Dear CNBC Faculty, Post-docs, and Students:

We would like to invite you to join us for the 12th Annual CNBC Retreat, to be held on October 17-19, 2008, at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort. The goal of our retreat is to foster scientific and social interactions among faculty, post-docs, and students affiliated with the CNBC. The program will include a full agenda of scientific presentations and discussions, as well as other informational, social, and recreational events.

Student-organized Data Blitz

There will be a student-organized data blitz Friday night at the hotel beginning at 8:00 pm. This session is open to all graduate students, post-docs, and faculty interested in attending. Pizza and soft drinks will be provided beginning at 7:30. The graduate student retreat representatives will be in touch with the students to provide more detailed information on the data blitz.

The first scientific session begins promptly at 9:00 am on Saturday, with a continental breakfast available beforehand. The program ends at 11:30 am on Sunday. Our invited keynote speaker will be Dr. Mickey Goldberg from Columbia University.  A preliminary schedule of events can be found at http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/retreatsched and is also available via a link at the registration web page, given below.

Talks

Saturday and Sunday morning talks will feature local University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon faculty. Dr. Mickey Goldberg will speak on Saturday  afternoon before dinner. On Sunday morning, three parallel talk sessions will showcase CNBC post-doc and student research.

Poster Session

There will be a poster session on Saturday evening (7:30-10:00 p.m.) that will feature the recent work of students and post-docs. Faculty should urge their students to make a poster presentation. The poster can be simple and include only a title, abstract, and a few figures, or can be a recycled or preview of prepared conference posters. Students and post-docs are encouraged to sign up for the poster session during the registration process.

Registration / Meals / Lodging

Faculty & Post-docs
The CNBC will cover the cost of Saturday night lodging (based on double occupancy), registration, and meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday). Please note that faculty and post-docs choosing to arrive on Friday will be responsible for their own lodging expenses.

Students
The CNBC will cover the cost of registration, meals (pizza on Friday, breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday), and lodging on Friday and Saturday in a chalet which sleeps 10 students in separate beds.

Special Arrangements
If you register to bring a guest or for single lodging accommodations, Barb Dorney will be in touch with you to provide information on personal costs.

Online registration will close on Monday, September 1, 2008.

2008 Retreat Registration Form

For questions, please contact Barbara Dorney ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Melissa Stupka ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), or members of the retreat planning committee.

Sincerely,

2008 Retreat Planning Committee

Rob Kass (CMU faculty) - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Aaron Batista (PITT faculty) - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jesse Sheehan (CMU student representative) -  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Erin Zimmerman (PITT student representative) - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Arun Sripati (CMU Post-doc representative) - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it