LATEST NEWS

The SSE New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces up-and-coming PIs in SSE. This month we highlight Dr. Scott Taylor. Dr. Taylor is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder studying the genetic architecture of reproductive isolation and the genetic bases of traits relevant to speciation. Read his full profile here.

The SSE New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces up-and-coming PIs in SSE. This month we highlight Dr. Katie McGhee. Dr. McGhee is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Sewanee: The University of the South studying the role parental effects have in shaping offspring behavior in a variety of fish species. Read her full profile here.

On December 5-6, 2018, the American Institute of Biological Science (AIBS) held discussions on the challenges facing scientists who work within an international platform. The conference, titled "Next Gen International Biology," had participants from multiple countries, and included people involved in various branches of science, publishing, museums, and political representatives. SSE funded a representative from our Public Policy Committee, Amanda Moehring, to attend. Continue reading to hear more about her experience.

After a one-year hiatus, the Evolution Video Contest/Film Festival is BACK!  We took a year off last year, but are excited to bring the 8th Annual Evolution Video Contest/Film Festival to this year’s Evolution Conference in Providence, RI.  So start working on your video now because the deadline to submit is May 31st, 2019 (11:59 PM, EST). Continue reading to learn more.

Mark your calendars for Evolution 2019 in Providence, RI on June 21-25. Meeting registration and talk/poster submissions will open in February. (Please note: this year we return to the model in which abstracts are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis). You can view hotel information here. Dorm information will be posted in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more updates!

The SSE Public Policy Committee is pleased to offer grants to 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 will speak with their elected congressional representatives during meetings organized by AIBS. 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 economy travel and reasonable lodging. To apply, please complete this application before January 28, 2019. Read statements from last year’s funded participants here.

The GREG – R.C. Lewontin Early Awards are to assist students in the early stages of their Ph.D. programs by enabling them to collect preliminary data (to pursue additional sources of support) or to enhance the scope of their research beyond current funding limits (e.g. by visiting additional field sites, or working at other labs). Awards will be made up to $2500. Proposals will be due February 15. Learn more and apply here.

We’re excited to announce plans for a new SSE blog to begin in February. This blog is intended to serve as both a resource and a platform for our diverse community of evolutionary biologists. Captaining this endeavor is our new Blog Editor Fellow, Dr. Sasha Mushegian. Sasha is a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, where she’s working on a project on population genomics of invasive mosquitoes. She has previous experience doing editorial and communications work for nonprofit scientific societies in the Washington, DC area. She says: “I was drawn to the ecology and evolution field in part because it has a long tradition of great writing; my formative years reading Rachel Carson and Stephen Jay Gould started a lifelong interest in hearing what scientists had to say. I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!” Welcome to the team, Sasha!

The SSE New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces up-and-coming PIs in SSE. This month we highlight Dr. Ricardo Mallarino. Dr. Mallarino is an assistant professor at Princeton University studying the genetic and developmental mechanisms driving the evolution of  body form and structure in vertebrates. Read his full profile here.

The SSE New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces up-and-coming PIs in SSE. This month we highlight Dr. Emily Sessa. Dr. Sessa is an assistant professor at the University of Florida studying the evolutionary and ecological processes that shape plant diversity. Read her full profile here.

Last year, the SSE Education and Outreach Committee awarded the T.H. Huxley Award to Dr. Katie Grogan and colleagues Dr. Teresa W. Lee and Dr. Justine Liepkalns, who developed an educational activity for teaching evolutionary mechanisms. Winners of this award are provided with support to present on behalf of the Society for the Study of Evolution at the annual meeting of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT). Continue reading to hear more from Dr. Grogan.

The SSE Public Policy Committee is pleased to offer grants to 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 will speak with their elected congressional representatives during meetings organized by AIBS. 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 economy travel and reasonable lodging. To apply, please complete this application before January 28, 2019. Read statements from last year’s funded participants here.

As 2018 draws to a close, we can reflect on all that SSE has accomplished this year. Here are a few highlights. Most notably, we co-sponsored the largest Evolution meeting on record—the Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology in August in the beautiful city of Montpellier, France. With ASN and SSB, we continued to improve our support for parents attending our annual meetings, offering free childcare at Evolution 2019 and additional dependent-care funding for invited SSE symposium speakers. We introduced a new tier of Graduate Research Excellence Grants and contributed well over $100K to student research and travel support. We also launched a monthly series of New Faculty Profiles and grew our SSE twitter account (;@sse_evolution) to nearly 5000 followers. We continued to have a voice in public policy and to strive to make our community more international, diverse, and inclusive, including establishing the tri-society Safe Evolution program and a Code of Conduct for our meetings. Finally, we started new initiatives that are just underway, such as hiring an SSE Blog Editor Fellow and forming a new Code of Ethics committee (see below).

