Technical Paper Submission | Design Team Abstract Submission | Presentation Rules

PLEASE NOTE: This is a fairly lengthy and complicated process for uploading papers this year as we are using the same system used by the AIAA professional conferences which can be found on http://www.aiaa.org. The conference committee HIGHLY recommends that you do not wait until the last minute to start this process. If you have questions or problems, make sure you email the judging coordinator right away so that we can help you take care of it.

You may already be aware of some of this information, but hopefully this will clarify any lingering questions. To present a paper at this year's conference, you need to complete steps at both http://www.aiaa.org and http://region4.aiaastudentconference.org.

STEPS AT http://www.aiaa.org

1. Upload the abstract of your paper for the Region IV conference at http://www.aiaa.org - Keep the tracking number and password provided by AIAA for future reference.
2. Wait for your abstract to be approved
3. After your abstract is approved, you will need to select the appropriate copyright assignment statement for your submisssion
4. You will then be able to upload your actual paper

1. Register for the conference
2. Create/join your Technical Paper on the "My Registration" page (don't forget your tracking number)

The tracking number field on the technical paper and design team forms is used to link the paper you upload to http://www.aiaa.org to your registration on this web site. As part of the process of uploading your paper, you will receive the tracking number. Please make sure you update your presentation on this web site with that information so that your document can be correctly linked.

Your abstract must be uploaded to http://www.aiaa.org before 12:00 AM (Midnight) on Sunday, 24 February
The final completed manuscript submission must be completed before 12:00 AM (Midnight) on Friday, 21 March
If you feel that you have completed all of these steps, check your status on the "My Registration" page. If it still says "Presentation Incomplete", then send an email to the judging coordinator explaining your concern as soon as possible.

If your abstract is not uploaded by Midnight on 24 February, the conference committee can make no guarantees that it will be approved in time for you to upload your actual paper by 12:00 AM (Midnight) on the night of 21 March.

There is an author kit available that reiterates the formatting of your paper. Please make sure you follow the formatting guidelines or you may be subject to disqualification. NOTE: Don't fill out the copyright forms in that document, they will be completed online when you upload your paper.

For formatting samples, the conference committee suggests you search for some professional papers at aiaa.org. You should be able to view the first page of these without purchasing them and they will give you a better idea of the formatting style. Your title and author info can span across both columns, only the body of your paper (including the abstract) needs to be in the two-column format.

There are no strict guidelines for formatting your abstract submittal. Just make sure you include the paper title, authors information, and then of course the abstract that will also be at the beginning of your actual paper. It may be easiest to just copy it from the beginning of your paper into another document for submittal.

The conference committee can not stress this enough. Please try to get started as soon as possible on this. The deadlines are not flexible.

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The design teams need to follow the same steps as those listed above for the Technical Paper Submission.  The "abstract" for the design team is really considered the Letter of Intent. You can find a description of the Letter of Intent contents on the Team Competition Rules page. To support the use of the system at http://www.aiaa.org, the deadline date for the design team letter of intent submission is 24 February 2008.

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All presentations must be in an electronic format that can be displayed on a PC, i.e. Powerpoint or PDF format. Presentations will be loaded on to a single laptop prior to each session, so students must bring a copy of the presentation and all supporting media (movie files, etc.) on a CD or memory stick. All presentations will be displayed on the laptop/LCD projector. There will NOT be an overhead projector for transparency presentations.

Oral presentations at the Region IV Student Conference are scheduled at thirty minute intervals. These thirty minutes include the time for speaker introduction as well as paper presentation and questions and answers. Each paper presentor will be given a maximum of 20 minutes for oral presentation with additional time (approximately 8 minutes) allotted for questions from the floor. A speaker will be given a two-minute warning (after 18 minutes of oral presentation) and will be cut off at the end of his twenty minutes.