Call for Papers – AASV 2021 Student Seminar

Veterinary Student Scholarships

The 2021 AASV Annual Meeting will be conducted virtually. The AASV Program Committee and staff are working to confirm the logistics for the conference presentations, exhibits, and networking activities. Please check frequently for the most up-to-date information.

The American Association of Swine Veterinarians announces an opportunity for veterinary students to make a scientific presentation at the AASV Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, February 28, 2021. Interested students are invited to submit a one-page abstract of a research paper, clinical case study, or literature review for consideration. The submitting student must be a current (2020-21) student member of the AASV at the time of submission (the membership application is available here), and must not have graduated from veterinary school prior to February 28, 2021. Submissions are limited to one (1) abstract per student.

Abstracts and supporting information must be submitted online at aasv2021.exordo.com (see below for details). Submissions must be completed before 11:59pm Central Daylight Time on Wednesday, September 16, 2020 (firm deadline). Late submissions will not be considered.

Students will receive an email from Ex Ordo confirming receipt of their submission. If they do not receive this confirmation email, they must contact Dr. Andrew Bowman ([email protected]) by Friday, September 18, 2020 with supporting evidence that the submission was made in time; otherwise the abstract will not be considered for judging.

The abstracts will be reviewed by an unbiased, professional panel consisting of private practitioners, academicians, and industry veterinarians. Fifteen abstracts will be selected for oral presentation in the Student Seminar at the AASV Annual Meeting. Students will be notified by October 15, 2020, and those selected to participate will be expected to provide the complete paper or abstract, reformatted for publication, by November 12, 2020.

Student Seminar:
As sponsor of the Student Seminar, Zoetis provides a total of $20,000 in support to fund travel stipends and the top student presenter scholarship. The student presenter of each paper selected for ORAL presentation receives a $750 stipend to help defray the costs of attending the AASV meeting. Veterinary students whose papers are selected for oral presentation also compete for one of several scholarships awarded through the AASV Foundation. The oral presentations will be judged to determine the amount of the scholarship awarded. Zoetis funds a $5000 scholarship for the student whose paper, oral presentation and supporting information are judged best overall. Elanco Animal Health provides $20,000 in additional funding enabling the AASV Foundation to award scholarships of $2500 each for 2nd through 5th place, $1500 each for 6th through 10th place, and $500 each for 11th through 15th place.

Student Poster Session:
Abstracts that are not selected for oral presentation in the Student Seminar will be considered for presentation in a poster session at the annual meeting. Zoetis, sponsor of the Student Poster Session, provides a $250 stipend for each student poster presenter who attends the meeting to participate in the session. Those selected for poster presentation will be expected to supply a brief paper, formatted for publication in the conference proceedings, by November 12. The guidelines for preparing posters for the display are available at aasv.org/annmtg/2021/posters.php.

Veterinary Student Poster Competition:
The presenters of the top fifteen poster abstracts compete for scholarship awards ranging from $200 to $500 in the Veterinary Student Poster Competition, sponsored by United Animal Health. See aasv.org/annmtg/2021/postercomp.htm for poster judging details.

Instructions for Submission of Abstracts

Abstract Content

Three categories of submissions will be accepted (Research, Clinical cases, Literature reviews). Submissions from all categories will be treated equally with respect to judging. The body of the abstract should include:

For Research Papers

  • Statement of the problem
  • Objective(s)
  • Brief materials and methods (including statistical analysis)
  • Significant results
  • Discussion of how results can be applied by practitioners

For Clinical Cases

  • Statement of the problem
  • Describe the herd(s) and the time period
  • Case history
  • State what data was collected, what tests were used, etc
  • Discuss the most significant findings and your recommendations
  • Describe how your findings will assist the practicing veterinarian
  • State what we can learn from this case or the methods used to work up this case
  • Itemize the take home message(s) for the audience

For Literature Reviews

(The literature review is meant to be a comprehensive review and a detailed summary of one specific topic)

  • State the focus of the paper and include why you think this is an important and timely subject for swine veterinarians
  • Discuss the most significant information gathered from the literature review. Describe how the findings will assist practicing veterinarians
  • Itemize the take home message(s) for the audience

Abstract Submission

ALL submissions must be entered at aasv2021.exordo.com no later than 11:59pm Central Daylight Time on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.

