Andie Ward, Chair (chair.dvm@sicb.org); Lara Ferry, Past Chair (Lara.Ferry@asu.edu); Casey Holliday, Chair-elect (chairelect.dvm@sicb.org); Marguerite Butler, Program Officer (dpo.dvm@sicb.org); Kelly Diamond (dpoelect.dvm@sicb.org); Teri Orr, Secretary (secretary-elect.dvm@sicb.org); Emily McParland, SPDAC Representative (emily_mcparland@brown.edu)
SICB Annual Meeting Recap
Portland provided us with a vibrant venue and city to showcase everyone’s work! We hope attendees had the chance to soak in everything Portland had to offer, from indulging in great science while experiencing the incredible local food scene. At this year’s meeting, we had 84 oral presentation abstracts and 66 poster abstracts submitted with DVM as the primary division. We had an eventful DVM Member Meeting, to catch up on the minutes please visit:
https://sicb.burkclients.com/divnew/DVM/DVM%20Jan%202025%20Annual%20Member%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf
We would like to thank Crystal Reynaga for her service to the Division as DVM Secretary over the past two years. We are equally excited to welcome our new secretary, Teri Orr, and look forward to her continued support of the DVM community. As the DVM Officers, we are excited to see everyone for next year’s annual meeting in Pittsburg PA.
Best Student Presentation Awards
This year’s Best Student Presentation sessions highlighted exceptional early-career talent. This year, six students competed for the D. Dwight Davis Award, while nine students showcased their work in the Best Student Poster Competition. Congratulations to all participants and their impressive work!
The winner of the D. Dwight Davis Award for oral presentations was Miranda Margulis-Ohnuma (second-year PhD student at Yale University), for the talk “Testing for functional regionalization in the snake vertebral column”.
The honorable mention of the D. Dwight Davis Award for oral presentations was Danielle Adams (Postdoctoral Researcher at the Field Museum), for the talk “Evolution of bone material properties in the skulls of artiodactyls and cetaceans”.
The winner of the Karel Liem Poster Award was Samantha Trail (Fifth year PhD Candidate at Florida Atlantic University) for an outstanding poster on, “The right tool for the job: ontogenetic shifts in morphology and early sea turtle dispersal”.
Students interested in competing for the Best Student Presentation (BSP) Award for a poster or oral presentation, don’t forget to submit your one-page summary on or before the SICB-wide abstract submission deadline typically in late August. Full details on the one-pager requirements and a complete overview of the competition guidelines can be found on the SICB website: https://sicb.org/awards/best-student-presentation-bsp-program/summary-of-bsp-divisional-guidelines/#bspdvm)
DVM Mentorship Award
This year we were thrilled to recognize Patricia Brennan, an Associate Professor at Mount Holyoke College for her exemplary mentorship. Patricia has expanded access to research opportunities and inspired countless mentees to pursue careers in STEM. Congratulations to Patricia for her exceptional leadership and transformative impact on mentorship within the DVM community.
If you have benefited from the efforts of an outstanding mentor, please consider nominating them for this award. Additional information on award guidelines and the nomination process can be found on the DVM webpage (url: https://sicb.org/divisions/vertebrate-morphology/). The next target review date will be September 10, 2026. Stay tuned for the opening of nominations in the spring!
DVM Support & Announcements
Extension of Travel Award to Post-docs in Discussion
We know that attending SICB is an invaluable experience, however the costs associated with travel and registration can be a barrier. A recent SPDAC survey found that at least 50% of students and postdocs face financial hardships when it comes to attending the meeting. SICB provides support for students, but currently there is little support available for postdocs. This is why we are exploring the development of a Postdoc Travel Award to help support postdocs who may not have sufficient funding to attend. This is still in the early stages, and we want to make sure we get it right.
We’d love to hear from you! Your feedback and input will be instrumental in shaping this initiative, so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts with Andie Ward (chair.dvm@sicb.org).
