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Message from the DCE Officers
Rachel Bowden, Chair (chair.DCE@sicb.org); Jamie Cornelius, Chair-Elect; Sara O’Brien, Program Officer (DPO.DCE@sicb.org; Britt Heidinger, Program Officer-Elect; Haruka Wada, Secretary (secretary.DCE@sicb.org); Kat Munley, Student-Postdoc Representative (kmmunley@central.uh.edu)
As fall approaches and abstract deadlines pass, we all look forward to the annual meeting of SICB. Of course, the annual meeting is the place to hear some of the latest and greatest research going on in comparative endocrinology, but as important, it is the place to connect with fellow comparative endocrinologists. We meet prospective students, advisors, and collaborators as we wander through the poster sessions and listen to talks. We reconnect with friends and former students over a meal. We hope you will join us in Seattle, WA in January 2024!
Upcoming Meeting in Seattle, Washington, January 2-6, 2024
SICB 2024 will be the biggest meeting ever! We received the most abstracts ever for the 2024 meeting. SICB will run approximately 16 concurrent sessions. Please look forward to a slew of symposia, special sessions, complimentary sessions, best student presentations, and luminary lectures described in the conference program here.
DCE is co-sponsoring a variety of Symposium this year, including “What Do Trade-offs Mean to Reproducing Females?: An Integrative Look at Whole-Organism Trade-offs” (organizers: Chloe C. Josefson, Teri J. Orr), “Recent Advances in the Mechanistic Understanding of Avian Responses to Environmental Challenges” (organizers: Alexander R. Gerson, Maria Stager, Cory Elowe), and “Immunity in the ‘Omics Age: What Can ‘Omics Approaches Tell Us About Immunity in Natural Systems?” (organizers: Lauren Fuess, Nikki Traylor-Knowles).
In addition, DCE has 74 talks and posters programmed. The topics covered in these talks and poster sessions are diverse from Stress, Endocrine Disruption and Development, Hormones and Behavior, Plasticity and Seasonality and more. This year, DCE’s Best Student Presentation Riddiford & Gorbman Awards competition will be on the first day of the meeting, January 3. As always, DCE is looking for kind souls to serve as judges for DCE’s Best Student Presentation awards. Please contact the DCE Program Officer (DPO.DCE@sicb.org) if you are interested in judging.
At SICB 2024, there are some great events planned for students and postdocs, both within DCE and more broadly:
- DCE will be hosting our annual Lunch with a Comparative Endocrinologist program, which gives undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to meet a comparative endocrinologist in our division at the SICB meeting. More information about this event will be coming soon!
- To count down to SICB 2024, DCE will be hosting our “Meet the Scientist” initiative on the DCE Twitter/X account, in which students selected as finalists for the Aubrey Gorbman Award for Best Student Oral Presentation and the Lynn Riddiford Award for Best Student Poster Presentation will be featured in a Twitter/X post every other week!
- The Student-Postdoctoral Affairs Committee (SPDAC) will be organizing workshops about different topics that are relevant to students and postdocs. Stay tuned for more information!
Also, we welcome everyone, whether it is your first ever SICB meeting or if it is your 30th, to join the DCE Members Meeting. It is a great place to connect with other DCE members, hear about the state of DCE, and discuss ideas to move our division forward. The DCE member meeting/business meeting will be scheduled for Thursday evening, January 4, 5:45-6:45 PM and we look forward to seeing you there!
DCE’s 2024 Bern Lecture will be given by Dr. Marilyn Ramenofsky, scheduled for January 4 at 7:30PM. Dr. Ramenofsky has been the pioneer on avian migratory physiology and an inspiration to many early-career scientists over the years. We look forward to her presentation on important contributions to the field. The Bern Lecture will be followed immediately by DCE’s joint social with our friends in DAB, DNNSB and DEDE. We’ll have some great Pacific Northwest food and beverages to offer at our Social.
We also want to encourage all DCE members to think about symposium ideas for future meetings. While it may seem a bit daunting to put together a symposium, it can be an incredibly rewarding experience that allows you to connect with established scientists, promote up-and-coming colleagues, and put a stamp on your field. There are many resources available to assist you with symposium preparation, including several DCE members that have organized previous symposia. If you are considering ideas for future meetings, please contact the DCE Chair (chair.dce@sicb.org) and DCE Program Officer (dpo.dce@sicb.org).
Election Results and Upcoming Elections
The results from our Spring Elections are in! Our new Chair-Elect is Ignacio Moore and our new Secretary-Elect is Ryan Paitz. Thank you very much to all candidates who ran for these positions for your willingness to serve your division!
Our next elections will be in 2024 for Program Officer-Elect. Please consider running or nominating a colleague who you think might shine as a Program Officer.
Serving on the DCE Executive Committee is a wonderful way to connect with and contribute to your professional community and learn more about the workings of a large scientific society.
Social Media
The SICB DCE Twitter/X account has continued to be very active! We are still the 3rd most popular Twitter/X page of all the SICB divisions, with nearly 900 followers! If you haven’t already, follow the DCE Twitter/X account (@sicb_dce), and make sure to tag our account in your tweets to share your research, papers, grants, student or postdoc opportunities, and other news!
Student-Postdoc Funding Opportunities
If you are a student or postdoc member of SICB, don’t forget to apply for SICB funding opportunities! Deadlines to many of these programs are in late October, and we will list these funding opportunities in the Spring Newsletter.
DEIJ Service Award for Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Integrative Biology: honors SICB members who have a demonstrated commitment to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in integrative biology. The Award is presented to an individual SICB member, or group of members, and includes an honorarium of up to $1500. Nomination deadline: mid-May, application deadline: mid-June.
Research among DCEers!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful research photos. We look forward to hearing the latest research at the SICB 2024!
