LATEST NEWS

This month we highlight Dr. Emily Kane. Dr. Kane is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Georgia Southern University. She studies ecological and evolutionary biomechanics; specifically, locomotion, feeding, and the links between those systems. Read her full profile here.

The field of evolutionary biology is at its best when all of its members are supported by positive, safe, and healthy work environments. To reinforce a healthy environment for all, the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) and the American Society of Naturalists (ASN) have worked together to develop Safe Evolution, a centralized campaign for our society membership to positively affect the climate at our conferences and positively impact all members in our field. Continue reading for a letter from SSE President Hopi Hoekstra with important information and links.

Please continue reading for a statement from the SSE Council regarding the investigation of one of our long-time members, Dr. Francisco Ayala, and the SSE Code of Conduct.

Congratulations to the 2018 Dobzhansky Prize winner, Amanda Kyle Gibson! Dr. Gibson is a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University studying the evolution and ecology of infectious diseases. The Dobzhansky Prize is awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding young evolutionary biologist. Learn more about the prize here.

The New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces new Principal Investigators who are SSE members. This month we highlight Dr. Claudia Bank. Dr. Bank is the Principal Investigator of the Evolutionary Dynamics Group at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia in Oeiras, Portugal. She studies how populations adapt and diversify, with a specific interest in the role of epistasis during these processes. Read her full profile here.

Registration is now open for the new Employment Acquisition Skills Boot Camp with the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) on December 17-18 in Washington, DC. This program provides graduate students to senior scientists with the information, tools, and resources required to successfully identify and secure employment in a diversity of career pathways. SSE members can receive the discounted rate by emailing communications@evolutionsociety.org with their intent to register.

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is offering our US members a chance to meet with your lawmakers in your home state to inform science policy this summer through their annual Congressional District Visits event. Participating scientists either meet with their elected officials at the local district office or may invite them to visit their research facility. Registration closes July 19.  Learn more and register here.

If you were selected as a Hamilton Finalist or selected to receive a regular graduate/postdoc travel award for the Evolution 2018 meeting, you must pick up your check in person at the SSE Members Business Meeting on Tuesday Aug 21 from 5:30-6:10 pm CET in the Darwin Room in Le Corum. You do not need to attend the entire business meeting -- you may come by just to pick up your check.

If (and only if) you are presenting a poster during this time and cannot attend the business meeting, you must contact Kati Moore at communications@evolutionsociety.org to either:

(1) arrange to pick up your check at the SSE Presidential Address the following morning, or

(2) send a delegate to the SSE Members Business Meeting with a signed note from you authorizing them to pick up the check on your behalf.

Due to the large number of awards, we cannot make individual arrangements for check pick-up other than the options listed above.

Please email Kati Moore at communications@evolutionsociety.org ASAP if you are no longer able to attend the meeting.

Congratulations to the 14 W. D. Hamilton Award finalists! Each finalist will receive a $500 travel stipend to the Evolution meeting in Montpellier, and will present their research during the Hamilton Award Symposium. See the names of this year's finalists and learn more about the award here. 

On June 18, SSE, the American Society of Naturalists (ASN), and the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) submitted a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency in response to a proposed rule that would require that research conducted by the EPA be based on data that are publicly available. Continue reading for the full letter. 

The New Faculty Profile series highlights new Principal Investigators who are SSE members. This month we introduce Dr. Martha Muñoz. Dr. Muñoz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech studying ecological processes and evolutionary patterns related to physiology. Read her full profile here. 

The New Faculty Profile series highlights new Principal Investigators who are SSE members. This month we introduce Dr. Michael White. Dr. White is an Assistant Professor in the Genetics Department at the University of Georgia studying the evolution of sex chromosomes in threespine stickleback fish. Read his full profile here.

We recently updated our policy on data privacy and transparency. Read the full policy here.

The SSE Education and Outreach Committee is pleased to announce the winner of the 2018 T. H. Huxley Award, Dr. Katie Grogan and colleagues Dr. Teresa W. Lee and Dr. Justine Liepkalns, who developed an educational activity for teaching evolutionary mechanisms. In the activity, students use a population of sticky notes to reveal the consequences of natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow on phenotype frequency. Read more here.