2026 OA Publication Award
We are excited to feature Cassie Shriver, PhD Candidate at Georgia Tech, and her team who were recently awarded an Open Access (OA) Publication Award to support their manuscript entitled, “Bridging Science Across Species: A Biomechanics Outreach Event at the Zoo” submitted to Integrative Organismal Biology (IOB). We are looking forward to learning more about their pioneering work and outreach at zoos.
Support for OA Publication Fees for IOB
DVM offers up to $1,000 to support OA fees for papers submitted to IOB—covering ~75% of the $1,355 SICB member rate. These funds prioritize authors with limited OA support, including students, postdocs, and PUI faculty. Applications can be submitted before manuscript submission, but reimbursements are only issued after acceptance and payment. Awardees must submit to IOB within one month of notification.
Learn more on the DVM webpage (url: https://sicb.org/divisions/vertebrate-morphology/) and apply via the google form (url: https://forms.gle/3CA7AmpvnxteyYph9).
Call for 2028 SICB Symposia – Los Angeles, CA
Consider contributing to DVM by hosting a symposium! Symposia offer DVM members a platform to showcase innovative and forward-thinking research to the wider scientific community, including through publication in Integrative and Comparative Biology.
If you’re inspired to organize a symposium, SICB provides support and incentives for symposium organizers. Guidelines for preparing a symposium proposal can be found on the SICB meetings page (url: https://sicb.org/events/). Proposals are welcome from SICB members at any career stage. Applications for the 2028 meeting are due on September 1st, 2026. For questions and feedback on your symposium ideas, please reach out to our Program Officer, Marguerite Butler (dpo.dvm@sicb.org). We are eagerly awaiting your symposia contributions!
Thinking about organizing a meeting in your region? DVM members can request up to $500 in support for their organized meetings. If you’re interested, please reach out to the DVM Chair, Andie Ward (chair.dvm@sicb.org) for more details.
Regional meetings provide excellent opportunities for student presentations and idea-sharing ahead of the national meeting, and many regions have successfully hosted these events over the years. A special thank you to the 2025 Regional Meeting Organizers for their efforts in fostering these valuable gatherings:
- Natalie Holt (University of California, Riverside) – Southwest Regional Meeting of Organismal Biology
- Jason Ramsay (Rhode Island College) – Northwest Regional Meeting
- Mason Dean (Banyuls Sur Mer, France) – Comparative Cartilage and Bone Biology (CCBB) Meeting
Social Media
Connect and follow us on social media! As we continue to explore the best platforms to engage with our community, we currently have a presence via:
Facebook (url: https://m.facebook.com/groups/273882346051007/)
LinkedIn (url: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12952547/)
BlueSky (url: https://bsky.app/profile/sicb-dcb-dvm.bsky.social) groups.
Please join, follow and contribute updates, discussions, and announcements.
Community Announcements
Secure your CT Future with the Non-Clinical Tomography Users Research Network (NoCTURN)
The Non-Clinical Tomography Users Research Network (NoCTURN) is an NSF-funded FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability) and open science Research Coordination Network dedicated to advancing inclusive practices for computed tomography (CT) data in organismal biology and beyond. For members of the Division of Vertebrate Morphology, CT is a keystone technology—enabling digitization of natural history specimens, 3D morphology reconstruction, musculoskeletal characterization, and virtual dissections. However, the field faces a fragmented data landscape characterized by proprietary file formats, inconsistent metadata conventions across manufacturers, and siloed workflows, which hinder the reproducibility, discoverability, and reuse of data that our science demands.
We actively cultivate a community of researchers, educators, museum professionals, repository managers, and industry partners to directly address these challenges (Fig. 1). By developing community standards for metadata, persistent identifiers, and data sharing aligned with FAIR principles, NoCTURN aims to foster a more cohesive and efficient data ecosystem. With over 200 members—including international collaborators and partnerships with organizations like the Tomography for Scientific Advancement Society (ToSCA)—NoCTURN operates through an interconnected series of Working Groups, Communities, and Committees. These platforms provide practitioners at every career stage with a direct voice in shaping community standards, ensuring that the infrastructure developed by the network meets the needs of the field.
