Division of Comparative Endocrinology (DCE): 2005 Fall Newsletter

Message from the Officers

Dave Borst, Chair (dborst@mail.ucf.edu)
Kyle Selcer, Program Officer (selcer@duq.edu)
Kevin Kelley, Secretary (kmkelley@csulb.edu)
Darren Lerner, DCE Rep to Student/Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (dlerner@forwild.umass.edu)

News on the Upcoming Annual Meeting

Planning is well underway for the 2006 Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. A total of 1050 abstracts were submitted for symposia, talks and posters. Again this year, the talks and abstracts were sorted by general theme, rather than divisional affiliation. Many of the abstracts from DCE members will be in the Regulatory Biology sessions, for which there are about 75 abstracts. Other DCE member talks are scheduled in Physiology and Biochemistry sessions and in Ecology and Environmental Biology sessions.

There are a number of exciting and interesting symposia again this year. Two syposia have been designated as "society-wide". The first is entitled "Ecological Immunology: Recent Advances and Applications For Conservation and Public Health" organized by Kelly Lee, Bram Lutton, and Martin Wikelski, and co-sponsored by DCE. The second is entitled "Metamorphosis: A Multi-Kingdom Approach" organized by Andreas Heyland, Jason Hodin, Cory Bishop, and Leonid Moroz. DCE is also co-sponsoring a regular symposium, entitled "EcoPhysiology and Conservation: The Contributions of Energetics" organized by Robert Stevenson.

Make plans to attend the DCE Business Meeting, which will be held Friday, January 6^th from 5:15 to 6:15 pm. This will be followed by the Howard Bern Lecture, which will be given by Stacia Sower. Her address will be entitled "Insight into the Molecular Evolution of Gonadotropin and its Receptor in the Hormonal Regulation of Reproduction". After the lecture, we will hold the DCE Social.

We need judges for the Aubrey Gorbman Student Presentation Awards given out by DCE. We also need a chair of the Student Awards Committee. If you are willing to serve as a judge for the student awards, or as chair of the committee, please email Kyle Selcer (selcer@duq.edu). The student presentation competition is an important part of the annual meeting, so please help out.

Recent DCE Election Results

Once again, it is time to pass the baton. Dave Borst (Chair) and Kyle Selcer (Program Officer) will be stepping down from their positions this January. Kevin Kelley (Secretary) and Darren Lerner (SPDAC Representative) will remain for another year of service. Dave and Kyle have both expressed that they enjoyed their time as divisional officers and were proud to have a chance to serve SICB and DCE. Bob Denver and Mike Romero will become the new DCE Chair and Program Officer, respectively, in January. We know that they will do a great job. Also, congratulations to Stacia Sower and Catherine Propper, who were recently elected as the new Chair-elect and Secretary-elect, respectively. And, importantly, our "emphatic thanks" go to all of the candidates this year, as DCE cannot do its excellent work without your willingness to participate. To those not serving this year, we hope you will come forth again.

Noteworthy!

1) Important changes have been added to the DCE webpage! Thanks to Anne McNabb for designing an excellent new section on Careers in Comparative Endocrinology, of importance to our student and postdoctoral members and other visitors of the SICB website. See http://www.sicb.org/careers/endocrine.php3. This should continue be a good resource for those interested in our field. Secondly, we have now have a link to the Job and Fellowship Postings page, a new online feature of the Society (http://www.sicb.org/jobs.php3). Thanks also goes to Ruedi Birenheide, SICB Webmaster, for making these a reality! Check them out!

2) You will see below our new newsletter feature, the Report of the DCE Representative to the Student/Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC). For student and postdoc DCE members, there are several worthwhile events at the Orlando meetings that are being organized on your behalf. Read on, below!

3) You will also now see in our newsletter a message from the Chair of the SICB Student Support Committee. DCE students and post-docs take note! This is about money for you. Read on, below!

4) GET YOURSELF ON THE SICB WEBSITE! In the last Newsletter, you were encouraged to send information for inclusion in the DCE Researchers Database on the SICB Website. This is a fantastic opportunity to provide some visibility for your research program. Send a ~paragraph describing your program (include a link to your university website!), a short title and include any digital files that can be used on the website, from jpgs, to mp3, to video (qt, mpg, wmv). We comparative endocrinologists are way behind - see the DEE Researchers Database! http://sicb.org/divisions/DEE/researchers.php3. Send your files to Ruedi Birenheide, SICB Webmaster (webmaster@sicb.org), and if you have any further questions, contact Kevin Kelley (kmkelley@csulb.edu).

Message from the DCE Representative to the Student/Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC), Darren T. Lerner

Hello to all DCE graduate students and postdocs!

