Social Events


The conference reception will be held in conjunction with the poster session from 17:00-18:30 on Wednesday, June 19, in the Grand Ballroom 2nd floor at the conference venue.

On Thursday, June 20, there will be a guided walking tour of NYC from 17:10-19:00 followed by the conference dinner from 19:00-21:00, in the Grand Ballroom 2nd floor.


Information of NYC walking tour

The walking tour starts from the hotel and takes attendees through historic spots around the middle-west section of Manhattan

New York, though a relatively young city by old world standards, is nonetheless layered in history! The middle-west section of Manhattan from 33rd Street to 47th Street alone holds many stories and secrets. In the 30’s & 40’s the Hotel New Yorker was one of New York’s hottest hotels for visiting Hollywood Stars and major celebrities as Times Square was where many movies premiered.

The original Pennsylvania Railroad Station was a magnificent Greek revival temple to transportation before air travel gained ascendency. It’s destruction in 1964 led to such great worldwide public outcry that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission was established as a result. Ironically, when Penn Station was constructed 60 years previously, it too closed a chapter in New York’s story by eliminating much of a district that had been called “The Tenderloin”, “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Satan’s Circus”; where in the gay 1890’s you’d find the highest concentration of brothels and gambling houses in Old New York.

Times Square wasn’t always New York’s entertainment district. Before it became Times Square it was Longacre Square, like the Longacre in London; a horse trading district. Between world wars I & II it was an adult playground of oyster saloons, lobster houses and show girls. Since the early 1990s it has been transformed once again, now one of the most family friendly neighborhoods in NYC!

Grand Central Terminal celebrated its 100th birthday February 2013. Grand is really an understatement to describe this magnificent structure which now serves only the northern suburbs of New York City with 144 active tracks. It came very close to demolition in 1965 but was thankfully saved by the same New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, born as a result of the wonton destruction of Penn Station!