Messages from:
Division Chair
Division Secretary
Division Officers
Candidates for Election
'96 Business Meeting Minutes

DEE: 1997 Spring Newsleter

This Newsletter by Section

Message from the Chair

Dianna K. Padilla

First, I would like to thank Howie Lasker for doing a great job as Chair, and especially for helping secure Ecological Society of America (ESA) support and joint sponsorship of the SICB 1998 Annual Meeting in Boston and the symposium "Coral Reefs and Environmental Change: Adaptation, Acclimation or Extinction?"

The Society formerly known as ASZ not only got a face lift with its new name, but is indeed a new Society. As the name implies, SICB is for all of biology. DEE crosses all taxa (including plants, algae and anything else!) and research concerned with ecology and evolution. Therefore, we encourage you to invite your friends who have not previously been part of this Society to join and to present their work at the SICB 1998 Annual Meeting in Boston and SICB 1999 Annual Meeting in Denver.

If you are interested in becoming more involved in DEE activities, please contact Sarah Cohen (cscohen@hopper.unh.edu) or me (padilla@macc.wisc.edu). We need volunteers to represent us on important committees such as the committee that awards Grants-in-Aid of Research to graduate students and the Best Student Paper and Poster Committees.

A few general reminders: Please encourage students to join the Society and submit applications for the new Grants-in-Aid of Research program as well as travel support to future meetings. Think about organizing a symposium! If the process of organizing a large Society-wide symposium seems like too much work, consider a smaller mini-symposium or one using the very successful symposium honoring Steve Wainwright as a model.

Vote! We are electing a new program chair. Be sure to return your ballot.

Finally, give us some feedback about what you would like to see DEE do in the future. SICB has a new Web site. Let us know what you would like to see on the DEE Web page.

Message from the Secretary

C. Sarah Cohen

Minutes of the 1996 DEE Business Meeting

A number of important issues were discussed at our business meeting at the SICB 1996 Annual Meeting in Albuquerque.

There was general agreement that SICB should be publicized more with a particular emphasis on recruiting students. Students should be aware that there are ample funds for travel and housing stipends for the Annual Meeting. The new Grants-in-Aid of Research program for students should also be publicized.

DEE is sponsoring a symposium, "Coral Reefs and Environmental Change: Adaptation, Acclimation or Extinction?" at the SICB 1998 Annual Meeting in Boston. This symposium is co-organized by Howard Lasker and Robert Buddemeier. The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a co-sponsor of the Boston meeting and this symposium. Therefore, we encourage all of you who are ESA members to attend and tell other ESA members who may not hear about the SICB meeting.

DEE is a co-sponsor of another Boston symposium, "Evolutionary Relationships of Metazoan Phyla: Advances, Problems and Approaches," organized by Damhnait McHugh and Kenneth Halanych.

Ideas for symposia for the Denver meeting should be submitted this spring, the deadline for Society-wide symposia is April 22, 1997. Mini-symposia are another avenue for coordinating presentations by people with related interests. Mini-symposia do not have the April deadline and are more flexible. These might involve thematically organized paper sessions developed by participants without additional funding sources.

DEE Candidates for Election

Candidates for Program Officer

Florence I. M. Thomas

Current Position: Senior Marine Scientist /Assistant Professor, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, Ala.

Education: B.S., Biology, University of Washington, 1985; M.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, 1987; Ph.D., Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, 1992.

SICB Activities: Chair sessions at Annual Meetings; Member, Best Student Paper Committee, 1993.

Other Memberships: Sigma Xi, Society for the Study of Limnology and Oceanography.

Research Interests: Biomechanics of marine organisms and communities: the role of physical processes in the evolution of invertebrate life history traits; and chemical transport in marine communities.

Goals Statement: Interdisciplinary approaches are essential for addressing questions in modern ecology. In addition, I believe that to maximize the impact and usefulness of science it is necessary that participants represent the diversity of people within the Society and that scientific results be accessible to non-scientists. As Program Officer, I plan to encourage interdisciplinary symposia relating to important questions in ecology and evolution that encourage minority and non-traditional representation.

Don R. Levitan

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Florida State University.

Education: B.A., Boston University, 1979; Ph.D., University of Delaware, 1989.

SICB Activities: Best Student Paper Award, Division of Ecology, 1987; Student paper judge, 1989, 1993-95; Secretary of the Division of Ecology & Evolution, 1994-96.

Research Interests: Evolution and ecology of marine invertebrates, life history theory, population biology and reproductive biology.

Goals Statement: I joined SICB as a graduate student, and this Society more than any other has provided role models for my professional development, a venue to present my research to a receptive audience, and a network of important colleagues who have facilitated my efforts to integrate a variety of disciplines into my own work. I would like to continue to promote these opportunities for new and established members of our Division.

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