LATEST NEWS

The 2023 annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) is planned for June 21-25, 2023 in Albuquerque, NM, USA. The SSE Council invites proposals for one sponsored symposium at the meeting that highlights new topics, provides new perspectives, or generates new syntheses. This symposia will consist of six half-hour talks. 

Proposals are due September 1, 2022. Learn more.

Are you a graduate student planning on arriving in Cleveland slightly ahead of the meeting and looking for a way to get in the scientific mood while also exploring the city during the afternoon? Well, search no more, for the SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council(GSAC) is organizing a pre-meeting curator-led tour of Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s collections at 2:30pm on June 24th (meeting time 1:45pm). GSAC will cover the costs for entry and transport between the Huntington Convention Center and the Museum, so it is completely free. To participate, just fill out the following form: https://bit.ly/3GAKLHG 

This event is limited to 20 graduate students, and the deadline to register is June 15th.

Congratulations to the 2022 winner of the SSE Presidents' Award for Outstanding Dissertation Paper in Evolution, Dr. Maddie E. James, for her paper, “Phenotypic and genotypic parallel evolution in parapatric ecotypes of Senecio.” Evolution (2021) 75-12: 3115–3131. 

In this paper, Dr. James and co-authors investigated potential parallel evolution in dune and headland ecotypes of the Australian wildflower Senecio lautus. A comparison of nine dune-headland pairs, most phylogenetic sister groups, found strong parallel evolution of phenotype of branch and leaf traits with dune plants tall and headland plants prostrate. Despite phenotypic similarity among populations within each ecotype, evolutionary change was found in different genes. However, further investigation found a number of these genes had the same predicted function. This study shows response to selection that leads to parallel phenotypes is more complex when viewed at the underlying genetic level. Dr. James earned her Ph.D. at the University of Queensland, where she is now a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. 

Congratulations to the finalists for our outstanding graduate student presentation award: Mike Blazanin, Kyle David, Thomas Day, Ashleigh Glover, Olivia Harringmeyer, Stephen Johnson, Rohit Kapila, Brian Lerch, Talia Lowi-Merri, Bryan Lynn, Joseph Matheson, Cinnamon Mittan, James Santangelo, Shailee Shah, and Kate Snyder.

These finalists will present their work during the W.D. Hamilton Award Symposium at the in-person portion of the Evolution meeting in Cleveland, OH on June 25. This in person event will also be live streamed for all meeting participants.

Congratulations to the recipients of this year's R.C. Lewontin Early Award!

Karla Berg, Portland State University. Advisor: Mitchell Cruzan
Anusha Bishop, University of California, Berkeley. Advisor: Ian Wang 
Austin Chipps, Louisiana State University. Advisor: Jake Esselstyn
Danae Diaz, Duke University. Advisor: Stephen Nowicki
Paula Fernandez Begne, University of Chicago. Advisor: Marcus Kronforst
Aidan Harrington, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Advisor: David Moeller
Matheus Januario Lopes de Sousa, University of Michigan. Advisor: Daniel Rabosky
Josh Knecht, Binghamton University. Advisor: James Sobel
Danai Kontou, University of Cambridge. Advisor: Andrew Tanentzap
Sebastian Mortimer, Oregon State University. Advisor: Aaron Liston
Autumn Peterson, Georgia Institute of Technology. Advisor: William Ratcliff
Karissa Plum, University of Houston. Advisor: Rebecca Zufall
Verónica Reyes-Galindo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Advisor: Alicia Mastretta-Yanes
Fabian C. Salgado Roa, The University of Melbourne. Advisor: Iliana Medina
Sergio Serrato-Arroyo, Arizona State University. Advisor: Silvie Huijben
Keana Tang, University of Kansas. Advisor: Kelly Matsunaga
Emily Terrill, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Advisor: Eva Fischer
Matthew Treaster, University of Georgia. Advisor: Michael White
Robin Waterman, Michigan State University. Advisor: Jeffrey Conner

These awards assist students in the early stages of their PhD programs by enabling them to collect preliminary data or to enhance the scope of their research beyond current funding limits. Learn more here. 

The SSE Gould Prize Committee is pleased to announce Dr. Lisa White as the 2022 recipient of the Stephen Jay Gould Prize. Dr. White was selected for her work promoting the broader impacts of paleontology, evolution, and the nature and process of science, and for her role as a national leading voice in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the biological and geological sciences.

