Message from DAB Leadership: Preview of SICB 2023!

Avery Russell, Chair.DAB@sicb.org; Stephanie Campos, DPO.DAB@sicb.org; Allison Welch, Secretary.DAB@sicb.org; Conner Philson (Student Postdoctoral Affairs Committee Representative)

With the upcoming SICB 2023 meeting, we are excited for many opportunities to interact in person in Austin, TX, and also look forward to the extended opportunities provided by SICB+. Based on abstract submissions, we expect a fantastic in-person showing, both for SICB in general and for DAB specifically.  SICB+ will also be thriving in 2023, with many presenters committed to participating. We warmly invite you to take part in the many DAB events and opportunities, especially those that support our students and early career members! Please join us for the following:

DAB Mentoring Program

After the success of our mentoring program in past years, we are holding an in-person mentoring program for those attending the 2023 SICB conference In Austin, TX. PLEASE SIGN UP TO BE MENTORED OR TO BE A MENTOR! The purpose of this program is to help DAB members, especially students, gain broader perspectives and career advice from others in their field. The program will match a mentor with several mentees and the team will communicate before, during, and after the meeting. Please sign up using THIS FORM by December 1. Help spread the word by sharing this information with trainees and through social media! More details about the program are on the SIGN UP FORM.

Student talk and poster competitions

Our Best Student Presentation competitions highlight and celebrate the outstanding work of students in DAB. This year, the Marlene Zuk competition will include eight student finalists who will present talks in a special in-person session on Thursday, January 5, from 1:30 – 3:30 PM. Our Zuk Award finalists are featured below. The Elizabeth Adkins-Regan poster competition will include 42 in-person poster presentations in various sessions throughout the meeting. Please support our students and enjoy some of the best DAB has to offer by attending the Zuk session and seeking out DAB student posters! Many of these presentations will also be available on SICB+, in case you miss them in person.

DAB’s best student presentation competitions are made possible by the many dedicated members who volunteer to serve as judges. In addition, our students benefit from the encouraging engagement and thoughtful feedback provided by judges. As you prepare for SICB in Austin, please consider volunteering to serve as a judge for the DAB poster competition. Please indicate your interest in serving as a judge when you register for the conference, or contact DAB Secretary Allison Welch at Secretary.DAB@sicb.org.

Building community

Please join us for the DAB Members Meeting and for the DAB Social! The DAB Members Meeting on Wednesday, January 4, at 5:45 PM brings together attendees across career stages to meet fellow DAB members, learn more about our Division, and find ways to engage with our group. This year’s DAB Social will be held jointly with DNNSB and DCE on Thursday, January 5, at 8:30pm. Our social is an opportunity to get together in a more relaxed atmosphere to socialize and enjoy some refreshments. All DAB members and prospective members are warmly encouraged to attend both the Members Meeting and the Social. These events are open to all who are interested, especially students and early career members, and we hope to attract a large group representing diverse backgrounds and areas of interest!

Finally, in the spirit of building community within DAB and across SICB, please make plans to attend the society-wide celebration at the conclusion of the conference on Saturday, January 7, at 6:00 PM.

Events for students and postdocs

The Student/Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC) is ramping up for SICB 2023! With a variety of initiatives and opportunities for you to engage, SPDAC hopes to see you in Austin. In addition to our annual meeting at the conference and a workshop, SPDAC will have a poster this year titled “Questions you didn’t know you had – The graduate student and postdoc edition.” This poster will be up in the poster hall throughout the week and we hope you stop by! SPDAC is always a resource for you, before, during, or after the conference, so please never hesitate to reach out (DAB rep: Conner Philson, cphilson@ucla.edu). See you in January!

Symposia

Be sure to check out the following five DAB co-sponsored symposia at our 2023 SICB meeting. Because we are so integrative, our division supports a lot of symposia. However, we have relatively few symposia with a specific focus on behavior. If you have ideas for a future symposium focused on behavior – including diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of behavior – please contact our Program Officer, Stephanie Campos at DPO.DAB@sicb.org. Organizing a symposium can be a great way to highlight your work, and all symposium papers are published in Integrative and Comparative Biology.

• S2. Neuroethology in the age of gene editing: New tools and novel insights into the molecular and neural basis of behavior, Wednesday, Jan. 4, Organizers: Beau Alward, Scott Juntti
• S3. Sexual diversity and variation, Wednesday, Jan. 4, Organizers: Kelsey Lewis, Sam Sharpe
• S4. Daily torpor across birds and mammals: Recent progress and how do we advance the field? Thursday, Jan. 5, Organizers: Anusha Shankar, Kenneth Welch
• S5. Pathways to adulthood: environmental, developmental, and evolutionary influences on the ontogeny of form and function, Thursday, Jan. 5, Organizers: Terry R. Dial, Mark C. Mainwaring, Ashley M. Heers
• S8. The role of mechanosensation in robust locomotion, Friday, Jan. 6, Organizers: Katie Stanchak, Hilary Katz

Leadership opportunities

Getting involved in SICB service and leadership is an excellent way to build your network and service portfolio, particularly for early career members. DAB will be holding an election for Divisional Secretary in Spring 2023, for a term to begin in 2024. Please consider nominating yourself or someone else for this position! Nominations can be made by contacting DAB Chair, Avery Russell at Chair.DAB@sicb.org.

We look forward to seeing you in Austin (January 3-7) and/or virtually via SICB+ (beginning January 16)!

Zuk Award Finalists

Eight students have been selected to compete in this year’s Marlene Zuk Award competition for Best Student Presentation. These finalists will present the results of their research in-person in a “Zuk Award” special session. Our judging panel, composed of the DAB executive committee, the DAB graduate student/postdoc rep, and one DAB member at large, selected the finalists on the basis of their extended abstracts. The finalists are (in alphabetical order): Annelise Blanchette, Jason Dinh, Melanie Kimball, Annaliese Novinger, Subhasmita Patro, Lisa Surber, Rebecca Westwick, and Grace Zhong. Please join us in congratulating these finalists, and please join us for the Zuk Award sessions!

Welcome DAB’s Incoming Program Officer, Stephanie Campos!

It is our pleasure to welcome Stephanie Campos as the incoming DAB Divisional Program Officer. Stephanie is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Villanova University and is currently serving as interim DAB Divisional Program Officer. Her research interests are in the endocrine and exocrine signals that modulate social behavior in territorial lizards. As DPO for DAB, Stephanie’s goals include amplifying the work and voices of DAB members from diverse groups and supporting symposia that highlight fresh perspectives.