Message from the DCPB Chair

Ken Welch, University of Toronto Scarborough (Chair.DCPB@sicb.org)

The chill in the air has definitely arrived here in Southern Ontario! I hope this message finds you all warm and secure, and with safe and productive teaching and research environments. I for one will look forward to the relative warmth of Phoenix, Arizona for our upcoming annual meeting. We are still planning on welcoming many of you in-person to the meeting. If you see me there, please don’t hesitate to ask for advice about what to do in the Valley of the Sun. It is my home and most of my family still lives there!

In 2022, DCPB will be proudly represented by over 120 DCPB-related talks and posters and is co-sponsoring 6 symposia. Please see the message below from our Program Officer, Mike Sears, who will provide more details on what to expect!

As is the happy duty of every DCPB Chair, it is my pleasure to announce the winner of the 2022 George Bartholomew Award. Each year, with the generous support of Sable Systems International, DCPB sponsors this society-wide award to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of an early career researcher who has demonstrated important contributions in the areas of functional and integrative biology. Dr. Martha Muñoz is this year’s Bartholomew Award winner. Currently an assistant professor at Yale University, Dr. Muñoz’s broad and varied research program addresses how behaviour, physiology, and environment (particularly temperature and moisture) interact to determine the pace and trajectory of organismal evolution. Her work explores basic physiology, behaviour, and evolutionary biology, and she frames much of this work within the lens of anthropogenic effects on these systems and their evolutionary trajectories. I’m sure we are in for an excellent presentation.

I also wish to extend deepest thanks to the chair and other members of this year’s George Bartholomew Award Committee, Kim Hammond (chair, UC Riverside), and members Roslyn Dakin (Carleton U), Mike Sears (Clemson U), Cassie Stoddard (Princeton U), and myself. The committee faced a difficult task, as there were a number of very competitive nominations put forward. To have received so many excellent files is a testament to both the quality of our early career researchers and the excellent training and mentorship they have received. I cordially invite you all to celebrate Dr. Muñoz and to attend the George Bartholomew Award lecture presented live on January 4, 7-8pm.

I want to thank Mike Sears (Clemson U) for assuming the position of divisional program officer. Once again, SICB has had to embrace a spirit of flexibility and collaboration in planning a meeting in the face of ongoing pandemic uncertainties. Mike has done a great job despite being thrown into the deep end with respect to this challenging work. I also thank the rest of the divisional executives for their continuing hard work supporting our society. Thanks go to Kim Hammond (past-Chair; UC Riverside), Jon Harrison (Chair-elect; Arizona State U), Heather Liwanag (secretary; Cal Poly SLO), and Maria Stager (SPDAC rep; U South Carolina).

I hope all current and aspiring division members attend the DCPB member meeting on January 4, 5:45-6:30pm. I especially encourage the participation of student and postdoc members of DCPB. Your voice is important! In addition, you’ll hear from the editors of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, and Integrative Organismal Biology (our open access journal), who will present the annual reports for their journals. We hope to see you all there. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me with your ideas, suggestions, and any questions at Chair.DCPB@sicb.org.

I will transition to past-Chair and Jon Harrison will assume the role of DCPB chair at the end of the coming meeting. It has been a privilege to serve in this role the past two years. I thank you for your support of SICB and look forward to seeing you in person, or at least online, in January!

Message from the DCPB Program Officer

Mike Sears, Clemson University, DPO.DCPB@sicb.org

Greetings, DCPB! We’ve completed our planning meeting in Phoenix and we are on track for a great in-person event. (We are also ready to shift to an online meeting if needed.)

This year, DCPB is sponsoring the following symposia:

S3. DNA metabarcoding across disciplines: sequencing our way to greater understanding across scales of biological organization
Organizers: Anna Forsman, Michelle Gaither, Anna Savage
Sponsors: DEE, DCPB, DIZ, DEDE, DNNSB, DPCB, DOB

​S4. Ecoimmunology: what unconventional organisms tell us after two decades
Organizers: Vania Assis, Stefanny Monteiro
Sponsors: DEE, DCPB, DEDE, DAB, DCE, DOB

​S6. Causal mechanisms of interspecific metabolic scaling patterns
Organizers: Jon Harrison, Meghan Duell
Sponsors: DEE, DCB, DCPB, DEDB, DVM, DNNSB

S7. Phenological plasticity: from molecular mechanisms to ecological and evolutionary implications
Organizers: Cory Williams, Lise Aubry
Sponsors: DEE, DCPB, DEDB, DNNSB, DAB

​S9. Open source solutions in experimental design
Organizers: Kirk Onthank, Richelle Tanner
Sponsors: DCB, DCPB, DEDB, DIZ, DEDE, DVM, AMS, DNNSB, DCE, DO

​S11. The deep and shallow history of aquatic life’s passages between marine and freshwater habitats
Organizers: Eric Schultz, Lisa Park-Boush
Sponsors: DEE, DCPB, DEDB, DIZ, AMS, DNNSB, DPCB, TCS, DCE, DOB

We are still sorting out the list of symposia for the 2023 meeting. Please contact me if you have a symposium idea.

Message from the DCPB Student and Postdoc Representative

Maria Stager, maria.stager@colorado.edu

Students and Postdocs: Is there someone from the DCPB community that you’ve been hoping to chat with at a SICB meeting but never seem to get the chance? Nominate them to be this year’s DCPB’s representative at our networking booth! One invitee from each division will be available to chat with at SPDAC’s booth during coffee hour sessions at SICB 2022. Please send your recommendations (including their name and contact info or affiliation) to maria.stager@colorado.edu.

Message from the DCPB Secretary

Heather Liwanag, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Secretary.DCPB@sicb.org

I took on the role of DCPB Secretary at our 2020 meeting in Austin, shortly before all of our worlds were turned upside-down! We have all had to navigate new territory in our teaching, research, and home lives. We witnessed the development of incredibly effective vaccines in record time, and the political and personal turmoil that historically accompanies events like a global pandemic. As we continue to navigate these rough waters, I hope you are able to celebrate the little victories along the way.

The capable and enthusiastic Caroline Williams will take on the role of DCPB Secretary at the end of the 2002 meeting. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as your Secretary, and I appreciate the support and patience of the rest of the DCPB and SICB executive committees. I hope to see many of you in Phoenix!

 

Message from the DCPB Secretary-Elect

Caroline Williams, University of California, Berkeley

I’m looking forward to serving DCPB as secretary starting in January, and thank Heather Liwanag for her capable service to the division over the past term. I won’t be at SICB in person this year, but look forward to returning the following year and enjoying the online offerings this year. Hope you are all emerging from this difficult pandemic well and full of enthusiasm for better times ahead.