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Kansas State University

22–27 July, 2009

Graduate Student Information

Grad Student Reprint and Book Scavenge

Information coming soon!

SSAR Silent Auction

Broadway IV
Thursday, July 23 - 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Friday, July 24 - 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, July 25 - 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 25 - 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

The SSAR announces the Thirteenth Annual Silent Auction to be held at the 2009 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) in Portland, Oregon, July 22–27. In previous years, items for the Silent Auction have been limited to frameable art. However, this year, we are glad to accept any herp-related donations, including but not limited to, frameable art (photographs, paintings, and line illustrations), books, music, glassware, jewelry, clothing and gift certificates for Portland area services/events during the meeting week. The SSAR Student Travel Committee organizes the Annual Silent Auction to raise money to fund the student travel awards to the JMIH. Your donations help provide opportunities for students to attend and present their research. If you are interested in donating an item or two (tax deductible for U.S. residents), please contact Matthew D. Venesky for more information.

Student Awards

Student Awards AES Carrier Award

The American Elasmobranch Society will present the Carrier Award for the best student poster presentation on elasmobranch biology given during the AES Poster Session. Initiated in 1999, this award has been made possible through a donation from Jeffrey C. and Carol A. Carrier, who have been longtime advocates of student participation in the Society.

AES Samuel Gruber Award

The American Elasmobranch Society will present the Samuel Gruber Award for the best student oral presentation on elasmobranch biology given during the AES paper sessions. This award is named for the society’s founder, who continues to be a source of inspiration for students in this challenging field of study.

Gruber Award and Carrier Award Eligibility and Judging

To be eligible, a student must:

  1. be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student, or have completed his/her degree within 12 months of the presentation
  2. be a member in good standing of AES
  3. be in his/her second year of AES membership
  4. be first or sole author of a contributed paper
  5. indicate at the time of abstract submission his/her intention to compete for the appropriate award

To be a member in good standing, students must renew their student memberships by December 31, 2008.

Student oral presentations and poster presentations will be judged by separate panels of AES members representing various backgrounds and will include the previous year’s award recipient, whenever possible. Evaluation will be based on the quality, originality, and significance of the research as well as the student’s presentation. Each participant will receive a copy of the judging evaluation criteria prior to the meeting. A minimum of three student presenters must be eligible for judging for either award to be considered. Winners of the Gruber Award and Carrier Award will be announced at the AES Banquet.

ASIH Stoye Award

Stoye Awards of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists recognize the best student oral presentation in the following categories. Submission for oral presentation will be reviewed based on the following emphases:

  • Conservation Biology includes, but is not limited to, studies with primary focus on the conservation of biodiversity, broadly defined as the identification, protection, preservation, restoration, management, or sustainable use of currently or potentially imperiled taxa or assemblages and their habitats.
  • General Ichthyology includes, but is not limited to, morphological and molecular systematics, techniques in systematics, zoogeography, paleontology, and faunal descriptions.
  • General Herpetology includes, but is not limited to, morphological and molecular systematics, techniques in systematics, zoogeography, paleontology, and faunal descriptions.
  • Genetics, Development, and Morphology includes, but is not limited to, population genetics, DNA analysis, comparative embryology, heterochrony, descriptive and experimental development, comparative and evolutionary morphology, functional morphology, and biomechanics.
  • Ecology and Ethology includes, but is not limited to, population and community ecology, life history strategies, descriptive and experimental ethology, behavioral ecology, neuroethology, and ecomorphology.
  • Physiology and Physiological Ecology includes, but is not limited to, comparative and experimental physiology, biochemistry, sensory and behavioral physiology, and endocrinology.

ASIH Storer Awards

Storer Awards of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists recognize the best student poster presentation in each of the following categories:

  • Ichthyology
  • Herpetology

Stoye and Storer Awards Eligibility and Judging

To be eligible for either Stoye or Storer Awards, the student must

  1. be the sole author and presenter
  2. be a member of ASIH
  3. indicate a desire to be considered when submitting an abstract (see instructions for Submitting Abstracts)
  4. meet the ASIH criteria for student:
    “An individual who at the time the paper is given is the equivalent of a full-time student (an individual who is devoting his or her major efforts to a formal program of study) or who has satisfactorily completed a thesis or dissertation defense during the past twelve months.”

Stoye and Storer presentations are judged by the following criteria:

  • introduction
  • methods
  • data analysis and interpretation
  • conclusions
  • innovation, originality, and scientific significance
  • presentation
  • visual aids or graphic design

The rating scale is 0 to 10 points: excellent (9 to 10), very good (7 to 8), good (4 to 6), fair (2 to 3), poor (0 to 1).

Questions about the Stoye and Storer Awards should be directed to Maureen Donnelly.

