Events and Orientation

Opening Plenary Session
Wednesday, January 2 – The Plenary Address will be given by Past President, Dr. Sarah Woodin, University of South Carolina. The title of the talk is “Worms I Have Known and Loved or Spheres of Influence, Recruitment, and Community Dynamics.”

Sessions-Symposia-Social Events
The 2008 Annual Meeting for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) is an educational and research forum for investigations of biology on a broad comparative scale. The meeting will include many symposia and special programs in addition to hundreds of contributed papers in divisional and topical sessions. Watch the SICB Web site for Schedule of Events updates and the posting of abstracts in November, 2007.

Social Events
The Welcome Reception will be held at the Convention Center. Most of the other social events will also be held in the Convention Center.

Special Events

• Following tradition, there will be a Bartholomew Award/Lecture and a Howard Bern Lecture. The Bartholomew Awardee is Dr. Sheila Patek of University of California Berkeley. Her lecture is entitled “From shrimp hammers to lobster harmonics: evolutionary mechanics of movement and communication in the sea.” Peter Thomas, Professor in the Department of Marine Science and Section of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas, Austin will present the Howard Bern Lecture “Nonclassical Steroid Actions Mediated by Novel Membrane Receptors: Lessons from Studies in Fish.”
• NSF will participate in the 2008 meeting. Their exact program is TBD at this time.
• The film, Flock of Dodos, by Dr. Randy Olson, an evolutionary biologist filmmaker and longtime supporter of SICB, will be shown 5 times at the beginning of the meeting. Randy will be present and will introduce the film and be available for Q&A afterwards for the Thursday viewings. The movie will be shown on Wednesday, January 2, at 2-4 pm and 4-6 pm and on Thursday, January 3, at Noon-2 pm; 6:30-8:30 pm and 9-11 pm with Randy present for the Thursday showings. There is no charge for this event which will take place in the Lila Cockrell theater of the San Antonio Convention Center which seats 1400 people in the orchestra section. This event is open to the public.
• A special IMAX presentation of Volcanoes of the Deep Sea will be shown at the San Antonio IMAX theater exclusive-ly for SICB attendees and their guests on Friday, January 4, at 6:30 and 8:45 pm. Dr. Richard Lutz, who was Principal Investigator on the NSF project which funded the IMAX film and served as the film’s Science Director, will be introducing the film as well as participating in a Q&A session after both showings.

Media Workshop
Thursday, January 3, 7-9 pm in Room 202A at the Convention Center
“Lost in Translation: How to talk about science to politicians and other policy-makers”

Most lawmakers have little or no scientific training, yet they must make major decisions about global climate change, evolution, and many other important scientific issues. Where do they get their information? In a world full of well-funded lobbyists, how can an individual scientist be heard? Come to the Media Workshop and find out how you can make a difference! Science policy fellow Molly Jacobs will discuss her adventures as a scientist in the halls of Congress and make the case for more scientists to get involved. We’ll discuss how to be an effective advocate, and how to avoid common mistakes, and what resources are available to help you get your message across. The Welcome Reception will be held at the Convention Center. Most of the other social events will also be held in the Convention Center.

Grad Student/Post Docs Welcome and Meeting Orientation
Wednesday, January 2, 2008, 5:30 pm. “How to get the most
out of your SICB meeting.”

• How to find relevant talks/posters during the meetings
• How to find everyone at the meetings
• How to approach a “big guy or gal”
• How to enter or leave a room/move between rooms
• How to plan your meeting
• How to get involved in SICB or attend business meetings and the importance of attending the meetings (exposure, recognition).

This will be followed by a lightning round of first timers’ questions.

Welcome to San Antonio Reception
The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology welcomes you to San Antonio with a reception on Wednesday, January 2. The Welcome Reception will follow the Plenary lecture and will be held at the Convention Center. Light snacks will be provided.

Companion Orientation/Continental Breakfast
All registered guests are welcome to join an informal gathering on Thursday, January 3, from 9:00-10:00 am. A knowledgeable local person will be on hand to let you know about some of the many fascinating facts and sightseeing opportunities in San Antonio.

SICB Business Meeting
The SICB Business Meeting will take place Friday, January 4, from 5:15 – 6:15 pm.

American Microscopical Society
AMS members are invited to meet for their yearly luncheon. This year’s Past Presidential lecture will be given by Dr. Carole Hickman, from the University of California, Berkeley. The title of the talk is “The Snail: Evolving Metaphors and Visual Representations of Structure.”

Call for Exceptional Photomicrographs

Do you have a photomicrograph of exceptional interest and quality? If so, the American Microscopical Society invites and encourages you to enter it into the annual Ralph and Mildred Buchsbaum Excellence in Photomicrography Contest. The contest will take place January 3-4, 2008 during the SICB meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Micrographs will be displayed at the AMS booth where SICB meeting attendees may evaluate them and vote for the best image in both black and white and color categories.

Winning micrographers in each category will receive a cash award, a photomicrography book and a luncheon ticket to the AMS banquet at the next SICB meeting. The images will be also be featured on the AMS website.

The contest is open to SICB meeting participants; up to 3 entries each. AMS membership is welcomed but not required. Submissions must be prints, with maximum dimensions of 8 X 10 inches, unlabeled, unsigned, and mounted on poster board or foam-core mounting board. A single line of information identifying the subject (e.g., “Mouthparts of a mite”) and stating the microscopical technique used (e.g., “SEM”) should be below the photograph.

Entries will be accepted on the morning of the first full day of the meetings (Thursday, January 3, 2008) at the AMS booth in the exhibit hall. The deadline for submitting entries is before the exhibits close for lunch that day.

Voting begins on the afternoon of the first meeting day (January 3) and ends before exhibits close at the end of the second full day (Friday, January 4, 2008). All meeting participants who visit the AMS exhibit are allowed one ballot for each contest category.

 

SICB Society-Wide Evening Social in Honor of Students and Postdocs

Join your fellow SICB members for a Society-Wide Social on Saturday, January 5, from 8:00-9:30 pm. Coffee, desserts and fruit will be served and a cash bar will be available.

Graduate Student Workshops
Workshop: “I Have a Great Idea, But Who Will Fund Me: How to Write a Grant” – Saturday, January 5; 6:00-8:00 pm. The workshop will consist of a panel of granting agency Program Directors and faculty review panelists. The workshop will focus on 1) selecting the most appropriate agency to submit your proposal; 2) tips on how to write a strong and convincing proposal; 3) key ingredients to be included in a grant proposal; 4) developing an appropriate budget, etc? We believe that this will be a very helpful and informative workshop since we all need to secure funding to conduct our research endeavors.