Dr. White is the Director of Education and Outreach for the University of California Museum of Paleontology at the University of California Berkeley and an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Climate Studies at San Francisco State University. Dr. White is also a member of the UC Berkeley Coalition for Education and Outreach Steering Committee, the Berkeley Natural History Museum Outreach Committee, and the UC Berkeley Science@Cal program Advisory Board. She chairs the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), chairs the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Broader Impacts and Outreach working group, and been a panelist at the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) National Diversity in STEM Conference. A micropaleontologist by training, Dr. White is a Fellow and Trustee of the California Academy of Sciences and in multiple invited keynote addresses, she has highlighted strategies for creating a culture that embraces diversity and inclusion in the advancement of the Earth and life sciences. 

Dr. White will present the Evolution 2022 public outreach lecture on Friday, June 24 in Cleveland, OH.

The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) and the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) are looking for a new Editor in Chief for the journal Evolution Letters. Evolution Letters was established in 2017 and is jointly run by the two societies. An Open Access journal, it aims to publish leading research from across the field of evolutionary biology.

The Editor in Chief is expected to be an established evolutionary biologist with a broad overview of the field. Main responsibilities are building on the initial success of the journal, fostering continued growth, with a focus on maintaining its quality and encouraging submission of the best research articles in the field. The Editor in Chief will oversee and work hand in hand with a board of Associate Editors, our publishers, and a Managing Editor.

Applications are due June 15, 2022. Continue reading to learn more.

Congratulations to the 2022 Dobzhansky Prize recipient, Dr. Philipp Brand, and the Dobzhansky Prize Honorable Mention, Dr. Jennifer Coughlan! Read more about their work and this award.

SSE is now accepting nominations for the Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals who have made substantial contributions to the study of evolution through conceptual advances, impactful publications, and/or outreach/education. In addition, individuals who have demonstrated outstanding mentorship of trainees, provided noteworthy service to the evolution community and/or contributed to the diversity and inclusion of the field will be recognized. The awardee will be chosen this summer and will be presented at the 2023 Evolution meeting in Albuquerque, NM. Nominate yourself or someone else by May 31, 2022. Learn more and apply here. 

The Society for the Study of Evolution recognizes that some of our members have additional needs and responsibilities that can inhibit participation at the annual Evolution meeting. Therefore SSE is excited to announce the Caregiver Award. In addition to providing free childcare at our meeting, SSE will be awarding up to $500 to SSE members who need assistance in covering caregiver costs while attending the annual Evolution meeting (in person or virtually). Eligibility for this award is broadly defined and includes anyone who cares for children, dependent adults (including adult children with a disability or elderly relatives), or people in need of personal assistance. This award can be spent as the awardee wishes to facilitate attendance. 

For example, this award can be used (but is not limited) to:

• bring someone who is in your care to the Evolution meeting


• bring someone who is helping to care for you to the Evolution meeting


• cover the cost of dependent care while you attend virtually


• cover the cost of dependent care at home while you travel


• cover any extra accessibility costs associated with attending

Awardees can spend this money in whatever way will help alleviate the cost of caregiving. We anticipate up to 20 awards will be made available, depending on the number of applicants.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/amNaLs2cyy34M4AR9. This application will close on June 1, 2022. 

The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), on behalf of the Joint ASN/SSB/SSE council, seeks a member of one or more of our societies to help plan and run our annual scientific conference – the Evolution meetings. Continue reading to learn more.

The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) is looking for two new council members for the upcoming year!

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 be a source of information for students and postdocs during their graduate school career and as they make career transitions, and to provide an early-career perspective to the rest of the SSE council. 

For example, we took a leading role in putting on the successful virtual Evolution Community Resources for Early Career Researchers (ECR^2) when Evolution 2020 was canceled, proposed and led the Bilingual Mentoring Program at Evolution 2021, and proposed the Caregiver Award at Evolution 2022.

Eligibility & Requirements

GSAC members must be graduate students at the time of application, at least one year into their PhD program, and members of SSE. Applicants should be organized, possess leadership skills, and be interested in working with SSE council and members to contribute to the Society. Many more details about our activities throughout the year can be found in our GSAC blog post on the SSE Community Blog. 

We strongly encourage those with non-traditional pathways to graduate school, those from non-R1 universities, and those from outside the United States to apply. GSAC is also committed to diverse representation, and we encourage applicants from historically excluded ethnic, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds. 

Duties

Students serve either a 2 or 3 year term, depending on whether they are chair of their cohort, and generally spend 5-10 hours per month on GSAC activities. Please see the GSAC structural document starting on Page 19 in the Officers Handbook for more details about requirements and current roles. 

DEADLINE: The deadline to apply has been extended to July 15, 2022. 

Learn more about how to apply on the GSAC page.

