1st Center for GeoHazards Studies Conference which took place on March 29th and 30th, 2008
Natural Disasters in Small Communities: How Can We Help?
When & Where:
The conference was held on Saturday, March 29th & Sunday, March 30th, 2008, at the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center contiguously located to UB North Campus at 2402 North Forest Road, Getzville, NY 14068. All technical sessions were held at this location.
Meeting Format:
This conference was the first of its kind for the Center for GeoHazards Studies and drew participants from all over the country. Speakers included experts from various areas of science, mathematics, engineering and other fields. Presentations were in single-session format, with time allotted for lively group discussions.
Each conference day included two "sessions" in which speakers in each session made short presentations on their topic areas. Each speaker was allotted 15 minutes for the presentation and questions from the audience. In addition, each conference day offered "keynote presentations" by experts in the field. Keynote speakers delivered a 25 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes for questions and answers and discussion.
Presenters submitted their abstracts (abstract forms available online by late fall 2007) by February 28, 2008. Abstracts were available on CD at the conference.
We plan to submit manuscripts from this conference as a special volume of a scientific journal devoted to hazards (such as "Natural Hazards"). At the conference, we provided details about submission deadlines and other information regarding the special issue.