and from the parking lot. There are closer commercial parking lots around New Haven (a small city) for around $10/day. Parking is available for free at any Yale lot after 4PM on Friday and through the weekend. However, the parking office does not endorse this since occasionally cars have been broken into in these outdoor lots.Parking lots are shown at http://www.yale.edu/hronline/parkingandtransit/lots.htm#. Drivers should plan to unload luggage and passengers at Phelps Gate, park the vehicle and travel back across campus to Durfee Hall.

Financial Aid:
A limited amount of scholarship money is available to help defray the cost of student attendance at the East Coast Worm Meeting. The available funds are restricted to students who submit an abstract, and successful applicants will be selected on a basis of both financial need and quality of the submitted abstract. Students interested in applying for financial aid should forward both a copy of their abstract and a statement of need to Frank Slack at frank.slack@yale.edu. Please note that all applicants should register in advance as usual; scholarship funds will be disbursed in the form of reimbursements at the meeting.

Area Attractions:
New Haven is a small city that offers a vast variety of recreational and tourism-related activities. Yale University's campus is located in the heart of the historic downtown area. Within a few blocks e.g. on York Street, Broadway and Chapel Street are numerous coffee shops, bars, restaurants, theaters, book stores and free museums, e.g. the Yale University Art Museum and the British Art Museum. In addition, Yale offers a walking tour of the campus, which leaves from the visitor's center at 149 Elm Street (http://www.yale.edu/visitor/). The New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas will be taking place at the same time as our meeting. There ie usually a lot of cheap or free activity.

Schedule:
A preliminary Meeting Schedule and other information is below.

Friday, June 11th
12:00-5:00 p.m. Registration (Durfee Hall)
4:30-5:30 Reception (President's Room - upstairs from University Commons Dining Hall)
5:00-6:45 p.m. Dinner (Commons)
7:00-8:48 p.m. Session 1 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)
8:48-9:10 p.m. Coffee Break
9:10-10:46 p.m. Session 2 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)

Saturday, June 12th
7:00-8:15 a.m. Breakfast (Commons)
8:30-10:06 a.m. Session 3 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)
10:06-10:40 a.m. Coffee Break
10:40-12:16 p.m. Session 4 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)
12:16-1:45 p.m. Lunch (Commons)
1:45-5:30 p.m. Posters (Commons)
5:30-7:06 p.m. Session 5 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)
7:06-8:30 p.m. Drinks & Dinner (Commons)
8:30-11:30 p.m. Music & Dancing

Sunday, June 13th
7:00-8:15 a.m. Breakfast (Commons)
8:30-9:42 a.m. Session 6 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)
9:42-10:10 a.m. Coffee Break
10:10-12:10 a.m. Session 7 Platform Talks (Sterling Law School Bldg)
noon-1:30 p.m. Lunch (Commons)

Prepared and copyrighted (2004) ECWM 2004
For more information contact: frank.slack@yale.edu.
Last Modified: June 4th, 2004.