ELHS Student Awards

Two student awards are offered by the Early Life History Section: the Sally L. Richardson Best Student Paper Award and the J.H.S. Blaxter Student Poster Award. Further details on these awards can be found at www.larvalfishcon.org (sidebar to 33rd Larval Fish Conference’ then to ‘Awards’). The John H.S. Blaxter Best Student Poster Award and The Sally Leonard Richardson Best Student Paper Award will be given at the ELHS Social.

The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Awards

If you are a Master’s or Ph.D. student with research results, consider participating in the annual competition for The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Awards. To participate, you must

  1. be a member of The Herpetologists’ League
  2. be either a registered graduate student or have completed your graduate degree requirements within 14 months of your presentation
  3. submit an abstract (of which you must be the senior author and have done the majority of the work) by the deadline for submission of abstracts to the Joint Meetings, indicating your desire to compete for the HL Graduate Research Award
  4. give the oral presentation at the meeting

All presenters will receive evaluations from the judges after the meeting. The top five presentations, as ranked by the judges, will be announced at the meeting banquet. Presenters of the second to fifth ranked presentations will receive $200 awards. The presenter of the best presentation as ranked by the judges will receive $500, ten years of back issues of Herpetologica, and an invitation to submit a manuscript based on the work presented to either Herpetologica or Herpetological Monographs, depending on its length. The Herpetologists’ League will commit to publishing this manuscript, following successful peer review and editorial revision, as a lead article identifying the author (or senior author) as the winner of the Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award.

For further information or questions concerning The Herpetologists’ League Graduate Research Award, contact Dawn Wilson, Director, Southwest Research Station, P.O. Box 16550, Portal, AZ 85632, USA.

SSAR Henri Seibert Awards for 2009

The Henri Seibert Awards were initiated in 1992 to provide recognition for the best student papers presented at the annual meeting of the SSAR. To be eligible, the presented paper must be the result of research conducted by the individual making the presentation. The research must have been conducted while the student was enrolled in either an undergraduate or graduate degree program. Please refer to Herpetological Review 28(4):175 and the SSAR website for recommendations to students entering the Henri Seibert competition. Students entering the competition must be members of SSAR. The presentations will be judged by the SSAR student prize committee. One Henri Seibert Award of US $200 may be given in each of the following four categories:

  • Systematics/Evolution
  • Ecology
  • Physiology/Morphology
  • Conservation

Students may only win the award one time. Please indicate the appropriate category for which you are applying on the abstract submission form. Announcement of winners will be made at the SSAR Business Meeting. All participants should be present at the business meeting. Contact Patrick Owen for further information.

Neotropical Ichthyological Association (NIA) Student Award

The Neotropical Ichthyological Association (NIA) will recognize with a cash award the best student papers (1 oral presentation and 1 poster presentation) presented at the ASIH 2009 Joint Meeting on a topic which in the opinion of the judges substantially includes the study of Neotropical fishes. To be eligible the student must be the first author and the presenter of the paper or poster. Multi-authored presentations are eligible.

To be eligible students must be registered in a degree program (graduate or undergraduate), or have received their degree no more than 15 months prior to the presentation, and indicate to the meeting organizers their intention to compete in compliance with the guidelines and deadlines set forth by the organizers of the JMIH meeting, and place the following statement at the end of the submitted abstract-"I WISH TO COMPETE FOR THE NIA STUDENT PRIZE". For questions please contact Jonathan N. Baskin.

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Travel Awards

ASIH Graduate Student Travel Awards

Travel awards of $300 each ($500 for intercontinental travelers) will be awarded to help defray travel expenses to participate in the 2009 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. A student may apply for an award in only one category (ichthyology or herpetology). The awards will be chosen by random draw. You are eligible for an ASIH travel award if:

  • You are currently a graduate student AND a member of ASIH
  • You are presenting your research at the 2009 JMIH (oral or poster presentation)
  • You have not previously received an ASIH travel award

You are eligible for an intercontinental award if you will be traveling to the meeting from a location that will require an intercontinental flight. Students attending North American schools are eligible for an intercontinental travel award if they will be traveling to the meeting directly from a field site in another continent. Applications for student travel awards are due on May 1, 2009, no exceptions. Please fill out this form (doc) and send it via email to Nick Osman. If you receive a travel award, you are obligated to work four one-hour shifts at the ASIH raffle table during the meeting. Once you have completed your shifts, you can pick up your check from the raffle coordinator.

