AIBS News November 2006

• Preliminary Program Set for 2007 AIBS Annual Meeting; Register Now

  The 2007 AIBS annual meeting, on the theme "Evolutionary Biology and Human Health," will be held 14–15 May 2007 in Washington, DC, at the Capital Hilton Hotel. The program chair is 2007 AIBS president Douglas Futuyma, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. To register online, go to www.aibs.org/events/annual-meeting/annual_meeting_2007.html

  Plenary speakers and discussion groups will approach the meeting's topic through a variety of cross-cutting themes involving science, education, and public policy. Principles and methods of evolutionary biology are becoming increasingly important in many aspects of health science, among them understanding the human genome, the normal functions and malfunctions of human genes, and the origin and evolution of infectious diseases. These are some of the topics addressed in sessions on infectious diseases, genes and genomics, and human adaptation and malfunction. The rest of the meeting's program will be rounded out by events such as a contributed poster session, a diversity lunch, and AIBS awards.

  The meeting will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Natural Science Collections Alliance (separate registration is required; e-mail: admin@nscalliance.org) and will be followed by a meeting of the AIBS Council of member societies and organizations, 15–16 May (contact: rogr...@aibs.org).

  Preliminary Program

  Monday, 14 May

  Morning
  

  • Opening remarks, AIBS President Douglas Futuyma, State University of New York at Stony Brook
  
  
  • Keynote address by Eric Green, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health

  Session A: Infectious Diseases
  

  • Edward Holmes, Department of Biology, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University
  
  
  • Rustom Antia, Department of Biology, Emory University
  
  
  • Discussion session

  Afternoon

  Session B: Genes and Genomics
  

  • Carlos Bustamante, Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology, Cornell University
  
  
  • Douglas C. Wallace, Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics, Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California–Irvine
  
  
  • Discussion session

  Special Discussion Groups: Education and Other Topics

  Evening

  • Welcome reception and poster session

  
  Tuesday, 15 May

  Morning

  Session C: Human Adaptation and Malfunction
  

  • Sarah Tishkoff, Department of Biology, University of Maryland
  
  
  • Martin Nowak, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University
  
  
  • Discussion session
  
  
  • Endnote address by Randolph Nesse, Evolution and Human Adaptation Program, University of Michigan

• Presentations at AIBS 2006 Annual Meeting Now Online

  Videos, slides, and transcripts of presentations made at the 2006 AIBS annual meeting, “Biodiversity: The Interplay of Science, Valuation, and Policy,” are online at http://client.blueskybroadcast.com/AIBS/ (direct link); they can also be found at the AIBS Virtual Library (www.aibs.org/virtual-library).

  The topics of the presentations are
  

  • “Learning to Speak Science: How the Scientific Community Can Learn to Win Back Its Political Influence in America,” by Chris Mooney
  
  
  • “Framing Science: Understanding the Battle over Knowledge,” by Matthew C. Nisbet, Ohio State University
  
  
  • “From Science to Policy: Biodiversity Protection, Metrics, and Results,” by Daniel Esty, Yale University
  
  
  • “The Endangered Species Act under Attack: The Dynamic Interplay between Science and Policy,” by Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders of Wildlife
  
  
  • “Applications of Biodiversity Research to Human Well-Being,” by Shahid Naeem, Columbia University
  
  
  • “Values and Valuation in a Rapidly Changing World,” by Richard B. Norgaard, University of California–Berkeley
  
  
  • “Valuing Ecosystem Services,” by Stephen Polasky, University of Minnesota
  
  
  • “Defining Effective Science for Biodiversity Policy,” by Stephen Bocking, Trent University, Canada

• AIBS Diversity Scholars Announced

  AIBS is proud to recognize four outstanding students as Diversity Scholars for 2006. The AIBS Diversity Scholars program recognizes outstanding biology students from underrepresented minorities, as well as students with disabilities. Each will receive a $1000 travel award to present research at a scientific meeting of his or her choice; complimentary travel and registration to the 2007 AIBS annual meeting, “Evolutionary Biology and Human Health”; and a one-year complimentary membership in AIBS. This year’s scholars are
  

  • Andrea Rivera, University of Hawaii at Manoa; she will present her research on coral reef ecology at the Humboldt Current System International Conference.
  
