For the second consecutive year, AIBS is hosting a graduate student science policy intern at its Washington DC headquarters. The internship is sponsored by the American Society of Mammalogists, an AIBS member society. The 2006 ASM intern is Ms. Natalie Dawson, a PhD student in biology at the University of New Mexico. Natalie will be working in the AIBS Public Policy Office from approximately September 5 to December 10.

Natalie earned her undergraduate degree in 2002 in biology/environmental science from Central Michigan University. Her current research at the University of New Mexico focuses on the mammals of the Alexander Archipelago (within the Tongass National Forest, Southeast Alaska). She is using genetic techniques to define endemic species on islands, and then to use these species as models for redefining the management techniques currently used on this island system. Additionally, Natalie has worked with her advisor for several years to conduct a mammal inventory across the national parks of Alaska for museum collections, including the University of Alaska Museum and UNM's Museum of Southwestern Biology. She hopes to complete her doctorate in May 2008.

AIBS Member Societies and Organizations interested in placing a Graduate Student Policy Intern at AIBS or otherwise partnering with AIBS on public policy matters should contact AIBS's Director of Public Policy Robert Gropp at rgr...@aibs.org

With Labor Day, alas, now come and gone and thoughts of fall creeping in, here's a brief summary of nine AIBS activities that we have been working on and are now starting to hit their stride. This is not a complete list by any means...

1. 2006 AIBS Board elections are underway

2. 2006 AIBS evolution symposium at the NABT meetings, 14 October

3. 2007 AIBS annual meeting / 2007 Council meeting

4. NEON update

5. NESCent update

6. AIBS Education Committee initiatives

7. AIBS Public Policy Office adds staff

8. 2009 as the Year of Public Understanding of Science

9. Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science

DETAILS:

1.

The 2006 AIBS Board of Directors elections are underway. Please see the front page of the AIBS website & the online ballot at www.aibs.org/vote . A mass email will be going to all AIBS members this week. Paper ballots will be mailed soon, also. Polls close 27 October.

2.

The evolution symposium at the National Association of Biology Teachers annual meeting is on 14 October this year, in Albuquerque, NM co-sponsored with the Biological Sciences Curriculum Studies and the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center. The program and registration link are online here . AIBS Immediate Past-President Marvalee Wake is chairing this activity.

3.

Plans for the 2007 AIBS annual meeting (May 14 - 15), on the theme of Evolutionary Biology and Human Health, are advancing nicely & the website will soon be updated with new information. Online registration will open soon. AIBS President-Elect Douglas Futuyma has already lined up most of the plenary speakers. We are meeting jointly with the Natural Science Collections Alliance & immediately after the International Union of Biological Sciences general assembly, all in the same Washington DC hotel, the Capital Hilton.

The 2007 annual meeting will be followed (May 15 - 16) by the meeting of the AIBS Council of Member Societies and Organizations, also at the Capital Hilton.