SAVE THE FROGS! Travel Grant

SAVE THE FROGS! is pleased to announce that applications are now open for a $500 SAVE THE FROGS! Conference Travel Grant. This grant will be awarded to a highly qualified graduate student to present a lecture on their amphibian research at the Joint Meeting of Herpetologists and Ichthyologists in Portland, OR this July. Applicants will be judged on the quality and conservation value of their research, and on demonstrated financial need. To learn more about this and other SAVE THE FROGS! awards, please visit http://savethefrogs.com/awards/index.html

SSAR Students Travel Awards

Ten awards of US $400 each are available to students to help defray the cost of traveling to the 2009 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH). An applicant for a travel award must be a student and a current member of SSAR, must not have previously received a travel award from SSAR, and must be the first author of a paper or poster to be presented at the 2009 JMIH. The application package must include: 1) a letter signed by his/her major advisor or department chair that states that he/she is not completely funded for travel from another source and, if the research is co-authored, that the work was primarily the product of the applicant; 2) a copy of the abstract that was submitted for either poster or oral presentation. The qualified applicants will be pooled and the winners will be drawn at random. Students from the immediate vicinity of the JMIH, as well as current members of the SSAR Travel Awards Committee, are excluded from applying for a travel award. Award checks will be disbursed at the SSAR Business Meeting to be held during the JMIH. Application materials are preferred in electronic form (either PDF or Microsoft Word) and should be sent to Matthew Venesky by 15 April 2009; however, hard copies can be mailed to Matthew Venesky, The University of Memphis, Department of Biology, Memphis, TN USA, 38152. Hard copies sent via postal mail must be postmarked prior to 15 April 2009 to be considered.

For more information, contact: Cari-Ann Hickerson or Matthew Venesky.

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Fundraisers

ASIH Graduate Student Travel Award Book Raffle

A book raffle will be conducted to raise funds for graduate student travel awards. Tickets may be purchased during the Joint Meeting, with the funds going directly toward student travel awards for 2010. The books are donated by publishers, booksellers, society members, etc.

ASIH thanks meeting attendees who participate in the student-run book raffle, which directly supports student travel to the JMIH. In recognition that today’s student members are the future of ASIH and that attendance at the JMIH encourages society involvement, ASIH matches dollar for dollar funds raised at the raffle. Please help ASIH promote our students, be generous, and make this year’s raffle a great success.

If you are able to donate a new book that would be of interest to the conference attendees, please email Mallory Eckstut. If you are a graduate student and willing to donate your time to work the raffle table, email Nick Osman.

ELHS Raffle

The ELHS/LFC will hold a raffle (blind auction) in support of the Sally Richardson Best Student Paper Award endowment. Items (books, collectibles, etc.) will be on display throughout the LFC outside of the meeting hall. Please contact Doug Markle and let him know what you plan on bringing and if you need to ship your raffle item(s).

ELHS Flag Auction

The LFC Flag auction will occur during the ELHS/LFC Social on Sunday evening, 7/26, starting at 5:30 at Lola’s Room of McMenamins (http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=2). Funds from this auction go directly to the Blaxter Student Poster Award.

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Workshops

AES Student Workshop

How to be a successful scientist and still have a life

Saturday, July 25
Noon - 1:15 p.m.
Parlor ABC

Is it possible to have a successful scientific career, as well as a life outside science? We will talk with experts in the field to explore how successful scientists achieve a healthy balance between professional and non-professional priorities. What constitutes “having a life”? Which types of jobs make having a life easier or more difficult? How have the options changed relative to previous generations entering the workplace? What should you know going in to a job to ensure you don’t get overwhelmed down the road? How do the challenges differ between men and women, and what can be done about it?

This workshop will provide a forum for both instruction and dialogue between established scientists and graduate students to help prepare the new generation for the choices they will be faced with during a career in science.

Guest speakers: James Gelsleichter, Cami McCandless, Adam Summers, and Cheryl Wilga

ASIH Graduate Student Workshop

International Fieldwork

Sunday, July 26
Noon -1:30 p.m.
Salon I

In this workshop we will have a discussion on international fieldwork. Ichthyologists and herpetologists who do work in regions throughout the world will be on hand to answer your questions and offer brief notes from their fieldwork experiences. Topics will include permitting issues and regulations, learning the language, handling of government bureaucracy, as well as the importance of establishing collaborations and networking with researchers abroad.
Symposium Chair: Caleb McMahan
Co-organizers: Dawn Roje, Lara Douglas and Aaron Geheber

SSAR Graduate Student Workshop

 

How to Get a Job After Graduation: Advice from Experts

Friday, July 24
12:00-1:30 p.m.
Salon I

This workshop will be an open discussion format between students who are getting close to graduating with either a Master’s or Ph.D.  We will bring together Herpetologists that work in a diversity of professions to answer your questions: What direction do you take when looking for a job?  How do you prepare a job talk and does it differ depending on the type of job in which you apply?  Do you need post doctoral experience?  Should you follow the same path in a post doctoral position as you did with your Ph.D?  How many publications do I need?

Symposium Chair: Dawn S. Wilson

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