Welcome to the ASC 2020 Virtual Conference!
We are pleased to invite you to attend the virtual 2020 Applied Superconductivity Conference, which will take place from October 24 to November 7, 2020. The 2-week format aims to accommodate international attendance and make viewing of presentations convenient but not taxing. Please see the program at-a-glance and answers to many frequently asked questions on the Virtual FAQ page.
Over the past 2 months since the virtual ASC 2020 was broadly announced, we have been working to secure a virtual conference platform that provides a first-rate conference experience while keeping the cost to attend the virtual meeting to a reasonable level. We are pleased to work with Whova for Plenary and Oral presentations as well as overall meeting scheduling, and iPosterSessions to provide a unique and highly interactive Poster and Exhibition platform.
The Program Committee has crafted a virtual meeting that facilitates leisurely viewing of presentations on demand, while also providing the spontaneous live discussion and sidebar meetings that make the in-person event valuable. Some features of the online platform are truly exciting because they are impractical or not implemented for the in-person meeting, including dynamic content in posters, poster gallery sorting, threaded chat in moderated discussions, polling, contact notification, attendee matching by interest and topical area, and searchable attendee profiles.
The virtual ASC 2020 will have an Exhibition featuring top manufacturers and suppliers in our community, and the virtual platform will provide detailed analytics and related features not provided by the in-person meeting. The program will feature events of importance to students, post-docs, and rising professionals, collected in 2020 as a new activity called Elevate, where career and professional training, panel discussions, meet-up with keynote speakers, and diversity events are planned. We are also happy to announce that the ASC 2020 special issue will be published in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, where all presenters will have the opportunity to submit a manuscript for consideration, and all registered attendees will receive a link to download the entire special issue when it is complete next year.
It is ironic that, one year ago, we chose “Horizons in clear view” as the conference theme. Having now passed through the major trials of 2020, with more undoubtedly still to come, we have been reassured by the widespread support that we have received from the applied superconductivity community. We are convinced that, indeed, the virtual ASC 2020 will be the gathering that brings into clear view the technical challenges, key persons, and major opportunities in applied superconductivity.
We hope to see you there!
Lance Cooley
Chair, ASC 2020