The deadline to register for the 2022 Evolution meeting at discounted early-bird rates has been extended to May 15, 2022. 

Evolution 2022 will be our first hybrid meeting, with a 2-day virtual conference (June 21-22) followed by the standard in-person conference (June 24-28) at the Huntington Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, OH. You can register to attend virtually or in-person, with the latter also including access to all virtual components. Virtual registrants can also view live-streamed portions of the in-person conference.

Virtual attendees can:

- Access the virtual platform
- View 2 days of faux-live talks 
- Present a faux-live talk (recorded ahead of time, presented at a scheduled time, and available for 6 months)
- Watch live-streamed events from the in-person part of the meeting, including:
     - All the plenaries, including the SSE Presidential Address, Gould Prize talk, and IDEA Award talk
     - All the symposia, including the W. D. Hamilton Award finalists talks, Dobzhansky Prize talk, and tri-society DEI symposium
     - The Evolution’s Rainbow talk series on the diversity of sex, sexuality, and gender in nature
- View faux-live and pre-recorded talks and recordings of live-streamed events on the virtual platform for 6 months following the meeting

In-person attendees can:

- Access the the in-person part of the meeting in Cleveland, OH
- Present an in-person talk or poster
- Upload a pre-recorded version of their talk to the virtual platform
- Attend in-person workshops and networking events (see below)
- Attend the plenaries, symposia, and special events like the Evolution’s Rainbow talk series
- View faux-live and pre-recorded talks and recordings of live-streamed events on the virtual platform for 6 months following the meeting

Early-bird rates for SSE members: 

Professional      Virtual $125      In-person $520
 
Postdoc              Virtual $50       In-person $435

Student              Virtual $20        In-person $350

Register Now!

These socials and networking events will all take place during the in-person portion of the Evolution 2022 meeting. Sign up for these events during meeting registration. Learn more here.

Evolutionary Biologists with Disabilities Mixer
Interested in meeting fellow evolutionary biologists with disabilities/chronic illnesses/Deaf folks and interested allies? Want to discuss increasing the inclusion and representation of disabled/chronically ill/Deaf students and staff in our diverse field? This is an informal chance to meet others interested in these topics, share experiences of disability in evolutionary biology, and hopefully increase our inclusion around issues of disability as a community. Anyone at any career stage and level of ability (including allies) is welcome to come join us. 

John Edmonstone Coffee Social for BIPOC Scientists 
This event is named after John Edmonstone, who was born into slavery in British Guiana and eventually taught and influenced a young Charles Darwin. Edmonstone's life highlights that people of color have been present--if invisible--in the development of evolutionary biology from the beginning. This mixer is an opportunity to interact with evolutionary biologists at all stages of their career and training who identify as people of color and their allies. 

LGBTQ+ networking lunch
Join your LGBTQ+ colleagues for a small group networking lunch event! This event aims to facilitate interactions between LGBTQ+ identified scientists at all career stages, help folks to network, glean career and professional advice, and create community for LGBTQ+ identified individuals. 

"Flying solo" coffee social
The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council will organize a coffee break for people who attend the Evolution meeting without their lab group or advisor. The event is intended to provide networking for people who are "flying solo" at Evolution 2022.

International Mixer
The international mixer is an opportunity for members from outside the US to connect, share experiences, and socialize. We will have some interactive games to help break the ice and help people to interact with each other. We are looking forward to hearing dozens of different accents!

PUI Mixer
An opportunity for evolutionary biologists working at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) to meet up with colleagues, and discuss common experiences, challenges, and opportunities. Grab a beverage - come and meet friends, network, and have fun!

Faculty-Student Networking Lunch
The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council is organizing small group networking lunches to facilitate interactions between students and faculty. 

Postdoc Networking Lunch
The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council is organizing small group networking lunches to facilitate interactions among postdocs. 

Latines in Evolution Mixer
Join the ‘Latines in Evolution’ mixer to get to know other Latines doing fantastic science in and outside Latin America. We welcome the participation of people from diverse backgrounds to stimulate conversations about the perspective of evolutionary biology in Latin America and strategies to strengthen local communities.

Super Social at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
This is the final conference dinner and social event. It will be held at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a waterfront indoor/outdoor venue that is only 0.5 miles (~10 min. walk) from the Huntington Convention Center (Uber vouchers are available if you need mobility assistance - please contact us). Food, drinks, music, dancing, and access to the Rock Hall exhibits will be available. 

SSE is pleased to offer free registration for the virtual portion of the 2022 Evolution meeting (June 21-22) to all SSE members who reside in one of the 152 countries and territories that are eligible for free or discounted SSE membership through the Global Membership Assistance program. Learn more.