It has been an immense pleasure to serve alongside an incredibly engaged and hardworking SSE Council as well as our partner societies, ASN, SSB, and ESEB, to continue to build a strong, diverse, and active evolutionary biology community. I would like to thank those who have served, welcome our newly elected Council members, and hand the reins to Mark Rausher, our incoming President. Here’s to continued success in 2019!

Congratulations to our newly elected members of the SSE Council: Ruth Shaw (President-elect), Aneil Agrawal (North American Vice President), Suzanne Edmands (Councilor), and Stacey Smith (Councilor). These positions will officially start January 1, with these new leaders joining Council at our mid-year Council meeting in February.

We’d like to thank our outgoing leadership for their outstanding service to SSE: Sally Otto (Past President), Jenny Boughman (North American Vice President), Susan Alberts (Councilor), and Becky Fuller (Councilor). Thank you for all of your time, effort, and dedication to the Society!

Many award deadlines are quickly approaching. Mark your calendars!

Stephen Jay Gould Prize: January 15

Evolution 2019 Travel Awards for Brazilian Researchers: January 15

Small Grants Program for Local and Regional Outreach: January 18

Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize: January 31

R. A. Fisher Prize: January 31

Graduate Research Excellence Grant - R.C. Lewontin Early Award: February 15

SSE Council is pleased to announce the launch of a tri-society initiative between SSE, ASN, and SSB to draft a Code of Ethics. While behavior at the annual meeting falls under our Code of Conduct, the societies currently have no policy regarding conduct outside of our meetings. Establishing a Code of Ethics will allow the societies to set criteria for membership, leadership, and meeting attendance that are fair to all involved. Currently, committee members representing SSE (Amy Angert), SSB (Rayna Bell), ASN (Emilio Bruna), and grads/postdocs (Emlyn Resetariats) are tasked with researching existing societal Codes and producing a framework for ours. After this initial phase, each society will form its own internal committee to draft its Code of Ethics. Finally, the tri-society committee will reconvene to ensure compatibility of the individual Codes as they pertain to joint meetings. We welcome input from the community. Feedback and ideas can be sent to SSE Councilor Amy Angert at angert@mail.ubc.ca.

Earlier this year, SSE Council voted to co-sponsor the European Meeting of Ph.D. Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB) through the SSE International Committee’s “Co-sponsorship of symposia organized by non-US based evolution societies” award. The goal of this award is to foster communication between scientists from different countries by stimulating scientific dialogue through co-sponsored symposia. Continue reading to hear from the conference organizers Carolina Osuna Mascaró and María Martín Peciña, PhD students at the University of Granada.

The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) Council invites proposals for grants up to $3,000 to help support Society-sponsored Early-career Vocational Opportunities (EVO) Workshops. There are no requirements for topic or format of the workshop, as long as it is interactive and its content provides foundational skills that are appropriate for early-career SSE members in the areas of conceptual understanding, data collection, data analysis, or professional development. The Workshop Selection Committee will select proposals on a rolling basis. Learn more about the grants here.

The GREG – R.C. Lewontin Early Awards are to assist students in the early stages of their Ph.D. programs by enabling them to collect preliminary data (to pursue additional sources of support) or to enhance the scope of their research beyond current funding limits (e.g. by visiting additional field sites, or working at other labs). Awards will be made up to $2500. Proposals will be due February 15. Learn more and apply here.

The annual Stephen Jay Gould Prize recognizes individuals who have increased public understanding of evolutionary biology and its place in modern science. The recipient will receive $5,000 USD and will present the Public Outreach Seminar at Evolution 2019 in Providence, RI. The awardee should be a leader in evolutionary thought and in public outreach who can deliver an inspiring lecture for both professionals and the broader public. Nominations are due January 15. Learn more here.

The R. A. Fisher Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding Ph.D. dissertation paper published in the journal Evolution during a given calendar year. The award comes with a $1000 USD honorarium. Nominations are due January 31. Learn more here.

Nominations/applications are now open for the Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize, awarded annually to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding young evolutionary biologist. The recipient will receive $5000 USD and present their research at Evolution 2019 in Providence, RI. Nominations are due January 31. Learn more here.

The SSE Education and Outreach Committee is pleased to announce a call for proposals from SSE members for support for local and regional educational outreach activities to take place during 2019. It is our hope that these projects will lead to ongoing outreach collaboration in future years. Examples of past outreach activities have included public lectures, exhibits, student competitions, and professional development events for teachers. Proposals will be accepted until January 18. Learn more here.

We are pleased to announce a limited-time travel award for students, postdocs, and early-career researchers conducting research in Brazil to attend Evolution 2019 in Providence, RI. This award is made possible by the surplus of funds from the 2015 Evolution meeting in Guarujá, Brazil. Applicants must be (1) a current member of SSE, ASN, SSB, or the Sociedade Brasileira de Genética, (2) conducting research at a university or institution in Brazil, (3) a current graduate student or within 6 years of finishing their PhD, and (4) presenting a talk or poster at the meeting. Apply here by January 15. Clique aqui para a versão em português.