There are a number of events that you should be sure to attend, some of which are specifically designed for students and postdocs. These include the Student First Timer Orientation (immediately following the "Welcome to Orlando Reception"), the Student/Postdoctoral Luncheon, and two SPDAC Workshops, "Optimizing Your Graduate School Experience" and "Strategies for Landing an Academic Job/Postdoc". The workshops will be immediately followed by the Society-Wide Social in Honor of Students and Postdocs. I also encourage you to attend the SICB and DCE business meetings. Please look at the meeting website (http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2006/index.php3) for details.

SICB offers a generous student support program for the annual meeting, and details of this program are given on the website (http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2006/studentsupport.php3). To be eligible for the program you need to be a member of SICB, a presenting author, and be willing to provide one half-day of assistance during the meeting. The program provides financial support in the form of housing or registration fees. The deadline for this program is October 28. See below the message from Brian Tsukimura, the Chair of the Student Support Committee.

Attention!! DCE offers two Best Student Paper awards at the Annual Meeting, one for the best oral presentation and one for the best poster presentation. Undergraduate students and graduate students who have not yet been awarded a PhD are eligible for these award, as are new PhD's who have received the degree no more than 12 months prior to the meeting. The work must be original and must be carried out principally by the student presenting the paper or poster. In any one year, a student can enter either the oral or the poster competition.

SICB and a number of other organizations offer student grants and fellowships. DCE students may want to consider the following funding opportunities:

• SICB Grants in Aid of Research, due Nov. 21^st. See also message below from the Student Support Committee Chair. http://www.sicb.org/awards.php3#giar

• SICB Fellowship of Graduate Student Travel, due Nov. 21^st, which provides funds for travel and other expenses at distant research laboratories, museums or field sites. See message below from the Student Support Committee Chair. http://www.sicb.org/grants/fgst/index.php3

• SICB Libbie H. Hyman Memorial Scholarship, which provides assistance for students to take courses or to carry on research on invertebrates at a marine, freshwater, or terrestrial field station. Generally due in March. http://sicb.org/grants/hyman/

• Fall 2006 EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowships, which funds research grants and graduate fellowships in numerous environmental science and engineering disciplines. Closing date Oct 18^th. http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2006/2006_star_fellow.html

• Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research Program provides funding for the purchase of specific equipment necessary to undertake the proposed research project and travel to and from a research site. Proposals are due October 15th and March 15th. http://www.sigmaxi.org

• The National Science Foundation offers fellowships for new students (Graduate Research Fellowship http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201&org=DGE&from=home , due early-November) and for doctoral candidates (Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants, Directorate for Biological Sciences http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05607/nsf05607.htm, due mid- November).

Message from Brian Tsukimura, Chair of the SICB Student Support Committee

The Student Support Committee (SSC) wishes to announce 2 award opportunities for this Fall 2005. A similar letter has been sent out to each graduate student member of the SICB in early October. The membership of the SICB has generously set aside funds to provide two forms of research awards, the Grants-In-Aid-of-Research (GIAR)and Fellowship of Graduate Student Travel (FGST). In Fall 2004, 80 applications were submitted for the GIAR. The SSC reviewed these at the San Diego meeting (January, 2005) and made 26 awards (32%) for a total of $24,000 to students from the 9 different divisions of the Society. In Fall 2004, 15 applications were received for the FGST and the SSC granted 4 (27%) FGST for a total of $6000.

Students can apply to only ONE program per year. Students have a "lifetime eligibility" to receive only one award (FGST or GIAR). To apply for both the GIAR and FGST, please visit the Society website, http://www.sicb.org/awards.php3 and complete the online application. Please read the instructions carefully. Please understand that the SICB requires the applicant to contact their recommenders and arrange that letters be sent. Both award categories have a good level of funding percentage, and the SSC encourages all graduate student members of the SICB to apply. The Deadline for applications and Letters of Support is November 21, 2005.

Support for students presenting at the Orlando meeting (2006) have the opportunity to apply for the Student Support Program, which offers either housing accommodations or registration costs in exchange for half day services at the conference. The deadline is October 28, 2005. Apply at: http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2006/studentsupport.php3

Upcoming Conferences Related of Potential Interest to Comparative Endocrinologists

VIIth International Congress on the Biology of Fish, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, July 18-22, 2006. Abstract deadline is February 15. See http://www.mun.ca/biology/icbf7/abstracts.html.

Western Regional Conference on Comparative Endocrinology (WRCCE) will be held in Spring 2006 at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR. Frank Moore is the organizer and will be sending out notices on the meeting in the next months.

ENDO 2006, Boston Convention & Exhibit Center, June 24-27, Abstract deadline is January 17, 2006; see http://www.endo-society.org/educationevents/annual/index.cfm

8th European Congress of Endocrinology, Glasgow, 1-5 April 2006, Abstract deadline November 4, 2005, see http://www.euro-endo.org/ece2006/

International Congress on Physiological Sciences, 2009, Kyoto Japan. See early information at http://www.iups.org/

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, July 12-17, 2006. See http://www.asih.org

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Link to officer list on DCE page