The W. D. Hamilton Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Presentation will be given to a current or very recent graduate student who presents an outstanding talk based on their graduate work. The application to become a finalist will be part of meeting registration. Finalists will present their talks in person during the Hamilton Award symposium on Saturday, June 25th. Applications are part of meeting registration and are due May 1, 2022. Learn more.

The annual Evolution meeting is back, and registration is now open! 

The Evolution conference is the joint annual meeting of the American Society of Naturalists, the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Society of Systematic Biologists. The meeting is one of the premiere opportunities for sharing research on evolutionary biology each year.

Evolution 2022 will be our first hybrid meeting, with a 2-day virtual conference (June 21-22) followed by the standard in-person conference (June 24-28) at the Huntington Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, OH. You can register to attend virtually or in-person, with the latter also including access to all virtual components. 

Evolution 2022 will require all in-person attendees to be fully vaccinated and masked at the meeting. More information here.

Virtual Registration includes:

- Access to the Virtual Platform
- Ability to view 2 days of faux-live talks
- Opportunity to present a faux-live talk
- Access to watch the live-streamed plenaries during the in-person part of the meeting
- Access to on-demand talks for 6 months

In-person Registration includes:

- Attendance at the in-person part of the meeting in Cleveland, OH
- Opportunity to present an in-person talk or poster
- Access to in-person workshops and networking events
- All the benefits of virtual registration, except the opportunity to present a faux-live talk

Register before May 1 to take advantage of early-bird discounts on society member registration fees!

The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) is looking for two new council members for the upcoming year!

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 be a source of information for students and postdocs during their graduate school career and as they make career transitions, and to provide an early-career perspective to the rest of the SSE council. 

For example, we took a leading role in putting on the successful virtual Evolution Community Resources for Early Career Researchers (ECR^2) when Evolution 2020 was canceled, proposed and led the Bilingual Mentoring Program at Evolution 2021, and proposed the Caregiver Award at Evolution 2022.

Eligibility & Requirements

GSAC members must be graduate students at the time of application, at least one year into their PhD program, and members of SSE. Applicants should be organized, possess leadership skills, and be interested in working with SSE council and members to contribute to the Society. Many more details about our activities throughout the year can be found in our GSAC blog post on the SSE Community Blog. 

We strongly encourage those with non-traditional pathways to graduate school, those from non-R1 universities, and those from outside the United States to apply. GSAC is also committed to diverse representation, and we encourage applicants from historically excluded ethnic, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds. 

Duties

Students serve either a 2 or 3 year term, depending on whether they are chair of their cohort, and generally spend 5-10 hours per month on GSAC activities. Please see the GSAC structural document starting on Page 19 in the Officers Handbook for more details about requirements and current roles. 

Applications are due May 1. Learn more about how to apply on the GSAC page.

If you are interested in taking part in a pilot program to provide cost-free language support to potential authors of manuscripts in Evolution, please read on!

The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) and the journal Evolution are committed to reducing barriers to scientific publishing and access. Evolution publishes exclusively in English, which can present additional challenges to authors for whom English is an additional language. The EELS program aims to provide an opportunity for additional support to such authors. EELS will offer the opportunity for English language editing to authors submitting articles to Evolution, with the aim of improving the clarity of writing prior to manuscript review. The EELS program stems from discussions between the SSE Diversity Committee and the Evolution Editors, and is based on the Language Editor position at the American Society of Mammalogists. We will assess its effectiveness after a one-year pilot test. Applications for the EELS Editors will be collected on a rolling basis. Applications for the EELS Coordinator are due May 1, 2022. Applications for EELS Editors are due July 1, 2022.

Continue reading to learn more about the positions and how to apply.

Are you a biologist who studies the diversity of sex, gender, and sexualities in nature? Does your work explore inclusive and accurate ways to teach about these subjects? Are you thinking about attending the Evolution 2022 meeting in Cleveland, OH, USA?

The organizers are seeking 3-4 evolutionary biologists to give short, engaging, general audience talks (akin to a TED talk) at an LGBTQ+ event called "Evolution's Rainbow" at this year’s Evolution conference. The event will also include a panel Q&A session with our presenters. Our aim is to create a light-hearted and informative evening that inspires curiosity and facilitates dialogue on the exceptional diversity of sex, gender, and sexualities in nature. We are particularly excited to hear from a diversity of voices and encourage applications from speakers from historically excluded groups. This event will be open to all Evolution goers and the general public. Proceeds from the evening will be donated to the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.

To apply, please send a 150-200 word brief pitch for your talk to diversity@evolutionsociety.org by April 29, 2022.

