Infants and children are welcome at the AOS Annual Meeting. To request accommodations relating to pregnancy or infant care, email meeting@americanornithology.org.
Caregiver Grants
New this year, AOS is offering grants to offset the extra costs incurred by caregivers (such as parents of young children) to attend the annual meeting. Any conference registrant is eligible, although priority will be given to presenters and early career researchers. Applicants can apply for travel awards as well as caregiver awards.
Funds may be used in any manner to support dependent care—to cover the cost of travel to the conference venue for an accompanying adult caregiver, the cost of dependent care at the conference venue, the cost of additional dependent care at home during the conference, etc. Applicants may also request AOS caregiver grants to cover the Companion/Guest registration fee, which would allow the caregiver to attend all regular events at the conference (see Registration page for details), or funds to cover specific ticketed events for caregivers and dependents (e.g., tickets for the closing event at the Alaska Museum). Funds cannot be used for conference registration or travel for the applicant.
You do not need to register for the annual meeting before submitting an abstract; however, you are required to register within 30 days of receiving notification of your award. Awardees will be notified ahead of the March 15 Early Bird registration deadline to ensure that applicants can take advantage of the discounted rate.
Caregiver grant applications must be submitted online via the Member Portal (see instructions below). Applications must include a half-page written description of the need for support and how the funds will be used. Application deadline: 15 February 2019 at 5:00 PM EST.
Already have an existing Member Portal account?
If you already have have a Member Portal username and password (e.g., you are a current or previous member of AOS or one of the other OSNA societies), you can navigate directly to the application page. Please note, depending on your browser settings, you may be asked to log in again. Upon logging in, you should be redirected to the application form.
Don’t have a Member Portal account or you are not sure?
If you do not already have a username and password, you will first need to set up your free account from the Member Portal login page. Click the “Create a User Account” on the left side of the login page.
If you are not sure if you have an existing account, click the “Forgot your password? Click here” link on the left side of the page and then enter your email address on the following page. If you have an existing account with that email address, the system will send you a link to reset your password.
Once you have your account established, you can navigate to the submission form by selecting “View Open Competitions” in the Awards, Competitions, & Submissions section in the lower right of the screen. On the resulting page, find “AOS 2019 Caregiver Grants” and click “View.”
Childcare
The Local Organizing Committee is currently researching availability of childcare on-site at the conference hotels. Please check back for more information.
Lactation Room
There will be a lactation/quiet room available at the main conference venue (Egan Center, third floor), which will have a small refrigerator and comfortable chairs. Sinks are available in restrooms right across the hallway.
Local Activities
The Keynote Lecture on Tuesday evening at the opening reception at the Dena’ina Center will be a wonderful tale of adventure of a young woman (Caroline Van Hemert) and her husband on their extraordinary 4000-mile journey from the coast of northwestern Washington to the coast of the Bering Sea in northwestern Alaska, all under their own power. They rowed up the inside passage of British Columbia and southeastern Alaska, skied over coastal glaciers and icefields, canoed down the Yukon River, hiked over and across the Brooks Range along the entire Arctic slope, and finally rafted down a river to the shore of the Bering Sea. This lecture is free and open to the public and should be of interest to families with school-aged children.
The closing event at the Alaska Museum on Friday evening should also be a great event for families with children of all ages. There will be food and music, and the hands-on Discovery Center and Spark!Lab will be open for fun and exploration. Fascinating exhibits in the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center will also be open, displaying cultural artifacts from all across Alaska. Tickets for the closing event cost only $10 for children aged 6-12; $35 for guests 13 and older; the closing event is free for children under 6.
The Local Organizing Committee is also currently researching local summer camps that will be available in the Anchorage area for school-aged children during the week of the conference, and will post opportunities here soon. Several of the pre- and post-conference field trips will also be family-friendly. Please check the Field Trip page for more information.
