The Presidents' Summits: Strategic Planning Conferences for Biology

In 1999 AIBS hosted its first-ever Presidents' Summit and strategic planning conference for the presidents and senior staff of all AIBS member societies and organizations. Subsequent summits are now being planned.

Held November 11 through 14 at the Airlie Center in Warrenton, Virginia (www.airlie.com), the 1999 summit was a demonstration of AIBS's dedication to serving a unifying function for the biological community. AIBS funded, for each member society and organization, their president's travel and accommodation expenses to attend. Prominent biologists, professional facilitators, and representatives from public and private funding organizations, educational institutions, and policy centers were among the invited guests and featured speakers. Half-day sessions were devoted to such central topics as:

• Research Priorities in Organismal and Integrative Biology
• Biology and "Big Science"
• Research Funding from Public and Private Sources
• Public Policy Representation for Biologists
• Biological Education and Public Outreach
• Career Training and other Professional Issues

Documents

The following documents from the 1999 Presidents' Summit are available as pdf files:

• Complete program
• Complete list of attendees
• March 2000 report on the Summit from BioScience
• The 11 post-Summit initiatives for collaborative action among AIBS and its members
• Post-Summit plan for expanding the AIBS Public Policy Office

For information...

For information about AIBS summits and strategic planning conferences, contact Richard O'Grady, AIBS Executive Director, rogr...@aibs.org, 202-628-1500 x 258.