Meeting: Travel Support for Diverse Early Career Scientists to Attend the 16th Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology, University of Exeter, UK, 2016

Murray State University, Murray KY

Investigators

Abstract

The 30th annual meeting of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology will be hosted by the University of Exeter, in the United Kingdom. The meeting is known for its host of renowned plenary speakers. This year will be no exception. The meeting will be opened by Richard Dawkins, with plenaries by Malte Andersson, Dorothy Cheney, Tim Clutton-Brock, Rosemary Grant, Hopi Hoekstra, Naomi Pierce & Trevor Price. In addition, attendees will present their work through talks, posters and symposia. ISBE 2016 provides a foremost opportunity for awardees to learn about and contribute to discussion of topics within behavioral ecology including: selection and conflict, social behavior, communication, behavioral plasticity, predation, foraging, parental care, and the ecology, genetics, neurobiology, and physiology of behavior. The financial assistance provided to young scientists (pre-tenure faculty, postdoctoral associates, and graduate students) will make it possible for individuals to attend who might not otherwise have been able to afford travel expenses. A committee of three United States ISBE representatives will evaluate applications for funds from young scientist participants. The committee members are committed to assuring that diversity will be enhanced at the IEC and will select a diverse group of scientists with respect to gender, career stage, and membership in groups underrepresented in science. Attendance and participation in the meeting offers a tremendous opportunity for American animal behaviorists to share their research with an international audience, interact with preeminent international researchers, meet new colleagues and to initiate new international collaborations. In addition, each travel awardee will create a "data nugget" from their own presented data or that of a conference presentation. Data nuggets are worksheets that engage K-12 students in problem-solving, graphing exercises, and data analysis using real data. With prior NSF GK12 support for the database, Data Nuggets are used in schools across the country, and are publicly available.