The rules for submission should be followed carefully. Abstracts will not be accepted after the due date. Abstracts that do not comply with the instructions will not be considered.

Each student may submit one abstract. Papers having multiple authors may be submitted and presented by only one of the student authors. Distribution of any stipend or scholarship award is at the discretion of the presenting author.

The submitting student must create a free account (name, email, password) at aasv2021.exordo.com.

Once logged in, select "Submit Abstract." The following six steps must be completed for a successful abstract submission:

1. TRACK. Select "Student Seminar"

2. TITLE and ABSTRACT. Abstracts are limited to 550 words of text plus one visual aid (table OR figure). The Ex Ordo online submission system will not accept abstracts that exceed the limit. The visual aid (table OR figure) must be uploaded as a high-quality jpg or png file with a generic, non-identifying filename. It should be referenced within the text of the abstract. The table or figure title should be brief but self-explanatory; it should contain enough information to stand alone but should not repeat information in the visual aid. Place the title above, not below, the table or figure. Do not include references in your abstract. There must be absolutely no identifiers (i.e., student name, school, state, country, diagnostic lab name, farm name, etc.) within the abstract, abstract title, or visual aid (including the visual aid filename). This abstract will be used for judging only. (If selected for presentation, a separate paper will be requested for publication in the conference proceedings.)

3. AUTHORS. The Ex Ordo online submission system will require the name, email address, and affiliation for TWO (and only two) authors:

  • AUTHOR 1: The veterinary student making the submission. The student author should be checked as both the corresponding and the presenting author. The student's veterinary college should be listed under "Affiliation."
  • AUTHOR 2: The one mentor/co-author who will verify the student's participation in the project. The co-author must be a veterinarian, university faculty member, or AASV member. The co-author's employing company, clinic, or university should be listed under "Affiliation."

4. TOPICS. Select "All Topics."

5. STUDENT CONTACT INFORMATION. Supply current mailing address and phone number for the student presenter.

6. STUDENT SEMINAR QUESTIONS. Confirm your current student membership in the national AASV organization, designate your veterinary school year classification, and certify your co-author's participation in your project and his/her status as a veterinarian, university faculty member, or AASV member.

CONFIRM THE SUBMISSION
Upon successful completion of the submission, BOTH authors will receive an emailed confirmation copy of the submission. If you do not receive the confirmation email (check your junkmail folder), log back into aasv2021.exordo.com to check the status of your submission. A completed submission will appear under "My Submissions" marked with a green "Submitted" tab. A yellow "Pending" tab means the submission is incomplete. If you are unable to resolve the issue, send a message to the session chair, Dr. Andrew Bowman: [email protected].

Submitted abstracts may be edited at any time up until 11:59 pm Central Daylight time on Wednesday, September 16, after which all abstracts will be locked for judging and submissions will no longer be accepted.

What Happens Next ...

Students will be notified of the judging panel's decision by October 15, 2020.

If accepted for oral or poster presentation, a paper formatted for publication in the conference proceedings will be due in the AASV office by November 12, 2020. The honorarium will be paid only to students who submit their papers on time. Students who wish to submit their research results to the Journal of Swine Health & Production (JSHAP) may submit an abstract (re-formatted according to the AASV Author Guidelines) for the AASV proceedings rather than the full paper (since papers published in full in the proceedings are not eligible for publication in JSHAP).

Students will be expected to provide their PowerPoint presentation to organizers in advance of the annual meeting; failure to meet the specified deadline will result in the student not being eligible for scholarship awards.

For more information, contact the AASV office (515-465-5255; [email protected] ).