  
  • Christopher Himes, University of Washington, Seattle; he will present his research on mammalian population diversity at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution.
  
  
  • Daniel Howard, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; he will present his research on landscape effects on prairie mole crickets at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.
  
  
  • Tsitsi McPherson, University of Connecticut; she will present her research on tropical forest conservation at the Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting.

  For more information on the AIBS Diversity Scholars Program, and for application information for 2007, please visit www.aibs.org/diversity/diversity_ scholars_program.html

• USGS Coalition Hosts Third Annual Congressional Reception

  On 18 September 2006, the USGS Coalition held its third annual Capitol Hill reception, featuring exhibits that illustrate the biological, geographic, geological, and hydrologic research that scientists at the US Geological Survey conduct.

  AIBS is a founding member of the USGS Coalition. AIBS member societies that participate in the coalition are the American Fisheries Society, American Society of Agronomy, Association of Ecosystem Research Centers, Botanical Society of America, Council of Science Editors, Crop Science Society of America, Ecological Society of America, Natural Science Collections Alliance, NatureServe, North American Benthological Society, Phycological Society of America, Society for Range Management, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry–North America, Soil Science Society of America, Weed Science Society of America, and The Wildlife Society.

  AIBS member societies and organizations interested in becoming involved with the USGS Coalition should contact AIBS director of public policy Robert Gropp (e-mail: rgr...@aibs.org).

• BioOne Announces Staff Changes

  Mark Kurtz began work as BioOne’s director of business development on 30 October. Kurtz will be involved in the business, operational, and strategic management of BioOne as the organization’s services and benefits for publishers and subscribers expand. He replaces Todd Carpenter, who left BioOne to become managing director of the National Information Standards Organization.

  Before joining BioOne, Kurtz served as senior publishing editor in the Society Relations Department of Sage Publications, where he managed a portfolio of society and association journals. From 1999 through 2004, he was director of publications and new media for the Archaeological Institute of America.

  Kurtz is a graduate of Harvard University, with a master’s in the study of religion. Among his personal interests is the Dayton Peace Accords Project, of which he is chief operating officer.

  Lauren Kane joined BioOne on 2 October as manager of publisher and library relations. In this newly created position, Kane serves as liaison between BioOne’s publisher and library communities and its key partners in sales, customer support, and technology services. She is also responsible for the administrative operations of the office. Kane was most recently associate editor and journal publishing manager at Blackwell Publishing’s Academic Journals Division.

  Stacie Lemick, who has been an administrative assistant at BioOne since 2000, will be departing at the end of this year, but she will remain connected to BioOne through her work with SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), one of BioOne’s founding organizations.

• Recent Education Reports Online at www.aibs.org

  • 2006 AIBS/BSCS/NESCent evolution symposium update
  • 2007 AIBS annual meeting announced: “Evolutionary Biology and Human Health”
  • AIBS Diversity Scholars announced
  • Improving evolution education
  • NESCent evolution database for minority institutions
  • Call for BEN Scholar applications
  • Herpetology hotline
  • National study to focus on use of digital libraries
  • Student fellowship and scholarships opportunities
  • Upcoming conferences

• Recent Articles Online at www.actionbioscience.org

  Original article in English
  

  • “Coping with Climate Change,” by Anthony Prato, University of
    Missouri–Columbia, and Dan Fagre, US Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in West Glacier, Montana

  Spanish translations of previously posted articles
  

  • “El Cambio Climático y la Especiación en los Mamíferos” [Climate Change and Speciation of Mammals], interview with Anthony D. Barnosky, curator of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California–Berkeley
  
  
  • “¿Por qué Enseñar la Bioética?” [Why Teach Bioethics?], by Carolyn Csongradi, Palo Alto Senior High School, California

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