October 24, 2003

TO:	Members of ADSA, ASAS, and PSA
FROM:	Terry Etherton, President of ASAS Joe O’Donnell, President of ADSA Tony Pescatore, President of PSA Larry Benyshek, Overall Program Committee Chair

RE:	Call for Abstracts – Joint ADSA/ASAS/PSA Meeting, ARPAS, Northeast Branch/Section of ADSA-ASAS, and ADSA Southern Branch

The joint meeting of ADSA, ASAS, and PSA is scheduled for St. Louis, Missouri, July 25 to 29, 2004. The 2004 meeting web site (http://www.fass.org/2004) includes instructions for electronic submission of abstracts (deadline: 11:59 p.m. CST, March 3, 2004), contact information for all Program Committee Chairs, the Program Highlights and Special Requests for Abstracts, and a housing form, among other items.

The Program Committees and the Joint Meeting Planning Committee have planned for an exciting program, which includes 30 symposia. Sessions will include panel discussions, internationally known speakers, workshops, keynote session speakers, and other formats as well as traditional poster and oral presentations. The outstanding planning of these committees has ensured that this will be a value-packed meeting.

A special highlight of the 2004 meeting is the Triennial Growth Symposium scheduled for Sunday, July 25, 2004. The purpose of this symposium is to bring together animal scientists from around the world and provide them with the latest research philosophies, discoveries, and technologies concerning growth of farm animals.

Two special workshops are being planned; one by the ADSA, ASAS, and PSA Extension Committees and the other by the ADSA Dairy Foods Division. The Extension workshop will feature four sessions on: environmental, biosecurity, international, and extension realities with several presentations under each topic. The objective of the Dairy Foods workshop is to educate students and others in traditional and new dairy product evaluation techniques and provide an additional training and practice forum for students participating in the National Collegiate Dairy Product Judging Competition.

The Opening Session Speaker Selection Committee is also in the process of engaging another excellent speaker for the Opening Session on Sunday evening, July 25. Watch the web page and future mailings for information on this outstanding speaker.

This meeting will address many topics and issues of interest to you as a scientist or practitioner involved in teaching, extension, research, and commercial activities in all areas of animal agriculture, ranging from the farm to the table. Please take special note of the Program Highlights and Special Requests for Abstracts from the individual Program Committees, which are posted on the meeting web page.

The St. Louis Executive Conference Center at America’s Center is located in the heart of downtown St. Louis across the street from one of St. Louis’ newest hotels, the Renaissance Grand Hotel. Meeting participants are only a few steps from the many restaurants, the St. Louis historic Riverfront, the soaring Gateway Arch, history and science museums, and for baseball fans, Busch stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. The meeting rooms will be exceptionally good with equipment for electronic presentation (LCD projection) in every session. The Cyber Café will again be an important part of the meeting.

Encourage students to attend! We are making special efforts to attract students, both graduate students and undergraduate students, and industry personnel to the meeting.
As our societies move into the new millennium we will use the web site more. Please visit the society’s web sites and the meeting web site frequently for updates. Some of the information found on the meeting web site includes:

• Graduate Paper Contest Information

• Undergraduate Paper Contest Information

• Quality Standard for Abstracts

• Instructions for Poster Presentations

• LCD Presentation Information

• Special Audio-Visual Request Form

• Special Event Request Form (deadline is December 1, 2003)

ADSA, ASAS and PSA 2004 Award Nominations. ADSA 2004 award nominations are due December 2, 2003, with complete supporting materials due to the Awards Chair by February 3, 2004. The ASAS deadline for 2004 awards is February 4, 2004. The PSA deadline for award nominations is January 5, 2004, with complete supporting materials due to the Awards Chair by March 1, 2004. Check each society web site for award information.

As more information becomes available it will be posted to the web site.

We look forward to seeing you in St. Louis for the second joint meeting of ADSA, ASAS, and PSA.