As
the retiring Chair of Neurobiology, I am pleased to leave the division in the
capable hands of the newly-elected Chair, Don Edwards. I have had the
pleasure and responsibility of serving the members through a period of
considerable transition. Many major adjustments are behind us, and I wanted to
take this opportunity to acquaint the members with 1) some changes, 2) some new
benefits, and 3) some services that support us as we respond to demands in our
workplaces and communities.
First, a small matter of recognition as a division: Because Neurobiology
is one of the newer divisions, most members of Neurobiology also have
memberships in other divisions. In fact, many people who really think of
themselves as Neurobiologists have found themselves sporting an "under banner"
that identified them with some other division at the annual meeting. At the
Boston meeting, you will have one last chance, if you wish, to utilize leftover
division under banners or to adfix one of your own creation, but the society
has decided to abandon the use of such labels because many of us have strong
affiliations with more than one division. In fact, the strength of this
society is its broad view of biology and the interconnectedness of the
different disciplines, so, in the future, those who study the nervous systems
of animals will now flow more freely among those with primary interests in
hormones, behavior, environmental stresses, biocommunities, structure-function
relationships and the history and future of biology.
Expansion of the scope of the society to include non-zoological
topics has led to the proposal to change the name of American
Zoologist to better reflect the content of the symposia
in future meetings. The American Zoologist (or the publication under a new
name) will be enlarged to 6 issues per year, including abstracts at the end of
one of the "regular" (i.e., symposium publication) volumes. (To view current
and archival issues of American Zoologist, go to:
Select
the American Zoologist selection, and click on APT Online. Also, follow the
society's web presence (address above) to Careers and click on Neurobiology.
There, you will have a chance to read the nice thumbnail sketch of the field
written by past Division Chair Charles H. Page. The path to Awards describes
the Grants in Aid of Research Program, the Libby H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship
and the Best Student Paper Program. (Although Neurobiology doesn't not have
specific guidelines, we do evaluate presentations in both poster and oral
formats, and select winners; all students should try for these awards, which
look good on a CV and provide a financial bonus, as well.)
A concern to all of us is the quality of science education. Under the
leadership of our Division Secretary, Robin Cooper, Neurobiology is taking a
lead in involving students from local school districts with the annual meeting
events. A major threat to science education is the continued targeting of
evolution by those who wish to eliminate it from school curricula. (If you get
a chance, examine biology texts used in the public schools in your area and see
how the topic is treated!) SICB continues to provide a counterpoint to the
attacks on the teaching of evolution, and provide support for those who feel
under siege. Look for more on this topic at the annual meeting.
Finally, SICB continues to reach out to more neurobiologists who care
about the integrative nature of life on earth. Check out the Biodiversity
Project (see
www.nrel.colostate.edu/IBOY, and
report in this newsletter) to see if you, other neurobiologists
you know, or members of your department, may find that your research fits into
this project. This is just one example of the breadth of connections that are
opened up to us through our involvement in SICB.
Chair
- Stacia Moffett
Message
from the Secretary
Robin
L. Cooper
The
Atlanta meeting showed a healthy increase in the membership of the DNB which
was partly due to local neurobiologists in Atlanta joining. Let's hope for
similar actions at the Chicago meeting. If anyone has contacts in the Chicago
area you may wish to encourage them to join SICB-DNB and to be present at the
meeting.
As many of you now know, we held elections for the chair of DNB and that our
new chair will be Don Edwards from Georgia State. In behalf of DNB, we all
wish to thank our past Chair, Stacia Moffett, for the wonderful leadership and
progressive attitude she has shown for advancing the Division. This last
election round was administered with electronic communications and some paper
copies from the central office. I have heard that not all our members were
sent a ballot, so I had contacted the central office about this oversight. The
problem had to do with moving of all the records of members to the new
location and email listings becoming misplaced. This problem is not expected
in the future. In spite of this minor problem, we had a good election return
and continue to encourage all our members to participate in future elections
and in soliciting individuals to fulfil administrative positions within the
Society and the Division.
I am currently working with some individuals in Chicago to try to repeat what
we did in Atlanta by bringing local high school children to one of the evening
poster sessions. So far we have had only positive feedback from SICB members
and the school kids as well as their teachers in Atlanta from the visit during
the last meeting. We will see if it is possible to repeat such an event
but with some modifications, such as getting name tags done before the kids
show up and maybe have a quick session with the kids and teachers ahead of
time to inform them on the overview of the meeting and what SICB is all about.
So be prepared in Chicago for some selective public school kids asking you
questions at your poster !
Message
from the Program Officer
Rich
Satterlie
The
Chicago meeting symposia of interest will be:
"Motor
Control of Vertebrate Feeding: Function and Evolution", and "Vibration as a
Communication Channel".
Multiple
Divisions are working on co-sponsorship of these symposia but the final
details are not in yet. The symposia for the Anaheim meeting are currently
being established and they will be advertized in the near future.
Keep
the suggestions coming in for future symposia so we can distribute them to our
entire membership for feedback.
Program
Officer- Rich Satterlie