The Graduate Student Advisory Council (GSAC) is looking for two new council members for the upcoming year!

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 be a source of information for students and postdocs during their graduate school career and as they make career transitions, and to provide an early-career perspective to the rest of the SSE council. 

Learn more and apply by April 15.

In the New Faculty Profiles, we invite highlighted faculty to discuss their research, describe how SSE has impacted their career, and share any tips or stories they may have for other researchers. This month we highlight Dr. Moisés Expósito-Alonso.

SSE Council is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2022 SSE Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Marcus Feldman. 

Dr. Feldman is the Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor of Biology, founder and director of the Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, and co-director of the Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics at Stanford University. His innovative research has contributed to our understanding of the evolution of recombination and sex, human population genetics, niche construction, and evolutionary theory. With Dr. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Dr. Feldman also developed a new field termed cultural evolution, which studies how genetic and cultural variation can interact and affect one another. Over the course of his career, he has mentored numerous trainees, from high school students to postdocs, and was awarded the Allan V. Cox Medal for Fostering Undergraduate Research at Stanford and  the Stanford Biosciences Excellence in Mentoring and Service Award. In 1970, he co-founded the journal Theoretical Population Biology. He was also the Editor of The American Naturalist from 1984 to 1990. Dr. Feldman was named the Dan David Laureate in Evolution in 2011, and received the Motoo Kimura Prize in Human Evolution in 2016.

The SSE Public Policy Committee is pleased to offer grants to SSE members to attend advocacy events, including the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) 2022 Virtual Advocacy Event, comprised of a Communications Boot Camp for Scientists (April 25-26, 2022), a half-day training session on how to be an effective advocate for science policy, and virtual meetings with lawmakers organized by AIBS (April 27-29). Scientists and graduate students who are interested in communicating the importance of federal investments in scientific research and education to lawmakers are encouraged to participate in this valuable workshop. Funding will cover the cost of registration. Members interested in applying these funds to other opportunities related to advocacy are also welcome to apply. 

To apply, please complete this application including a brief (<250 words) statement describing your interest in participating in federal policy making and what issues you would like to address. We especially encourage applications from individuals belonging to historically excluded groups. The deadline to apply has been extended to March 6, 2022. Read statements from previously funded participants here.

On February 7, 2022, SSE, the Society of Systematic Biologists, and American Society of Naturalists invited comments from our members on proposed Codes of Ethics for each society. Adopting such codes will allow the societies to establish explicit standards of excellence and a transparent process for upholding these standards, and in so doing, foster societies that are welcoming for everyone. Please see below for a letter of support for adopting the SSE Code of Ethics from the SSE Diversity Committee and the SSE Graduate Student Advisory Council. 

We invite you to review the standards and processes and indicate your support and/or concerns before March 7, 2022.

31 January 2022

The development of the joint SSE/SSB/ASN Code of Ethics is a major step forward in our efforts towards improving equity and inclusion in the field of evolutionary biology and within our societies. The Diversity Committee and Graduate Student Advisory Council of the SSE strongly support its development and implementation.

While many professional societies, our own included, have survived with an inconsistently enforced, unwritten code of ethics, the formalization of an ethical code sets the standard for behaviors that are and are not acceptable in professional and social contexts, whether in person, in writing, or in a virtual setting. Having a transparent and standardized code of ethics clarifies the boundaries of appropriate behavior to all society members, including society leaders and those involved with the societies, thereby removing the temptation of allowing unethical behavior to continue simply because it reflects historical norms. A code of ethics ensures concrete accountability (with potential sanctions listed in the code) when members harm others or the Society through violations of these ethical codes. It provides a venue for reporting unethical behavior, which is a key form of support for people who are common targets of ethical violations, including people from historically excluded groups and early career researchers. Importantly, a code of ethics also provides a framework from which society leadership can fairly assess or address ethical violations, with clear descriptions of the evaluation process and explicit mechanisms for appealing outcomes.

Although it could be argued by some as regrettable that these boundaries need to be laid out in a concrete fashion, a robust and enforceable code of ethics, as laid out and implemented here, benefits the safety and wellbeing of all members of our society and all individuals involved with the society. We welcome its development. We encourage all society members, and indeed all individuals associated with the society, to read the Code of Ethics and provide any suggestions or feedback that might clarify and improve it. Following the incorporation of input from members of the society, we encourage you to support adopting the Code of Ethics and commit to putting it into practice in your own lives and work.

Signed,

The Diversity Committee, Society for the Study of Evolution
The Graduate Student Advisory Council, Society for the Study of Evolution