Society of Systematic Biologists

Systematics is the study of biological diversity and its origins. It focuses on understanding evolutionary relationships among organisms, species, higher taxa, or other biological entities, such as genes, and the evolution of the properties of taxa including intrinsic traits, ecological interactions, and geographic distributions. An important part of systematics is the development of methods for various aspects of phylogenetic inference and biological nomenclature/classification.

The objective of the Society of Systematic Biologists is the advancement of the science of systematic biology in all its aspects of theory, principles, methodology, and practice, for both living and fossil organisms, with emphasis on areas of common interest to all systematic biologists regardless of individual specialization.

Books recently reviewed in Systematic Biology, or written by members of the Society.

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.

The Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Manitoba invites applications for a tenure track position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, commencing July 1, 2010, or as soon as possible thereafter, to teach and conduct research in Insect Systematics and Taxonomy. The position will be weighted at approximately 45% teaching, 40% research and 15% service/outreach. Qualified applicants must possess: a Ph.D. in taxonomy and systematics of insects or closely related arthropods; a record of independent research as demonstrated by scholarly publications; the potential for developing a strong externally funded research program in one or more areas of insect systematics or taxonomy; demonstrated ability or potential for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching; and excellent oral and written communication skills.

The NSF is calling for proposals for Innovations in Biological Imaging and Visualization (IBIV), with a deadline of April 12, 2010.

The goal of IBIV is "to identify opportunities for investment to advance the state-of-the-art in biological image analysis, data visualization, archiving, and dissemination. Participants selected through an open application process will engage in an intensive five-day residential workshop to generate project ideas through an innovative, real-time review process. Members of the biological research community, computational theorists and engineers, mathematicians, imaging specialists from other fields, educators involved in training the next generation of researchers, and a range of other specialists (artists, illustrators, etc.) are all strongly encouraged to participate."

More details are available from the NSF web site.

Course Contacts: Wang Xiaoling training@genomics.org.cn and William Piel (piel@treebase.org) Organizing Committee: Li Zhuo, Wang Xiaoling, Hilmar Lapp, William Piel, Todd Vision

Computational Phyloinformatics (http://www.nescent.org/courses/2010/comphy/) is an 11-day intensive summer course co-sponsored by BGI-Shenzhen and the U.S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), and will take place at the BGI-Shenzhen genomics institute in Yah Tian District, Shenzhen, China, August 5-17, 2010. The venue is in proximity to beaches, national forests, and holiday resorts. The course aims to give students practical knowledge and hands-on programming skills in phyloinformatics.

25 July - 6 August 2010, individual research session 6 - 13 August 2010
http://www.molecularevolution.org/workshop
Application Deadline 1 March 2010

The Workshop on Molecular Evolution has been the finest course on the subject since first offered in 1988 in Woods Hole, USA. The Workshop consists of a series of lectures, demonstrations and computer laboratories that cover various aspects of molecular evolution. Faculty are chosen exclusively for their effectiveness in teaching theory and practice in molecular evolution. Included among the faculty are developers and other experts in the use of computer programs and packages such as BLAST, BEAST, Clustal W and Clustal X, FASTA, FigTree, GARLI, Genealogical Sorting Index, LAMARC, MAFFT, MrBayes, PAML, PAUP*, and SeaView who provide demonstrations and consultations. The course is designed for established investigators, postdoctoral scholars, and advanced graduate students with prior experience in molecular evolution and related fields. Scientists with strong interests in molecular evolution, phylogenetics, population genetics, and related fields are encouraged to apply for admission. Lectures and computer laboratories total ~90 hours of scheduled instruction. An optional all-computer laboratory of 54+ hours of independent work with guidance and consultation of some faculty and teaching assistants is offered during the third week. Admission is limited and highly competitive, with admissions decisions determined by an international committee. Participants find the individual research session to be especially useful.

The position
Salary: $73K-$80K (AUD) plus superannuation
Ref. No: 2009/1010 (This is a previously advertised position, previous applicants need not re-apply)
Deadline: 29 January, 2010

Applications are invited for a three-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in molecular phylogenetics. The position will be based at CSIRO Entomology, which is part of the Black Mountain Laboratories in Canberra, Australia. Joining the newly established Bioinformatics and Phylogenomics Laboratory led by Dr Lars Jermiin, the appointee will develop, test and use phylogenetic methods to infer ancestral nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences under general conditions.