Society of Systematic Biologists

Applications must be made online
Closing date: 16 May 2010

Understanding coevolution at the macroscopic level is the key to understanding the â�?��?big pictureâ�?� of how parasites and pathogens coevolve with, and switch between, their hosts. The central aim of this project is to develop and extend the statistical framework of coevolution at the species level and above, to fill this gap in our knowledge.

Proposals for Sabbaticals and for collaborative working groups (Working Groups and Catalysis Meetings) are now being accepted at The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent). We are looking to support innovative approaches to outstanding problems in evolutionary biology. In particular, proposals that have a clear interdisciplinary focus, or involve evolutionary concepts in non-traditional disciplines, are strongly encouraged, as are proposals that demonstrate international participation and a mix of senior and emerging researchers, including graduate students.

Two positions available June 1, 2010 to work on a grant-funded project studying the biological, systematic, and computational challenges presented by phylogenetic reconstruction of host-pathogen systems. The project will involve the development of analytical approaches and their implementation in POY [using C and OCAML], see POY and Supramap.

Applicants should have experience in systematics, biogeography, host-pathogen systems, and/or computational biology. Ph.D. required in biology, computer science, or related fields.

The Society of Systematic Biologists invites proposals for symposia at the 2011 Evolution meeting to be held in Norman, Oklahoma, from 17-21 June 2011. The meeting will be held jointly with the American Society of Naturalists and the Society for the Study of Evolution, and our host is University of Oklahoma.

Proposals should include (1) a descriptive title, (2) one or two paragraphs explaining the purpose of the symposium and its relevance to systematics, (3) a list of presentations including proposed speakers, their institutions or affiliations, and their presentation titles, and (4) an indication of whether the speakers have been invited and whether they have agreed to participate.

The TreeBASE team are pleased to release a new version of TreeBASE -- a database of phylogenetic knowledge: http://www.treebase.org. TreeBASE is designed to serve as a digital archive of phylogenetic data reported in peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Improvements include:

• Richer annotation of metadata (journal DOIs, specimen georeferences, Genbank accession numbers, etc)
• A mapping between taxon labels and taxonomic names in uBio and NCBI for improved normalization of names
• The ability to visualize and edit trees using Phylowidget - The ability to search on tree topology
• Data are delivered in several serializations, including NEXUS and NeXML
• A special URL gives journal editors and reviewers anonymous advanced access to data - Programmatic access to the data using the PhyloWS API.

The Phyloinformatics Summer of Code program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate, masters, and PhD students to obtain hands-on experience writing and extending open-source software for evolutionary informatics under the mentorship of experienced developers from around the world. The program is the participation of the US National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) as a mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Codeâ�??¢.

The Royal British Columbia Museum is advertising for a full time Curator of Invertebrate Zoology. Details of the job are available from http://employment.gov.bc.ca/index.php?view_posting=046576. The deadline for applications is 9 April 2010 (via TAXACOM).

The NSF has announced Dimensions of Biodiversity:

The Dimensions of Biodiversity initiative seeks to characterize biodiversity on Earth by using integrative, innovative approaches to fill rapidly the most substantial gaps in our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. This campaign will take a broad view of biodiversity, and in its initial phase will focus on the integration of genetic, taxonomic, and functional dimensions of biodiversity. Successful proposals should integrate these three dimensions to understand interactions and feedbacks among them. While this focus complements several core NSF programs, it differs by requiring that multiple dimensions of biodiversity be addressed simultaneously, in innovative or novel ways, to understand the roles of biodiversity in critical ecological and evolutionary processes.
The program has an anticipated budget of $US 20 million, with individual projects being limited to $US 3M. More details are available on the program website.

iEvoBio is being held jointly with the Evolution Meetings as a satellite conference, for the first time in 2010 in Portland, Oregon.

Among the different events are a visualisation challenge, keynote presentations, full and lightning talks. Registration opened February 12th, and the Call for Abstracts for full talks is now open (with a deadline of April 8). For more details visit the iEvoBio site http://ievobio.org/.

A teaching/research assistantship is available for a M.S. or Ph.D. student in the Department of Biology at the University of Memphis (TN) under the supervision of Dr. Duane McKenna, beginning Fall 2010. Students interested in insect (especially beetle) molecular phylogenetics/phylogenomics and the evolutionary ecology of insect-plant interactions are encouraged to apply. Candidates must have prior laboratory and field experience.

Interested students may inquire by contacting dmckenna@memphis.edu. Further information about the Department of Biology and Graduate Program can be found at http://www.memphis.edu/biology/graduate.htm.