LATEST NEWS

The SSE Sponsorship Highlight presents personal stories from individuals who have received SSE funding. This month we highlight the recipients of the 2018 Graduate/Postdoc Travel Supplement, which provided a travel stipend to the Evolution 2018 meeting in Montpellier, France.

Congratulations to the 2019 Graduate Research Excellence Grant - R. C. Lewontin Early Award recipients! This award provides research funding for students in the early stages of their Ph.D. programs to collect preliminary data or to enhance the scope of their research beyond current funding limits.

Context statement: We received 157 GREG-R.C. Lewontin Early Award applications. The evaluation committee, Chaired by VP Tracey Chapman, selected 24 proposals for funding. Based on inferences from given names, 56.7% of Lewontin applicants and 62.5% of the winners are female. The evaluation committee consisted of 6 females and 3 males; 3 reviewers are GSAC members.  

Congratulations to the 15 finalists for the W. D. Hamilton Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation! The finalists will present their research during the Hamilton Award Symposium at Evolution 2019 in Providence, RI, USA on Saturday, June 22 between 11:15 am and 5:30 pm. Don't miss this showcase of outstanding graduate research.

Context statement: We received 109 Hamilton Award applications. The evaluation committee, co-chaired by Katy Heath and Joel McGlothlin, selected 15 finalists. Based on inferences from given names, 62.5% of Hamilton Award applicants and 73.3% of the finalists are female. The evaluation committee consisted of 3 females and 4 males.

Beginning at Evolution 2019 in Providence, our meetings will include a group of vetted and trained attendees who will serve the community as Evo Allies. The role of an Evo Ally is to serve as a visible colleague who is available to offer support to Evolution Meeting participants who are targets of, or who witness, inappropriate behavior. The Evo Allies will be trained by our professional safety officer, Dr. Sherry Marts. Evo Allies do not participate in any aspect of investigating reports or sanctioning. Evo Allies commit to creating safe spaces at the meeting by serving as active bystanders.

This year’s Evo Allies are: Dean Adams, Cecile Ane, Rayna Bell, Dan Bolnick, Butch Brodie, Jeremy Brown, Kelsey Byers, Daren Card, Nancy Chen, Sam Church, Nancy Emery, Anahi Espindola, Gabby Guilhon, Tracy Heath, Emily Josephs, Laura Lagomarsino, Chris Moore, Corrie Moreau, Susan Perkins, Samantha Price, Leslie Rissler, Sharon Strauss, Josef Uyeda, Jodie Wiggins, and Melissa Wilson. Look for their Evo Ally badges at the meeting. Read more about Safe Evolution here.

This month on the blog, we hear from blog editor Sasha Mushegian about learning from scientific failures big and small (“Learning From Failure”), and from Érica M. S. Souza (pictured here) about overcoming myriad challenges while pursuing a career in biology in Brazil (“Building a Scientific Career in Brazil”). Contact Sasha to submit your story, perspective, or project to the blog.

Dr. Uyeda is an assistant professor of evolutionary biology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic and State University studying the drivers of phenotypic evolution at the macroevolutionary scale. Read his full profile here.

Dr. Germain is an assistant professor in the Department of Zoology & the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia studying the ecology and evolution of species coexistence in spatially-structured landscapes. Read her full profile here.

The W. D. Hamilton Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation is given to a current or recent graduate student who presents an outstanding talk based on their graduate work at the annual meeting. Finalists present their papers during a day-long symposium of Hamilton Award candidate talks. Continue reading to hear from six of the 2018 finalists about their experiences at the II Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in Montpellier, France.

The SSE Community Blog is looking for writers to report on the Evolution 2019 meeting in Providence, RI, USA. If you’re interested in informal scientific writing and reaching out to your colleagues who couldn’t make it to the meeting (and even those who were there and couldn’t be everywhere at once), please consider signing up! If you’d like to commit to writing a post, please contact blog editor Sasha Mushegian at blog@evolutionsociety.org and mention which conference events you plan to cover. Continue reading to learn more about what we’re looking.

If you are attending Evolution 2019 and would like to present a poster, you must submit your title and abstract by 10 PM Eastern time tonight. After logging in to the registration portal, click "Profile Home" to access the poster submission page. 

Beginning at Evolution 2019 in Providence, our meetings will include a group of vetted and trained attendees who will serve the community as Evo Allies. The role of an Evo Ally is to serve as a visible colleague who is available to offer support to Evolution Meeting participants who are targets of, or who witness, inappropriate behavior. The societies will sponsor training by our Safe Evolution officer (Dr. Sherry Marts) prior to the start of the meeting, and they will be designated with a special badge.

Evo Allies are there to listen, to help targets or witnesses deal with what has happened and to inform them of their options. The role of Evo Allies is to support individuals who have experienced or witnessed inappropriate behavior in making their own decision about whether or not to report it. Evo Allies do not participate in any aspect of investigating reports or sanctioning. Evo Allies also commit to creating safe spaces at the meeting by serving as active bystanders.

We currently have 26 Evo Allies from ASN, SSB and SSE who are in the process of vetting and training.

For more information about Safe Evolution, please check out the website: https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/safe-evolution.html

Congratulations to the Gould Prize awardee, Dr. Mohamed Noor! Dr. Noor will present the Gould Prize public outreach lecture at this year's Evolution meeting in Providence, RI, USA in June. Read more about Dr. Noor’s outstanding outreach efforts here.

Congratulations to the 2019 Dobzhansky Prize Winner, Dr. Matthew Pennell! Dr. Pennell will present the Dobzhansky Prize talk at this year’s Evolution meeting in Providence, RI, USA in June. Read more about Dr. Pennell’s research here.

