The Institute for Fundamental Science (IFS) hosts a weekly seminar series aimed at bringing both outside researchers as well as local IFS scientists to present their research. It is expected that seminars will be given at a level which allows all in IFS to follow the general seminar topics, while also including a level of technical detail that ensures experts in the respective areas are able to obtain full benefit from the seminar.

General guidelines:

1. Seminars are organized by a Seminar Organizer who is appointed by the Director of IFS.  The Seminar Organizer is responsible for i) encouraging the membership to invite excellent speakers on timely topics of interest to the membership and ii) formally approving all seminar requests. The Seminar Organizer may request additional information about potential speakers in order to assess the appropriateness of the speaker and topic and may turn down requests they deem inappropriate for the IFS seminar series.
2. The Seminar Organizer is in charge of issuing a “call” to solicit for speakers, and to encourage a healthy set of topics within the seminar series subject to IFS members’ willingness to invite/host/pay for speakers.
3. Only IFS members may request approval to invite seminar speakers. Once a seminar speaker has been approved by the Seminar Organizer, the IFS member host is responsible for the invitation, introduction, and hosting activities.
4. The normal seminar day/time is Monday 4-5pm, excluding holidays. Other days/times can be used if necessary to accommodate a speaker’s schedule.
5. Scheduling an additional seminar speaker (e.g. a local speaker) during a week that already has the Monday slot filled can be done so long as the request comes in at least one week before the scheduled date. Last-minute requests to schedule a seminar (less than one week’s notice) is discouraged and should not be expected to be accommodated.
6. The IFS grant technician will maintain a schedule of seminars on the IFS website: https://ifs.uoregon.edu/current-seminars/.

Use of IFS funds for travel, local and hosting expenses of speakers:

Only IFS voting members may request IFS funds (subject to the rules and restrictions below) to support the travel and hosting expenses of an external speaker.

1. IFS provides up to $1000 of support for travel, local, and hosting expenses per external speaker. The cost of refreshments is covered separately by IFS and is not included in these calculations.
2. Request for reimbursement for hosted meals (not including alcohol), if applicable, can be included in the amount covered from the IFS allocation of $1000. As a general guideline, the maximum reimbursement for a hosted dinner is ½ of the allowable U.S. General Services Administration daily Meals & Incidentals amount for Eugene (in 2024 this is $80 / 2 = $40 per person) multiplied by the number of attendees up to a maximum of six people and including gratuity of up to 20%.
3. The IFS member host (or the visiting speaker) must cover travel and local expenses that exceed $500. If UO is paying, an index with sufficient funds to cover overages should be provided to the IFS grant technician by the member host prior to booking travel.
4. When providing lunch for the seminar speaker and IFS graduate students, if the IFS index is used to pay for the lunch, all IFS grad students must be invited. If the host’s index is used to pay for the lunch, the host may determine which grad students are invited.
5. IFS will provide a maximum of N * $1000 support per academic quarter. No IFS support is available for summer quarter, nor for a seminar held over winter break or spring break.  Exam week can be used for a seminar, subject to the N * $1000 maximum per academic quarter.
6. IFS funds are not to be used for the travel or hosting expenses of speakers who are affiliated with IFS regardless of where they are physically based.
7. Dual/multiple-purpose visits (extended visit by a collaborator who also gives a seminar) must have the majority of their travel and local expenses covered by non-IFS funds.
8. Requests for speaker support should be made at least three weeks prior to a seminar speaker’s scheduled date and prior to making any travel arrangements.

For the academic year 2024-25, the Director has appointed Pouya Asadi to be the Seminar Organizer.

Reserving the IFS Seminar or IFS Conference Room

Click here for IFS’s Seminar and Conference Room Use policies.