Call for Abstracts

Abstract Submission opens in May 2025

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Division of Education invites academic and industry engineers, scientists, surgeons, and surgical educators to submit abstracts for presentation at the 2026 Annual ACS Surgeons and Engineers Meeting on March 10–11 in Chicago, IL. This meeting will serve as a venue for surgeons, surgical educators, engineers, and scientists to continue the dialogue between the simulation-based surgical education and engineering communities.

Both original and previously presented abstracts are welcomed from academia, industry, the military, and other organizations.

The call for abstract submission for the 2026 Surgeons and Engineers Meeting will open in May 2025. All abstracts will be peer-reviewed by the ACS Surgeons and Engineers Committee, and acceptance will be determined based on content, relevance, and encouragement of collaboration. Abstracts received by the deadline will be considered for either podium or poster presentation. All accepted abstracts will be notified by Wednesday, November 5, 2025.

Listed below, you will find abstract categories and the required sections that apply to each option. Abstract Submission Guidelines are presented at the bottom of the page.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• 3D printing
• Advanced manikins
• Artificial intelligence
  (including machine learning and deep learning)
• Augmented reality
• Automated surgical skill assessment
• Computer-based virtual trainers
• Educational databases
• Ergonomics and human factors
• Gaming for learning
• Haptics
• Learning management systems
• Medical/surgical robotics
• Motion analysis
• Patient safety and quality improvement
• Simulator development
• Standards in simulation technology
• Virtual physiology
• Virtual reality in surgical simulation
• Visualization

Authors whose original and completed research abstracts are accepted for podium presentations may be invited to submit a full-length manuscript () for consideration by Surgery. If your manuscript is selected by the Society Managing Editor, Gyusung Lee, PhD, you will be invited to submit it for possible inclusion as part of the collection of selected manuscripts from the 2026 Surgeons and Engineers meeting, which will be sent to the Editors-in-Chief of Surgery for consideration for possible publication.

• Multiple abstract submissions are allowed for each author; however, each author (presenter) will have up to two presentations, including podium and poster presentations, at the meeting. 
• No travel support/grant or waived/discounted registration is offered for presenters of accepted abstracts.
• Clinical case reports are not suitable for this meeting.
• Abstracts should be submitted through the Abstract Submission Portal. No email submissions will be accepted.
• No more than 10 authors can be listed in an abstract.
• Abstracts will be considered for either podium or poster presentation.
• The presenters of accepted abstracts must attend the meeting to present their work. No virtual presentation option will be offered.
• The body of the abstract must be no more than 300 words, including the required section headings. This does not include the title, author, or affiliation.
• Only one table or figure per abstract is allowed.
• Tables must not contain more than five columns or ten rows.
• Tables must be submitted using the abstract portal table-building tool within the online submission platform.
• Images and pictures should be a JPG file with a minimum resolution of 300 DPI.
• You may make changes to your submitted abstract until the submission deadline. Please make sure to finalize your abstracts.
• Upon notification of acceptance, presenters must complete their registration for the meeting before January 14, 2026, or their acceptance is forfeited, and abstract submissions may not be accepted for the next three years.
• Meeting registration will be opened in the late fall of 2025.

Please contact Gyusung Lee, PhD, at glee@facs.org or 312-202-5782 with any questions regarding the Surgeons and Engineers: A Dialogue on Surgical Simulation Call for Abstracts and meeting.