Meeting Abstract

Other Events Tuesday.  Tuesday, Jan. 4  Workshop: Implementation of the Grand Challenges Noon-3:00pm Ballroom J, Convention Center

This will be a 3 hour workshop with the first 40 mins or so for a series of short presentations (?10min each), and the final 2+ hours for directed discussion of some key questions. The primary objective is to get SICB membership involved and to share a summary of the workshop at the SICB business meeting. Presenters were selected on the basis of their involvement with SICB and GCOB efforts, and include Marvalee Wake, Dianna Padilla, Mark Denny, Sheila Patek and Jonathon Stillman. The Workshop will start with the need for Organismal Biology and the Grand Challenges, and the need for larger scale research directions (M.Wake). A brief history of how other groups organized around their �grand challenges� and NSF response (D. Padilla) will follow. Mark Denny and Jonathon Stillman will present a generic outline of structure to address the GCOB�s and present some examples of options for pursuing a particular direction. In addition, they will give examples of 2-3 key questions that can be used in the subsequent discussion. Sheila Patek will then orchestrate a series of �breakout� discussion groups where workshop participants will be able to tackle the key question in GCOB in small groups. The outcomes of the discussions will be shared amongst the participants and summarized for the SICB Business meeting and subsequent article for ICB.