Division Information

About DVM: 

Members of the Division of Vertebrate Morphology (DVM) study the structure of vertebrate animals in all of its diverse contexts, from how it develops and functions, to how it influences ecological distributions and evolves through time. SICB has a strong tradition of morphological research, spanning back to the roots of SICB as the American Morphological Society in the 1890s. Today, research in DVM embraces and develops new experimental, imaging, and modeling approaches to improve our understanding of the diversity of vertebrate form and train the next generation of morphologists.

Presentations and symposia at the Annual SICB Meeting highlight the excellent work of DVM researchers, including our strong student membership. We encourage ideas for new symposia, especially proposals that promote collaboration with other Divisions and disciplines, and that seek to broaden participation in science. We also sponsor regional meetings that bring together local communities of DVM researchers. Information about preparing symposia (along with other helpful SICB resources) can be found here, or contact DVM Officers with any questions or ideas.

The field of Vertebrate Morphology is full of opportunities for future discoveries, and we hope you will join DVM on this journey.

DVM Officers: 

DVM Bylaws

View the DVM Bylaws here.

Divisional Members Meeting Minutes

Minutes of past divisional Members Meetings are available here. Members Meetings occur each year in association with the annual society-wide conference in January.

News and Announcements

New Mentorship Award – Submit Nominations Until Nov. 10, 2024:

Nominations are now open for the new DVM Mentorship Award. This award is intended to recognize a DVM member for their commitment to mentoring, particularly but not exclusively of members from groups that are underrepresented in STEM. Mentoring efforts should go above and beyond the standard expectations of their job description; and/or employ innovative evidence-based approaches; and/or be demonstrated by outstanding accomplishments. The winner will be recognized at the Annual National Meeting and in the Divisional newsletter.

Eligibility: Nominees should be members of DVM. Nominees and their mentees may be at any career stage. Self-nominations and nominations of current DVM officers will not be considered.

Submission details: By midnight Hawai’i time, November 10, 2024, nominating materials should be submitted as a single PDF through the following Google Forms link: https://forms.gle/EuB8AFnsyk6Ypha2A. The nominating letter (2 pages maximum) may be submitted by a single nominator or as a group letter from multiple nominators (up to 5). Information for all nominators should be compiled on a single additional page that does not count towards the page limit of the nomination letter, and should include current institutions and contact e-mails, as well as the nature of each nominator’s interaction with the nominee (e. g., former mentee, current program supervisor, etc.). Contact information for the nominee should also be provided on this page.

Evaluation process:  Nominations will be reviewed by a panel of at least 3 DVM members designated by the Division Chair, with effort made to represent the breadth of DVM membership. No judges will be allowed who have had mentor-mentee relationships with nominees, or who have had other connections with nominees that would be judged conflicts of interest by NSF criteria (e.g. family relationship, recent co-author). Judges will score nominations following a rubric that evaluates personal investment into mentoring, innovations in mentoring approaches, and significant mentoring accomplishments, including achievements by mentees that relate to their mentoring by the nominee.

New DVM Program – Apply for support of OA publication fees for IOB:

Applications are now being accepted for DVM support of Open Access charges for papers submitted to Integrative Organismal Biology (IOB). The current level of support would be $1000, covering ~75% of the current $1355 SICB members charge. This support is provided via Divisional discretionary funds, and may not be available at the same level every year. We currently hope to support at least 2 papers per year. Support would be provided via reimbursement – authors would pay the complete charges from the publisher upon acceptance of their article, and submit a reimbursement request including a copy of the payment record to SICB for processing.

Eligibility: Applicants must be DVM members. The expectation is for these funds to support authors for whom access to OA support is limited, particularly students, postdocs, and PUI (primarily undergraduate institution) faculty. Applications may be made in advance of submission of a manuscript to IOB, but no reimbursements will be made until after acceptance and payment of fees by the author. Note that submissions to IOB must be made within 1 month of notification of the award. Successful applicants may not re-apply.

Application details: Applications will be considered twice per year, with submission deadlines of midnight Hawai’i time, May 10 and November 10 each year. Applications should submit the following materials as a single PDF via the following Google Forms link: https://forms.gle/wNU2vcaCwTETXbp59.

1) A letter (maximum 2 pages each) detailing: evidence of author eligibility; evidence of need (including whether submission to IOB depends on receiving this support); an explanation of how Open Access publication in SICB’s journal IOB will promote the audience for the study; and attestation that the study has been submitted to IOB or will be submitted within one month of DVM support notification.

2) An abstract of the manuscript for which support is requested.

Evaluation process: Applications will be reviewed after each deadline by a panel of at least 3 DVM officers or designees by the Division Chair, ensuring no connections with applicants that would be judged conflicts of interest by NSF criteria (e.g. family relationship, recent co-author). Judges will score nominations following a rubric that evaluates applicant need, connection of the manuscript to DVM, and the explanation how the study will benefit from OA publication in IOB.

Career and Resources

SICB’s job board can be found here.