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We are pleased to announce the National Science Foundation’s 2024 Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) Principal Investigators’ Meeting. The meeting will be held Wednesday, February 28, 2024 – Thursday, February 29, 2024 with an arrival night of Tuesday, February 27, 2024

The meeting will be held in-person on the campus of Vanderbilt University in the Student Life Center (SLC) located at the Student Life Center (SLC) located  at 310 25th Ave. South, Nashville, TN 37212. Meeting information can be found here at the 2024 S&CC PI Meeting website which provides access to the meeting registration, program agenda, program material submissions pages, venue/lodging, and other important information. 


1. Meeting Registration (Due: Jan 30, 2024) and PI Attendance Requirements:


  • To register for the meeting, please click S&CC PI Meeting 2024: Registration or visit the PI Meeting website. The meeting registration code will be sent in the official invitation letter to each PI who will be responsible for sharing these registration details with other project personnel who could plan to attend the PI Meeting. Each S&CC project is required to be represented. Up to two project personnel can attend per Planning Grant and up to three project personnel can attend per IRG and EAGER.  Please complete your online registration no later than Tuesday, January 30, 2024. Invitees are encouraged to register before the deadline to enable the organizers to sort attendance data as early as possible.

  • PIs of active S&CC projects are required to attend the PI Meeting in person for the full duration of the meeting. Should there be a legitimate reason the PI cannot attend, the PI should first receive approval for not attending by contacting Vishal Sharma (vsharma@nsf.gov) at NSF. PIs should also provide the name and contact information of the alternate tied to the project who will attend in person to represent the project. The alternate can be one of the project representatives who already plans to attend. PIs who cannot attend should not complete the registration webform, however, the designated alternate must complete the registration webform at: S&CC PI Meeting 2024 | Registration. The registration code will be provided to PIs in the official invitation letter. 

  • Other project personnel (e.g., additional Co-PIs, industry, post-docs, etc.) who exceed the project invitee limit are invited to attend based on space availability and must complete the waitlist registration webform at: S&CC PI Meeting 2024 | Waitlist. The wait list submission code will be provided to PIs in the official invitation letter. Wait listed persons will be able to attend on a first-come, first-served basis. The organizers will confirm wait listed persons attendance between two weeks to a month out from the PI Meeting dates.

  • PIs are also encouraged to invite one non-project personnel community partner (e.g., Federal-State-Loal Government officials, NGOs, etc.) beyond your project invitee limit. Non-project community stakeholder attendance will be based on space availability.  If the community stakeholder invitee exceeds your project invitee limit, the community member must complete the waitlist registration webform at: S&CC PI Meeting 2024 | Wait List. The wait list submission code will be provided to PIs in the official invitation letter. The organizers will confirm wait listed persons attendance between two weeks to a month out from the PI Meeting dates. 

  • There is no registration fee for the meeting. Project representatives are strongly encouraged to register NLT the January 30th deadline so that the appropriate resources can be made available for the meeting and attendees. Please be sure to enter accurately the seven-digit NSF award number and the award project title for the S&CC project the attendee will represent if such project exists. The number of participants at the meeting is limited by the available space. (Since NSF requires the participation of PIs or co-PIs of S&CC projects at the annual National PI meeting, priority will be given to their registration.) The remaining space will be made available for the registration of guests. All guests will receive confirmations regarding the acceptance of their registration.

  • On the evening of Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the registration check-in desk will be open from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for persons who wish to register and pick up registration check-in materials early. On  both full days Wednesday, Feb 28, 2024 and Thursday, Feb 29, 2024, the registration check-in desk will open starting at 7:00 a.m.


2. Room Reservations (Update as of 1/25/2024)


Following are the three courtesy blocks updates that were reserved by the organizers:

  • The Hyatt House Nashville at Vanderbilt still has plenty of available rooms under our block at $169/night. The reservation deadline has been extended to Tuesday, February 13, 2024. After this date, reservations cannot be made online by calling the hotel at 615-320-9000. When calling, please mention the 2024 Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) PI Meeting group block (code: G-NSF1) to receive the reduced rate. The Hyatt House is 0.8 miles from the SLC (15-minute walk or a 3-minute drive).For more information about the venue, please click the following link here.
  • The Marriott at Vanderbilt courtesy room block is sold out under our block at $224/night. Rooms still might be available outside of our block at a higher rate. The Marriott is 0.3 miles from the SLC (6-minute walk or a 3-minute drive). Book Your Group/Corporate Rate, or by calling the hotel at 615-321-1300. When calling, please mention the 2024 Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) PI Meeting group block to receive the reduced rate. For more information about the venue, please click the following link here.
  • The Homewood Suites by Hilton courtesy block is sold out under our block. Rooms still might be available outside of our block at a higher rate. The Homewood suites is 0.3 miles from the SLC (6-minute walk or a 2-minute drive). You may try calling the hotel directly at 615-340-8000. For more information about the venue, please click the following link here.

 

In General:

Travelers who wish to reserve rooms outside of these blocks will incur increased room rates and will not be able to register online but will need to call the hotels directly. Please be advised that reservations made for days outside of the block might incur higher or lower room rates, depending on the day. When calling, please reference the event name: “2024 Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) PI Meeting”. 

Breakfast, lunch, and light refreshments will be provided at the meeting. Participants will be responsible for their own dinners.

