Congratulations on your acceptance into the ConGen Class of 2004!

Following are details regarding your arrival and stay at the Smithsonian Institution/National Zoological Park's Conservation & Research Center (CRC) Conference and Training Center. The CRC is 2.5 miles south of Front Royal, Virginia (which is about 70 miles west of Washington DC) in the beautiful piedmont region of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Please read through carefully and if you have any further questions, contact Jan Martenson (email: noahscrc@ncifcrf.gov; PHONE: 301/846-7513; FAX: 301/846-6327).

NOTE: If you are planning on being away from your "home" email during the summer prior to the middle of August, please let Jan know and provide an alternative email or fax number if possible.

TOPICS:

1. Payment
2. Arrival (Arranging your transportation)
3. Accommodations and local environment
4. Meals
5. Course Structure
6. Presentations by students
7. Data Analysis
8. Email Access

1. PAYMENT:

Payment of the deposit for the tuition is due by July 1 and may be made by check, money order or by wire transfer. (The entire amount may be paid at that time if you wish.) Contact Jan Martenson if you need an invoice.
- make checks payable to "Conservation Genetics Course" and mail to:

Jan Martenson, Course Coordinator
LGD/ NCI-Frederick
Bldg. 560, Rm. 21-105
Chandler Street, Ft. Detrick
Frederick, MD 21702-1201

(contact Jan Martenson for bank code information if paying by wire transfer)

Any balance due is payable before or upon arrival at the CRC on August 16 (cash, checks, travelers' cheques).

SORRY, BUT WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS FOR PAYMENT.

top

2. ARRIVAL and REGISTRATION:

o If traveling by air, please arrange to fly into (or, otherwise, arrive at) Dulles International Airport (airport code IAD) in Virginia between the hours of 2 and 5 pm on Monday, August 16, 2004. We will provide transportation from Dulles Airport to the CRC (1 hour trip). A questionnaire regarding your travel plans will be e-mailed to you later. Once we know everyone's arrival time, you will be notified of Dulles pickup place and time(s).

(If you find that you must arrive before August 16, we can recommend a hotel near Dulles Airport for your overnight stay. The hotel provides transportation to/from Dulles.)

NOTE: If your airline only flies into Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA), you can transfer to Dulles via the Washington Metro (subway) and the Washington Flyer Coach Service (bus). If you are considering BWI, it is possible to get to Dulles via bus, then Metro, then bus again - be forewarned that this takes about 2 hours. Please contact Jan for further information before you book into BWI.

DEPARTURE: Friday August 27. Please try to schedule your return flights for 2 pm or later (3 pm or later from National). We will provide transportation to Dulles International Airport after a wrap-up session and brunch.

o If traveling by car, request directions to Front Royal.
o If traveling by train or bus, request instructions for transferring to Dulles.


3. ROOM ACCOMMODATIONS and ENVIRONMENT

The CRC Conference/Training Center's accommodations are comfortable, air-conditioned, dormitory-style rooms with 2 twin beds and desks (you will share a room with one other person). Bed linens and towels are provided, but bath soap is not (NOTE: if you like big, thick towels you might want to bring your own).
The shower/toilet facilities are shared, one for men and one for women. A washer and dryer are available in the common area in the dormitory wing of the Conference Center (laundry detergent will be provided).
Most of the daytime sessions are indoors in air-conditioned facilities. The buildings used are within 100 meters of each other. Outdoor temperatures likely will be in the high 80os F and rather humid. Evenings and mornings could be cool, and it will probably rain sometime, so you should bring an umbrella and/or raincoat and a jacket/sweater and long pants (also useful if the air-conditioning is too cool for some of you).

There are volleyball & basketball courts on the grounds (but no tennis courts or swimming pool). The CRC is situated amidst gentle hills good for running and walking. The Shenandoah National Park and the Appalachian Trail border the CRC property.

top

4. MEALS

Beginning Monday evening August 16, through noon on Friday, August 27, all meals will be provided and served in the dining room of the training center. Breakfast will be served beginning around 7 am, lunch around noon, and dinner around 7 pm. Snacks, water, soft drinks, coffee are constantly available. Beer and wine will be available after the evening sessions, on a "cash bar" basis.
A questionnaire will be sent later so you can inform us of any special dietary requirements/restrictions.

5. COURSE STRUCTURE

Following dinner on Monday August 16, there will be a short orientation session. This will be followed by the first of 3 hour-long sessions set aside for presentations by you, the course participants (SEE #6 below).
The morning sessions will start at 8:15 and the afternoon sessions at 1:15. These will be a mix of lectures, computer sessions and demonstrations in either the Auditorium or the Training Center.

Evenings will feature plenary lectures by invited guest faculty at 8:15 after dinner. We will have a picnic on the CRC grounds on Sunday evening, August 22 (after a free afternoon), and a "wrap-up" party on Thursday evening, August 26.

Sunday afternoon August 22 will be a free afternoon. We will have box lunches available and can arrange hiking or canoeing. Transportation into Front Royal will also be available anytime you need to do any banking or shopping.

top

6. STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

Please prepare a BRIEF (5-minute) presentation about you, your research and/or what you hope to gain from this course. We have set aside 3 periods of 45-60 minutes each on Monday (16 August) evening, Tuesday morning and afternoon (17 August) for these get-acquainted sessions. PowerPoint presentations are encouraged - email them to us (noahscrc@ncifcrf.gov) in advance or bring a CD, memory stick, or disk; overhead and slide projectors will also be available. All of you will be presenting so it is imperative that you keep to the 5-minute limit!

7. DATA ANALYSIS

We will have computers (PC/Mac) for student use. If you have data you want to analyze with some of the population genetics/phylogenetics programs we will be using, you should bring it on CD, memory stick, or disk. Data can be raw sequence files, multiple sequence files, microsatellite genotypes, mitochondrial DNA haplotypes, etc. If you have any questions about data or formatting, contact Jill Slattery <slattery@ncifcrf.gov> or 301/846-5882 or Bailey Kessing <kessingb@ncifcrf.gov> or 301/846-5373.

8. EMAIL ACCESS:

You will have unlimited access to the internet. If you don't have one already, we suggest that you set up a web-based email account (e.g., Hotmail, Yahoo, etc) from which you can access other email accounts. However, if necessary, our computer guru will set you up to access your POP accounts for email retrieval. Bring the full address of your POP server.

Back to top