The societies sponsoring the 2017 Evolution meeting in Portland and the 2018 Evolution Congress in Montpellier required all conference participants to agree to a meeting Code of Conduct. We have recently released a transparency report that serves to inform attendees and society members about reported incidents, general outcomes of those reports, and steps taken by the societies to further prevent inappropriate behavior at our meetings. You can read the full report here. Visit the Safe Evolution page to learn more about the tri-societies’ commitment to promoting a safe, inclusive, and professional work environment at the joint Evolution Meetings.

Dr. Li is an assistant professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute on the Cornell University campus studying the evolutionary processes at the gene, genome, and microbiome levels that shaped the plant diversity. Read his full profile here.

Dr. Field is an assistant professor in evolutionary paleobiology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge studying the macroevolutionary history of birds. Read his full profile here.

Congratulations to the 2019 Fisher Prize winner, Dr. Matthew Zuellig for his paper, “A two‐locus hybrid incompatibility is widespread, polymorphic, and active in natural populations of Mimulus” Evolution (2018) 72: 2394-2405. Read more about his elegant study here.

Reminder: Early registration for Evolution 2019 ends tonight! Register before 10:00 PM tonight, April 15, to receive the early-bird rate and apply for travel awards, apply to volunteer, or apply or the Hamilton Award symposium. Start your registration here: https://www.evolutionmeetings.org/registration.html

Tell your story at Evolution 2019!

Stories are powerful. Whether hilarious or heartbreaking, subversive or soothing, it matters who takes the stage and what stories are told. We want to hear yours and highlight the diverse voices of evolutionary biology!

On June 23, 2019, The Story Collider will host a very special edition of our live show at the Evolution Meetings in Providence. This event is organized by the ASN, SSE, and SSB Diversity Committees, with funds from each of the three societies. We are searching for five people to share true, personal stories on the theme ‘Outside the Distribution.’

All you need at this point is the seed of an idea for your story. It can be about almost anything—an important experiment, a rough day in the field, misadventure, love, loss, and more; but it must be about you. Our format does not include slides or props. It’s not the place for lectures. It’s about lived experiences. Exotic locations and exciting action never hurt, but what we care about is how you’ve grown as a result of the events in your life. If you’re selected for the show, experienced Story Collider producers will work with you for more than a month to help you prepare.

Send a brief pitch to stories@storycollider.org with “Evolution Story Idea” in the subject. The deadline for pitches is May 3, 2019. If you are curious or would like some inspiration, read more at https://www.storycollider.org/submissions or browse The Story Collider podcast archive at http://soundcloud.com/the-story-collider.

Earlier this year, the SSE Public Policy Committee offered grants to four SSE members to attend science communication and advocacy training held by the American Institute for Biological Sciences (AIBS) on March 25-27 in Washington, DC. In addition to the training, participants spoke with their elected congressional representatives during meetings organized by AIBS. Continue reading to hear from two SSE-funded participants about their experiences.

The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) is in search of three additional PhD student members to serve in the 2020 cohort! GSAC values diversity, and encourages applications from the full diversity of the student and postdoc evolutionary biology community, including (but not limited to) all aspects of identity and background, types of institution, or scientific approach. Applicants should be organized, possess leadership skills, and be interested in working with SSE members to contribute to the society. The GSAC represents student and postdoc interests to the SSE Council and facilitates interaction among students and postdocs and between students, postdocs, and mentors. Our goal is to become a source of information for students to use both during their graduate school career and as they make career transitions. Apply HERE by April 15!

The SSE Council invites proposals for two SSE-sponsored symposia to be held at the 2020 Evolution meeting in Cleveland, OH, USA on June 19-23, 2020. SSE Council considers the novelty of the topic and likely interest among its members when selecting symposia to sponsor. Sub-fields or taxonomic groups that have been underrepresented in past symposia will be considered preferentially. Previous sponsored symposia are listed on the SSE webpage along with detailed instructions for preparing proposals.

SSE Council seriously considers the diversity of participants as a criterion for symposium funding. Symposium organizers are expected to take into account gender, seniority, nationality, and other axes of diversity traditionally underrepresented in Society symposia, and to describe their efforts in the proposal.

To be assured of full consideration, proposals must be received by midnight Eastern Standard Time on June 1, 2019. Read more here.

This program sends undergraduate students to the annual Evolution meeting to (i) present a poster, (ii) receive mentoring from graduate students, postdocs, and faculty, and (iii) participate in a career-oriented 'Undergraduate Futures in Evolutionary Biology' panel and discussion. The program is funded by SSE and the BEACON Center for Evolution in Action. Each selected awardee receives conference registration, round-trip airfare, dorm accommodations (double occupancy), a $200 meal stipend, and a ticket to the Super Social. Deadline March 31. Learn more here.

Are you a current or recent graduate student presenting a talk based on your graduate work at Evolution 2019? Considering applying for the W.D. Hamilton Award during meeting registration. 15 finalists will be selected to present during the day-long Hamilton Symposium on Saturday, June 22. Finalists receive a $500 travel stipend, and the best talk will receive the W.D. Hamilton Award and $1000. Register by April 15 if you wish to apply. Learn more about the award here.

SSE is offering 50 travel stipends, $500 each, for graduate students and postdocs to attend the meeting. Recipients must present a talk or poster at the meeting. Application is part of meeting registration. Researchers at various careers stages working in low-GDP countries may be eligible for the SSE International Travel Stipend, which may cover travel and lodging expenses. Each meeting attendee may only receive one society-sponsored travel award. Learn more here.