 


3. PI Project Preparation Guidance:

* The deadline to submit project materials has been extended to Monday, February 12, 2024


S&CC PIs of active projects are required to prepare the following project materials:

Lightning Talks:

S&CC PIs of active projects are required to submit a Lightning Talk. PIs with IRGs, EAGER, ASEAN, and JST projects should submit a 4-5 minute Lightning Talks and PIs with Planning Grants should submit a 90-second Lightning Talk. They must be prepared in PowerPoint format as well as in a pre-recorded video format. Lightning Talks will not be presented “live” at the PI Meeting but will be posted to the 2024 S&CC PI Meeting website for online viewing. For your convenience, the following Lightning Talks PPTX templates have been created per type of S&CC grant (e.g., IRG, PG, EAGER, ASEAN, JST). Lightning Talks and video content can be uploaded at: S&CC PI Meeting 2024 | Lightning Talk Collection Form by CoB Monday, February 12, 2024.  

Download PPTX Templates for Lightning Talks Below:

Posters and Poster Sessions:

PIs (or alternates) of active S&CC projects are required to present project posters at the PI Meeting during the programmed poster sessions. PIs are responsible for printing, bringing, and posting their poster(s) to a poster stand that the organizers will provide. PIs are also required to submit an electronic version of their poster along with a poster abstract and are encouraged to submit a video of each S&CC project to the PI Meeting website. All online content must be uploaded at this link: S&CC PI Meeting 2024 | Poster Collection Form by CoB Monday, February 12, 2024.  

The submission code will be provided to PIs in the official invitation letter. Once poster content is collected, the organizers will send out a poster session presentation map and list to project representatives. Should a poster presenter have a valid reason for presenting on the opposite day assigned, please contact the organizers as soon as possible at pimtg@sccvo.org.

Poster content should explain research by all project personnel, award numbers, institutions, and names of PIs/Co-PIs.  

A 40"x30" PPTX poster template has been created for your convenience and can be downloaded below. Should you have a valid reason for presenting on the opposite day assigned, please contact the organizers as soon as possible at pimtg@sccvo.org.  

Download Poster Presentation Template

PIs (or alternate) are responsible for the following:

  • Printing poster content.
  • Bringing and/or arranging for posters to be delivered and set-up by early registration on the arrival night or by 8 a.m. on the first meeting day.
  • Presenting or identifying at least one person to present the poster during the assigned poster session.
  • Dismantling and discarding the poster at the end of the meeting.

Poster Sessions will be held on Wednesday, February 28, 2024 and Thursday, February 29, 2024. There is anticipated to be more than 200 project posters presented at this year's meeting. The posters will stay up for both full days, with half of the PIs presenting their posters during the scheduled show and tell on the first day and the other half on the second. Projects will be assigned a location number and scheduled to one day or the other based on the fit of the project to the rest of the day's program; the assignment will be announced via e-mail to the lead PI or designated presenter after the rest of the program has been determined. Requests for a specific location number and/or specific day to be scheduled for show and tell should be made known to the meeting organizers as soon as possible. 

Local Printing Info

FedEx Office Print & Ship Center
2308 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37203

 

Demonstrations (Optional):

Optional “live” and pre-recorded demonstrations will be programmed this year. Demonstrations should showcase the research so that non-S&CC experts also may appreciate and understand its significance in the real world. It is optional for interested PIs to prepare “live” project demonstrations. Due to space limitations, up to ten (10) “live” demonstrations will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis. If there is overwhelming interest beyond ten, there is the possibility for up to 20 demonstrations to be presented. In this case, ten (10) presenters will present on day one and ten (10) on meeting day two. PIs of confirmed demonstrations will be contacted NLT Monday, February 12, 2024. At that time, a link will be sent to demonstration presenters to provide project demonstration details. On the webform, please describe your demonstration research project in detail by submitting a two-to-three sentence abstract. As well, indicate on the webform the types of AV equipment/props that will be needed such as projectors, screens, microphones, table stands, etc. The organizers will do our best to assist your needs.  


4. Invited Presentations:


Program presentations will be in the form of:

  • Keynotes
  • Invited Panel Talks
  • Breakout Session Talks

PIs who are invited to present panel or breakout session presentations will be contacted directly by members of the program committee. A presentation/bio submission code will be provided at that time for you to submit your presentation and updated bio and snapshot. This message with also include the deadline date for submissions. Presentations should be uploaded at: S&CC PI Meeting 2024 | Presentation Collection Form by Monday, February 12, 2024.

For PIs who are invited to speak, a PPTX presentation template can be downloaded below:

Download Meeting Presentation Template

A presentation laptop will be provided, but please let the organizers know in advance if you plan to use your own laptop and if there are movies in your presentation. It is expected that all presentations will be from computers and displayed via projector, which will be available. If you require additional specific audio-visual needs for your presentation, please contact Frankie King (Vanderbilt) at (frankie.king@vanderbilt.edu).


5. Program Agenda:


As in the past, a major goal of S&CC PI Meetings is to highlight achievements in the S&CC program. A preliminary draft agenda will be posted to the PI Meeting website soon and will be updated continuously as we approach the meeting dates. So please intermittently check the website for updates. For this year's meeting, we are excited to report about the following change ups in programmed activities that are designed to maximize the PI community's active participation and input. The 2024 S&CC PI Meeting will incorporate a limited number of panel and breakout sessions into the program on innovative topics in S&CC. We invite the submission of workshop proposals from the S&CC community that can define the future of S&CC research vision and introduce recent research advances to interested PIs and graduate students. Breakouts should include a mix of invited presentations and panel discussions that encourage active participation from attendees.  

For general PI Meeting questions or technical support with accessing any links, please contact Frankie King (frankie.king@vanderbilt.edu) and Jason Gigax (jason.w.gigax@vanderbilt.edu) directly or the meeting organizers at pimtg@sccvo.org