Once again time creeps up on us. The SICB Annual meeting is just a few
months away. I realize many of you are active participants in SICB, but
our Division is in dire trouble. Lack of interest in the Division
processes has us threatened with extinction. I am seeking those willing
to spend a little time and effort recruiting graduate students and new
faculty to our division. Cell and Developmental Biology are the backbone
of so much research that it is hard to believe there is no interest in
research in those areas. This division is an excellent place to start
reporting on new research or a change in direction. It is the ideal area
for new graduate students to recruit ideas and ask for expert guidance
in direction. New faculty can use the Division as a place to test new
ideas and areas of research or teaching strategies with the realm of
Cell and Development. So nudge your neighbor and rally your grads! If
Canada is too far, remember, the 2004 meeting will be in the Southeast
(New Orleans). Start planning now, and schedule the Divisional meeting
into your plans! Regroup with old friend and new ideas and support your
Division.
Greetings,
The program for the upcoming meeting in Toronto has just been completed, and there is much that will be of interest to DCDB members, both in our own division and in DEDB, with whom we are cosponsoring a number of sessions. There will be 3 full oral sessions and 2 half sessions of developmental papers. The topics are: Larval Biology/Ecology/Transitions (Sun. AM), Patterning and Regulation (Sun. AM), Developmental Neurobiology (Sun. PM), Theory (Sun. PM), Bone and Cartilage (Mon. AM), Testing Theories (Mon. PM), and Heads (Mon. PM). The meeting will end up with the Kowalevsky Award winners' mini-symposium on Weds. AM well worth staying for. Poster sessions have been moved to lunchtime on all days: Sunday/Monday development-related areas are Pathways & Genes, and Developmental Morphology and Metamorphosis; Tuesday/Wednesday poster areas are Photoresponse in Marine Invertebrates (Theory and Practice), Invertebrate Developmental Neurobiology, and Eco-Devo (Ichs & Herps).
There are no strictly developmental symposia at the Toronto meeting, though a number of the symposia from other divisions as well as the society-wide symposium are likely to be of interest. For next year's (2004) meeting in New Orleans, DDCB will be cosponsoring with DEDB a symposium on Morphological Innovation, organized by Gerd Muller and Stuart Newman. Also in New Orleans, DDCB will co-sponor DIZ's symposium on Invertebrate Hormone Disruption. Believe it or not, now is a good time to start working on symposia for the following year, in San Diego. Please contact me if you have ideas for symposia, or questions about the process, including applying for outside funding.
Finally, I will soon be stepping down as PO for DDCB. If you are interested (or know someone else who might be interested) in taking over, please say so. The new mechanism for organizing the meeting schedule involves all the POs meeting on-site a few months ahead of time so if you sign up for the job, you can look forward to a trip to New Orleans next fall.
Hope to see you in Toronto!
Link to officer list on DDCB page
