Code of Professional Conduct

By attending any Society event, you agree voluntarily to abide by our Code of Conduct.

Authorship: All authors connected to a presentation and/or abstract must agree on all information contained in the presentation. An author who submits a presentation to the conference must have intentions of attending, registering, and presenting at the meeting once the submission is accepted into the program.

Harassment and Safety: The society is dedicated to providing a safe, hospitable, and productive environment for everyone attending our events, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, physical appearance, or sexual orientation. It is important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is neither healthy nor productive. Accordingly, the society prohibits intimidating, threatening, or harassing conduct during our conferences. This policy applies to speakers, staff, volunteers, and attendees. Conference participants violating the code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference, at the discretion of the meeting host and society leadership.
Harassment of meeting attendees will not be tolerated in any form. Harassment includes offensive gestures or verbal comments related to gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, physical appearance, or sexual orientation in public spaces; inappropriate physical contact or unwelcome attention (particularly on the part of senior scientists or staff towards students or assistants); deliberate intimidation, stalking, following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior by the recipient of that behavior or by anyone witnessing the inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately.
If a participant or exhibitor engages in, or is accused of harassing behavior, the meeting host or society leadership will investigate the report and may take action as appropriate, ranging from a simple warning to the offender to expulsion from this and future conferences. If expulsion is deemed necessary, the offender will not be entitled to reimbursements or refunds for costs incurred at the conference. If you are being harassed, notice someone else being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the meeting host or society officers who can take appropriate measures to ensure that the behavior desists. Reports of inappropriate behavior can remain anonymous if so requested.
Society officers will be happy to help the host or meeting attendees contact convention venue security or local law enforcement, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment, to enable them to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance, and want to make your experience as productive and professionally stimulating as possible.

Photography and Social Media: The society supports the communication and discussion of science in all formats. Information, including original data, slides, or other visual representations, may be summarized and discussed by attendees and science writers via blogs and other social media formats. However, we ask that this be done respectfully and that permission be obtained from the presenter before reproducing any visual materials.