 

AASV Student Seminar Judging

The initial judging of abstracts is accomplished by having all judges score the abstracts using the Initial Abstract Evaluation form below. The judges are then asked to rank the abstracts according to these criteria in case of tie scores. The judges’ results are averaged and the abstracts with the best 15 numerical scores are chosen for ORAL presentation. During the oral presentations at the AASV Annual Meeting, the judges complete the Student Seminar Presentation Evaluation (the next two scoresheets) to determine scholarship award winners.

 

Initial Abstract Evaluation

(for initial review and selection of presentations for the Student Seminar and Poster Session at the AASV Annual Meeting)

Stage of Completion ______

  • Complete (3)
  • Experiment complete, data collected, and results are being interpreted (2)
  • Still collecting data for project (1)
  • Project has not begun yet (0)

Interest to Practitioners ______

  • High interest and information immediately applicable (3)
  • Interesting and some components applicable (2)
  • Less interesting or applicable (1)
  • Not very interesting or applicable (0)

Subject Contribution _____

  • Significant contribution to industry knowledge (3)
  • Moderate contribution to industry knowledge (2)
  • Slight contribution to industry knowledge (1)
  • No real contribution (0)

Abstract Quality ______
Was the abstract well-written (spelling, grammar), easy to follow (organization, clarity), and with good scientific depth?

  • Exceptional - well-written and great scientific depth (5)
  • Well-written - one minor area needs improvement (4)
  • Acceptable - needing two or three minor improvements (3)
  • Needs improving - needing moderate improvements (2)
  • Needs significant improvements (1)
  • Not acceptable - very poorly written; needs to be fully re-written (0)

If the abstract does not rank high enough for oral presentation, should it be allowed to be presented in poster format? _____Yes _____No

 

Student Seminar Presentation Evaluation

(for evaluation of Student Seminar ORAL presentations and selection of student scholarship winners at the AASV annual meeting)

Click here to view an award-winning student presentation

Name:________________________________________

Subject ________

  • Original idea of student (4)
  • Component of a larger study-student ideas incorporated (3)
  • Confirmation of known information but possibly with a new twist (2)
  • Confirmation of known information (1)
  • Review (0)

Interest to Practitioners ________

  • High interest and information immediately applicable (4)
  • High interest but information not immediately applicable (3)
  • Interesting and some components applicable (2)
  • Less interesting or applicable (1)
  • Not very interesting or applicable (0)

Subject contribution ________

  • Significant contribution to industry knowledge(4)
  • Moderate contribution to industry knowledge (3)
  • Slight contribution to industry knowledge (2)
  • Summary of current information (1)
  • No real contribution (0)

Experimental Design Consistent with Expected Outcome ________

  • Very consistent (4)
  • Moderately consistent (3 )
  • Only slightly consistent (2)
  • Experimental design too simple or complex for expected outcome (1)
  • Lacked experimental design (0)

Perceived Overall Effort ________

  • Significant contribution to study (3)
  • Worked hard individually with some advisor help (2)
  • Average effort, possibly 50-50 with advisor or others (1)
  • Mostly someone else's work (0)

TOP TOTAL __________

Oral presentation*
Poor (0)
Fair (1)
Good (2)
Excellent (3)
Eye contact        
Posture        
Proper use of pointer and/or PowerPoint animation        
Poise (displays confidence)        
Ability to speak freely without use of notes or text        
Personal enthusiasm about the topic        
Demonstration of a true
understanding of the subject matter 		       
Displays understanding of possible applications of the topic        
Quality of presentation
(background, fonts, slide layout) 		       
Quality of materials used
(charts, tables, photos) 		       
Organization of the presentation        
Amount of relevant information covered        
Validity of data        
Adeptness or ability to handle Q & A orally        
BOTTOM TOTAL        

Top total __________ + Bottom total __________= OVERALL SCORE* __________

*If a student presentation lasts longer than the allocated 12 minutes, 10 points will be deducted from the overall score.

Scholarship Recipients

The roster of past veterinary student scholarship recipients is available at www.aasv.org/foundation/scholarshipwinners.htm.