Congratulations to the 2018 winner of the R. A. Fisher Prize, Dr. Valerie Morley, for her paper “Dynamics of molecular evolution in RNA virus populations depend on sudden versus gradual environmental change” published in Evolution. The R. A. Fisher Prize is awarded annually by SSE for an outstanding Ph.D. dissertation paper published in the journal Evolution during a given calendar year. The award comes with a $1000 honorarium. Learn more about the prize and this year’s recipient here.

From 2010 to 2017, SSE offered one research award for early career students – the Rosemary Grant Award. SSE has since implemented a new awards program, the Graduate Research Excellence Grants, which include the Rosemary Grant Advanced Award for PhD candidates and the R. C. Lewontin Early Award for students in the first two years of their PhD. Continue reading to hear from past recipients of the original Rosemary Grant Award on how the award helped their graduate research work. 

The New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces new Principal Investigators who are SSE members. This month we highlight Dr. Alison Wright. Dr. Wright is a NERC Independent Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield studying evolutionary conflicts of interest between males and females and the genomic mechanisms that lead to their resolution. Read her full profile here.

The New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces new Principal Investigators who are SSE members. This month we highlight Dr. Cassie Stoddard. Dr. Stoddard is an Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University studying avian vision and coloration as well as the development and structure of avian eggs. Read her full profile here.

Last month, Evolution Letters published a study by Florence Débarre and colleagues about gender representation at evolution conferences. The study used select data from the SSE membership database and the annual Evolution meeting. The results indicated that the proportion of invited women speakers at conferences is higher when there are more women among the organizers and when organizers consider gender when choosing speakers. SSE will use the findings from this study to better engage a diversity of scientists at future meetings. Read the full paper here.

Congratulations to the 22 recipients of the 2018 Graduate Research Excellence Grant (GREG) R.C. Lewontin Award! This award assists students in the early stages of their Ph.D. by enabling them to collect preliminary data or to enhance the scope of their research. Thank you to our members whose donations helped fund these awards! Continue reading for a list of this year's recipients.

Thanks to additional donations received earlier this year, SSE and ASN were able to award financial aid to seven additional graduate students in Puerto Rico whose research was impacted by Hurricane Maria last year. Thank you to all who donated!

Last month, SSE funded 4 members to attend the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) Congressional Visits Day and the AIBS Communications Bootcamp in Washington, DC. The event included an advocacy-training program and congressional meetings with elected officials. Continue reading to hear from participants about their experiences.

The New Faculty Profile series highlights and introduces new Principal Investigators who are SSE members. This month we highlight Dr. Megan Phifer-Rixey. Dr. Phifer-Rixey is an assistant professor of biology at Monmouth University studying speciation and adaptation in mice. Read her full profile here.

Due to space constraints at the venue, there will be limited spots to register for Evolution 2018.  Please see the message below from the organizers:

General registration for the second Joint Conference on Evolutionary Biology (Montpellier 2018) will open on April 10th 5pm Central European Summer Time (11am EST).  We will then apply a first-come, first-served rule independently of whether people are presenting or not. We expect the cap to be reached very quickly once registration is open for all. Prepare your registration in advance to speed up the process.

http://evolutionmontpellier2018.org/prepare-your-registration

On April 10th, the registration department will be on duty until 12am (midnight, Central European Summer Time) to answer your queries if you experience difficulties in registering. Then the service will close for a few hours and reopen on April 11th 9am(Central European Summer Time): you can register while the service is closed but specific queries can be answered only during times where it is open.

We will maintain a waiting list for registration and will inform persons on the list as cancellations of registered participants occur.

Looking forward welcoming you in Montpellier.

SSE sponsors and funds a variety of exciting initiatives to further the study of evolution and engage a diversity of people in research. This month we highlight the Colombian Association for Evolutionary Biology (COLEVOL) Symposium. SSE has contributed funds to this program for several years, including last year’s meeting in Cali, Colombia. Continue reading to hear from Franchesco Molina Henao, who helped organize last year’s meeting, about how SSE funding helped them achieve their goals.