Annual Celebration of Excellence by Students (ACES)

Help with Registration

What information do I need to have before I register?

The items needed are: the Title of your presentation or poster; members of your Research Group; Faculty mentor names and their emails; your Abstract; and your presentation type and special items needed for your presentation. Most items you will know off the top of your head. The only item that you might not know is email address of your faculty mentor.

What are the limits for my abstract?

There are two ways to submit an abstract: submit an electronic file, or type (or cut-and-paste) text into the online form. In both cases, your abstract should not: include any other information but the abstract (i.e., no names or titles, just the paragraph), be longer than 250 words, include images, or use special fonts or symbols. The electronic file must be in Rich Text Format. Any other format will be discarded. The electronic file must not be larger than 64 kilobytes or it will be discarded. The Organizing Committee reserves the right to edit an abstract for length and content when they do not follow these guidelines.

When should I use Rich Text Format (RTF)?

The main reason to use RTF is when you have to use stylized text for certain elements in your abstract. For example, italics for scientific names, or the titles of other works. Please do not use any styling beyond bold or italics. Colors will be discarded. Fonts will be changed to Arial for the printed program. Since this will interfere with Greek lettering, you should spell out any Greek lettering that you need.

Where can I find Rich Text Format (RTF)?

Most word processors that support other word processor file formats typically include RTF. To keep things simple, in Mac OS X, you can use TextEdit and in Microsoft Windows, you can use WordPad. Both programs are included for free in their respective operating systems. As with other word processors, you may have to perform a Save As... to access this file format.

I had a lot of help on the project. Could I list others as co-authors?

Yes, you may. There are three areas where names can go on the form: your name for the Program Guide (the single, physical person who is making the presentation), your Faculty mentor(s), and your Research Group Citation, which is for the other faculty and students who took part in the project.

Oops. I made a horrible mistake in my registration.

Once submitted, you can no longer edit your information. Please contact Joslyn Krismer (aces@uta.edu) for assistance.

I submitted my registration but it says that there are errors.

Most of the fields are required. Most problems are related to the abstract. Please consult the question above for help with the limitations of the abstract. If there was a serious error, the web page will tell you that an automated email was sent regarding the problem. Someone will be in touch with you within 24 hours, excluding weekends. For more assistance, please contact Joslyn Krismer (aces@uta.edu).

How do I know that my information was saved?

The web site will send you an email to your UT Arlington email address to confirm your registration.

When will I know what time I will give my talk or my poster number?

The assignments will be make the week after the deadline. When it is ready, the lists will be posted online and an email will be sent to your UT Arlington email address. If you are giving an oral presentation, you will have ten days from the day of posting to contact us if you have a significant issue with your time. After the ten days pass, the final schedule will be assembled and posted online the Monday of the week of ACES, if not before then.

I am concerned about giving my home address.

The registration process is performed over a secure connection between your browser and the web site. Additionally, your contact information is encrypted for storage in the database.

Help with Powerpoints

Why are you collecting my Powerpoint presentation beforehand?

ACES runs on a very tight schedule. Because of this, we do not allow individuals to use their own laptops because of the time involved to switch from one machine to another. We collect presentations and load all of them on each of the laptops. It is the presenter's responsibility to load their presentation during the short time between presentations. Instructions for submitting your presentation will be sent to you if you indicated that you are doing a Powerpoint presentation.

My Powerpoint will not be finished by the submission deadline.

That is understandable, however, ACES runs on a very tight schedule. You can bring your presentation on CD or Flash memory media. The laptops do not have floppy drives. The laptops will not logged into the UT Arlington domain and may not be connected to the wireless internet infrastructure. This can impede access if you email it to yourself, save it on Mav Space, or intend to access it on your student J: drive. While not difficult, you must know how to connect to your J: drive. The moderator cannot help you. Time spent accessing your presentation on media outside of the laptop will count against your presentation time so please make every effort to submit it before the deadline.

When is the deadline to submit my presentation?

For your presentation to be preloaded on the laptops, you must submit it before 12:00 pm on Thursday, March 27, 2008.

I have other questions?

Please contact Joslyn Krismer (aces@uta.edu) for more information.