The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sponsors the annual GIS for Transportation Symposium (GIS-T). The next symposium will take place April 12-14, 2010 in Charleston, WV. The symposium is an opportunity for "persons in government and private industry who are interested in the use of GIS for transportation purposes to get together and share experiences, see state-of-art software, and learn more about this field. The Symposium annually attracts over 400 Symposium registrants in addition to the 50 exhibitors in the technology hall. "

As part of the symposium, the GIS-T is holding a student paper contest. From the contest site: "The contest is designed to encourage university students to develop solutions to current GIS-T issues. Contestants will be judged on their ability to develop and document useful, original research based on GIS-T issues and to relay their research results in a complete, clear, and well-referenced paper. The winners will present their papers at the 2010 GIS-T symposium."

The deadline for contest submissions is December 11, 2009. 

A full list of eligibility requirements, awards, and judging criteria are available on the GIS-T student paper site.