AIBS Annual Meetings 2007 - 2009 Forge Partnerships
I last posted on this topic in July 2006 . AIBS annual meetings since 1999 have been smaller, more thematically focused affairs than our pre-1999 meetings. They are held in Washington DC, during the March - May time period, built around topics with aspects of science and public policy. Annual meeting themes have included 2001's From Biodiversity to Biocomplexity * 2002's Evolution: Understanding Life on Earth * 2003's Bioethics in a Changing World * 2004's Invasive Species: A Search for Solutions * and 2006's Biodiversity: The Interplay of Science, Valuation, and Policy. In each case, we have a series of plenary lectures interspersed with informal discussion sessions and a poster session. We record the lectures to go online afterwards for free viewing.
Our plans for the next three years follow the above format, with some exciting new partnerships with other organizations. In 2007, we will mark AIBS's 60th anniversary when we meet May 14 - 15 in a joint meeting with the Natural Sciences Collection Alliance, an organization with which AIBS has a number of key collaborations. The theme is "Evolutionary Biology and Human Health"; registration is open and the program is online with a great line-up of speakers, including Eric Green, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD / Edward Holmes, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA / Rustom Antia, Emory University, Atlanta, GA / Carlos Bustamante, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY / Douglas C. Wallace, Center for Molecular & Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics, Biological Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA / Sarah Tishkoff, University of Maryland, College Park, MD / Martin Nowak, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA / Randolph Nesse, Evolution and Human Adaptation Program, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. We are pleased to be working with the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology to secure additional speakers and discussion leaders.
The 2007 annual meeting will immediately follow, in the same hotel, the May 9 - 13 Conference and General Assembly of the International Union of Biological Sciences. And it will immediately precede the 2007 AIBS Council meeting of Member Societies and Organizations.
In May 2008, the AIBS annual meeting will be held jointly with the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, which will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. And in May 2009, we will convene our annual meeting in keeping with the Board and Council resolution to mark 2009 as a year to promote the public understanding of science. We are working with staff of the National Academy of Sciences and a broad array of other scientific organizations to move the plans ahead. We are also working with the newly-formed Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science on this project.