Message from DAB Leadership

We are looking forward to our first completely virtual meeting this coming January. While we will miss seeing you all in person, we look forward to connecting virtually, and to welcoming attendees who would perhaps not be able to attend an in-person meeting. We hope folks will participate in several opportunities through the DAB, especially those events that support our students and early career members! Please join us for the following:

• DAB Mentoring Program: After a successful first year in January 2020, we are holding a virtual mentoring program this year. PLEASE SIGN UP TO BE MENTORED OR TO MENTOR! In an effort to help DAB members, especially students, get broader perspectives and advice we are organizing a mentoring program in which matched teams will communicate before, during, and after the meeting. The topic of mentoring can be broad, so please sign up, using this form, by December 1. Even if you can’t participate, sharing this information with trainees and through social media is a huge help. More details are on the sign up form.
• Student talk and poster awards: These sessions highlight the best work our students are doing, so they are about a lot more than just the competition. See below for our Zuk Award Finalists! Please attend these events to support our students and consider volunteering to judge them.
• Building community: Please join us for our DAB Members Meeting (previously the Business Meeting but it’s meant for everyone to join!). Our Members Meeting is a chance to learn more about the DAB and find a way to be a part of our group, and it is open to everyone. We are not an elitist group – we want input and help from members at all career stages and from diverse backgrounds and areas of interest!
• Organizing symposia: Because we are so integrative, our division supports a lot of symposia. (Check out the list of symposia at our upcoming virtual meeting!) However, we have relatively few symposia that are focused on behavior. If you have ideas for a symposium for the 2022 meeting that would focus on behavior please contact our Program Officer, Kathleen Lynch. Organizing a symposium can be a great way to highlight your work, and all symposium papers are published in Integrative and Comparative Biology.

  

• Leadership opportunities: Please consider nominating yourself or someone else for the position of DAB Chair or Student or Postdoc representative. These are outstanding opportunities for students and early career members to build their network and service portfolio.
• Events for students and post-docs: The Student/Post Affairs Committee (SPDAC) will be hosting a virtual booth which will have “How-To” brochures (downloadable PDFs) on a wide range of topics. You can also stop by the booth during our “Office Hours” to ask any questions (time TBD). Further, SPDAC will be holding a virtual workshop focused on “Transferable Skills”, with the opportunity for students/postdocs to talk with a panel of scientists coming from a wide range of career paths. Hope to see you there!

Zuk Award Finalists

Eight students have been selected to compete in this year’s Marlene Zuk Award for Best Student Presentation. Our judging panel, composed of the DAB executive committee, Secretary-elect Allison Welch, and graduate student/postdoc rep Sydney Hope selected these finalists on the basis of their extended abstracts. The finalists are (in alphabetical order): Benjamin Buford, Casey Coomes, Jennifer Fortunato, Elizabeth George,  Matthew LeFauve, Sarah Manka-Worthington, Madeleine Ostwald, and Bethany Williams. These students will each present the results of their research in a special “Zuk Award” virtual session. Please join us in congratulating these finalists! 

Welcome DAB’s Incoming Secretary, Allison Welch!

It is our pleasure to welcome Allison Welch as the incoming DAB Secretary. Allison is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Director of Environmental and Sustainability Studies minor at College of Charleston. She was DAB’s Program Officer from 2010-2016, and served on the SICB Student Support Committee from 2007-2009, and the SICB Nominating Committee in 2009. She looks forward to promoting community within DAB, and to supporting our students, post-docs, and early-career scientists.

From our virtual settings in Arkansas, New York, and Virginia to yours, we send our support and look forward to seeing you all in January!

 — Kendra Sewall (Chair.DAB@sicb.org); Kathleen Lynch (DPO.DAB@sicb.org); Erica Westerman (Secretary.DAB@sicb.org); Sydney Hope (Student Postdoctoral Affairs Committee Representative)