The network has already produced freely available terminology standards, repository guidelines, software-comparison tools, and CT facility resources, which are valuable assets for researchers, managers, and analysts involved in morphological or evolutionary research. The Division of Vertebrate Morphology point of view is critical to our mission: whether you generate, manage, or analyze CT data, joining NoCTURN means that your expertise and daily challenges will contribute to the development of the infrastructure that the field will rely on in the future. To learn more about NoCTURN, visit nocturnetwork.org or read our recent publications (Gignac et al., 2024; Hurdle et al., 2025).
Spring 2026 Elections
It’s election season! We will be selecting a new Secretary-Elect for the division in this year’s spring elections. Many thanks to the Nominating Committee– Henry Astley, Thomas Stewart, and Rita Mehta– for their efforts in assembling a fantastic slate of candidates. We are grateful for this year’s nominees and their willingness to serve DVM.
Please take a moment to review the candidate bios below and cast your vote. Remember, if your SICB membership was active at the time of the 2026 meeting, you are eligible to vote, including student members!
We also encourage you to start thinking ahead to next year. In Spring 2027, we will be seeking candidates for DVM Chair-elect and Program Officer-elect (PO). If you are interested in getting more involved, consider serving on the nominating committee or putting your name forward.
DVM Secretary-Elect Candidate Biographies
Name: Jessica Tingle
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Brown University Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology (EEOB)
Education: B.S. in Biological Sciences at Cornell University (2012), Ph.D. in EEOB at University of California, Riverside (2021)
Professional Experience: Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-23) and NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (2023-25) at the University of Akron
SICB Activities: SICB member since 2014; session chair (various years); reviewer for IOB and ICB (2023-26); symposium speaker (2020, 2025); Ask-An-Expert booth (2026); mentor in the Broadening Participation Mentorship Program (2020, 21, 23, and 26)
Other Memberships: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH), Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE)
Research Interests: snake evolution, biomechanics, and functional morphology, especially with respect to locomotion and the axial musculoskeletal system
Goals Statement: SICB has been my intellectual home for many years. I love both the people and the science here! The role of DVM Secretary would be an ideal way for me to start getting involved in SICB leadership, where I will build on SICB’s work to create an inclusive community where we can keep sharing our exciting science. I bring with me substantial experience as a leader in the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), where I have served as the founder and coordinator of the Graduate Student Mentorship Program (2024-present), Chair of the DEI Committee (2020-present), and Chair of the Student Participation Committee (2018-2021), among other roles.
Name: Jeffery Scales
Current Position: Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at California State University, Stanislaus
Education: B.S., University of Puget Sound (1999); M.S., Baylor University (2002); Ph.D., University of Hawaii, Manoa (2014)
Professional Experience: Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, California State University, Stanislaus (2016 – 2022); Postdoctoral Fellow, University of South Florida (2014 – 2016).
SICB Activities: Long-time meeting attendee, Invited symposium speaker (2007)
Other memberships: No other current associations
Research Interests: My research centers on functional morphology and the evolution of morphological diversity with a focus on locomotor and feeding systems.
Goals Statement: As a long-time member of SICB and DVM, I am excited for the opportunity to give back to these important communities. Early in my career, both DVM and SICB provided a highly supportive environment that played a key role in my development as a scientist and teacher. My experience as a faculty member at a teaching-focused university, has cemented my appreciation of just how essential proper support is for students and early-career scientists. If elected, my primary goal as secretary will be to support programs that provide research and career mentorship, as well as financial support for students and early-career scientists pursuing a wide range of career paths. I will also strive to maintain and strengthen the inclusive and welcoming environment that DVM fosters while promoting activities that will help cultivate interest in the field of vertebrate morphology. Finally, I will actively support the ongoing initiatives and projects led by the DVM officers.