Abstract submission guidelines:
In discussion with railroaders and consulting engineers regarding the technical content of the conference program, several factors and philosophies have consistently been articulated. Presentation topics should be evaluated based on the following criteria:
1) Abstract Quality - The abstract should clearly and concisely explain what the presentation will be about and its significance to railroad environmental performance
2) Timeliness - Of current and/or future interest and significance to the railroad industry
3) Relevance to Railroads - Generally be on a railroad-specific application or on a topic that can be directly applied to railroad environmental performance (but see #4 below)
4) Innovative - Concepts and technologies that are particularly innovative. Sometimes these may come from another field outside railroading and warrant presentation to expose the railroad industry to their potential.
5) Ability to Evaluate Success (or Failure) - If the topic represents application of a method, what can the presentation tell the audience about what did or did not work and why. The audience needs to be able to learn from the presentation.
6) Broad Significance - Topics with broad interest to conference attendees are better candidates for spoken presentations. Excellent, but narrow-interest topics may be better suited for a poster presentation.
7) Uniqueness - Topics that do not duplicate another in the session or conference.
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