View the summary of the 68th Annual Meeting (held in 2008 in Cleveland, OH USA)
View the summary of the 67th Annual Meeting (held in 2007 in Austin, TX USA)
View the summary of the 66th Annual Meeting (held in 2006 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Summary of the 68th SVP Annual Meeting
Oct. 15-18, 2008
Cleveland, Ohio
Over 1100 SVP members and friends convened at the SVP 68th Annual Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio from October 15 -18, 2008. Co-hosted by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Case-Western University, the meeting was a wonderful success due to the efforts of the host committee, chaired by Darin Croft and Mike Ryan. Thanks to all of you!
This meeting was enhanced by three special events and the launching of our video, entitled “WE ARE SVP” narrated by long-time star of LAW & ORDER, Sam Waterston. First, Neil Shubin (University of Chicago) presented a fascinating lecture on the discovery of Tiktaalik on Tuesday night at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. This was followed on Thursday evening by a beautifully illustrated presentation by renowned nature photographer Franz Lanting (http://www.lanting.com/), on the making of his amazing book entitled, Life : a Journey Through Time. Finally, on Saturday, there was an excellent mini-symposium on “Global Climate Change: Past and Future” that featured three eminent scientists, one of our own, Elizabeth Hadly (Stanford University), and two from outside the society, Thure Cerling (University of Utah) and Jack Williams (University of Wisconsin). This symposium was the first of what we hope will be a regular feature of our meetings in which we invite scientists from adjacent fields to speak on topics of mutual interest.
The “WE ARE SVP” video highlights who we are and what we do and was available for viewing throughout the meeting in the coffee break area and was a big hit. The video was produced by three of our members (Steven Cohen, Louis Jacobs, and Lou Taylor) in collaboration with Shade Tree Studios of Dallas, Texas, whose founder, Ray Marr, generously donated all of the videographer and editing time to SVP (http://www.ststudios.com/index.html). The video is intended to be used as both an outreach and development tool for the society.
In addition to these added attractions, the meeting included four topical symposia
that spanned an array of subjects, from early vertebrates, brain endocasts, ancient fish and human evolution. There were workshops on evolution education, communicating with the media, preparation techniques, and publishing tips, as well as field trips to classic vertebrate fossil localities in the Cleveland shale formation, the renowned physical anthropology lab of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the fossils of downtown Cleveland. All of the symposia, field trips and workshops were highlighted in the 2008 Annual Meeting Second Circular.
Of course, the main foci of the meeting are the terrific regular session scientific presentations and exchanging information with fellow paleontologists. 640 oral and poster presentations, were presented over the course of four days and cataloged in the SVP Annual Meeting Program and Abstract Book. The exchange of information was enhanced by a series of well-attended social events including the welcome reception at the Cleveland Museum, the student roundtable and reprint exchange, the auction, awards banquet (link) and after-hours dance-till-you-drop party. The auction was a resounding success, with Brent Breithaupt as Indiana Jones and his hard-working committee leading the charge and raising $21,382.00 for the Field and Topical Conference Fund.
Highlights of the Annual Business Meeting included the announcement of the
SVP Program to Support Scientists from Economically Developing Nations, which will award travel grants to scientists from economically developing nations so that they can attend the annual meeting, and the upcoming SVP sponsored workshop on Asian Biochronology in China. Mike Benton (University of Bristol) presented an exciting preview of next year’s annual meeting in Bristol, England and the associated field trips. This promises to be a great meeting - the first time SVP will meet outside North America and it is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. The business meeting was capped by the handing over of the reins from outgoing President Catherine Badgley to incoming President Blaire Van Valkenburgh. Other new Executive Committee members were also recognized – Phil Currie takes over from Blaire as Vice President and Julia Clarke replaced David Polly as Member-at-Large.
See you in Bristol in 2009!
Summary of the 67th Annual Meeting of SVP
Oct. 17-20, 2007
Austin, Texas
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| 67th Annual Meeting attendess l-r: Jessica Theodor, Chris Bell, Michael Benton, Catherine Badgeley, Jeremy Hooker and Rebecca Hunt. Photo courtesy of SVP. |
More than 1,150 SVP members and enthusiasts attended the SVP 67th Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. The Host Committee — chaired by Chris Bell, and including Arthur Busbey, Brenda Chinnery-Allgeier, Eric Ekdale, Christian George, Chris Jass, Tom Lehman, Ernie Lundelius, Lyndon Murray, Tim Rowe and Martin Sander — put on a fine meeting that broke all kinds of records, Texas style (view the circular). Thanks are due for all the planning, coordinating and scheduling behind the scenes.
The Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin initiated the record-breaking precedents with two large donations to SVP well in advance of the meeting — one to support student travel grants to the Austin meeting and the other to enlarge the funding base for student travel grants well into the future. We are hugely grateful for this generosity and thank Eric Barron, dean of the Jackson School of Geosciences, and Chris Bell and Tim Rowe for the concept and the accomplishment.
The scientific sessions, distilled from the highest-ever number of submitted abstracts, included four fine symposia, four poster sessions, and concurrent sessions of talks for four solid days (view abstracts). Pre- and post-meeting field trips highlighted some of the outstanding vertebrate paleontology of Texas. For bat enthusiasts, a trip to Bracken Cave, home to 30 million Mexican free-tailed bats, led by Merlin Tuttle, president and founder of Bat Conservation International (based in Austin), was organized in association with the bat symposium.
Distinguished visitors included Dr. Eric Barron, dean of the Jackson School and a well known climate scientist, who gave the opening plenary address on the first day of the meeting. Also, former Speaker of the House (U.S. Congress) Newt Gingrich, hosted by the Jackson School, gave a talk over the lunch hour on the second day; his talk focused on the relevance of paleontology to society and especially to the education of young people.
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| The 2007 Auction Committee. Photo courtesy of SVP. |
Social events included the welcome reception at Buffalo Billiards, the student roundtable and reprint exchange, the auction, the awards banquet (view a complete list of all award winners) and after-hours party. These events overflowed with enthusiastic paleontologists. This year’s auction had, in addition to the usual donations from individuals, museums, and businesses, a large portion of Joe Gregory’s scientific library. Auction proceeds broke all previous records, with over $28,418.57 in proceeds. This year’s auctioneer theme was pirates!
President Catherine Badgley presided over the annual business meeting, which reviewed the work of SVP organizing committees over the year and gave a glimpse of the highlights in store for SVP at the 2008 annual meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, and the 2009 annual meeting in Bristol, England. Bill Clemens, chair of the Development Committee, announced the first SVP-sponsored field conference in planning for August 2008 in the Hannah Basin of Wyoming. Jay Lillegraven and friends are in charge.
The Awards Banquet wrapped up the four full days with a host of awards for fine presentations and research projects. The distinguished honorary senior awardees gave moving testimonies about their lives as vertebrate paleontologists to thunderous applause from an appreciative audience.
Finally, another first in Austin — a film crew, from Shade Tree Studios in Dallas, Texas was present throughout the meeting to film interviews, selected SVP activities, and the Big Bend field trip. The resulting footage will contribute to short promotional films about SVP for educational and fundraising purposes and to the SVP archive. Thanks go to Shade Tree Studios for donating this crew to SVP and to Lou Taylor, Louis Jacobs and Steven Cohen for coordinating the filming schedule.
The high energy and record attendance at the Austin meeting resulted from the work of several groups that we cannot thank enough — the Host Committee, the Program Committee, the SVP Business Office and the Executive Committee. Thanks to all for a terrific meeting.
Summary of the 66th SVP Annual Meeting
Oct. 18-21, 2006
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
One-thousand SVP members and friends convened at the SVP 66th Annual Meeting in beautiful Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from October 18-21, 2006. Host Chair, Alison Murray, her committee: Stephen Cumbaa, Robert Holmes, Richard Day, Kieran Shepherd and Xiao-chun Wu; and the Canadian Museum of Nature, worked non-stop to ready the Museum and deliver an exceptional meeting for our paleo community. Thank you!
Attendees at the meeting were the first to see the new wing of the Canadian Museum of Nature during the SVP Welcome Reception. The highlight was the Talisman Energy Fossil Gallery, the Nature's stunning new permanent gallery that follows the end of the age of dinosaurs and the rise of ancient mammals.
The following day, Annalisa Berta, outgoing President, introduced the keynote speaker, Joanne DiCosimo, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Museum of Nature. Berta also outlined the cornerstone of her term, the new SVP Strategic Plans to membership before introducing incoming President, Catherine Badgley, who then presided over the balance of the annual meeting.
A record number of oral and poster presentations (view abstracts) on the latest research in a wide range of cutting edge topics were the main attractions, drawing high praise from attendees.
Unique and educational student events, Town Meeting on Evolution, field trips and workshops enhanced meeting opportunities before, during and after this week of VP immersion (view circular).
Dr. H. Richard Lane, Program Officer, Sedimentary Geology & Paleontology, U.S. National Science Foundation, gave a special talk on "Future research directions in paleontology: How to increase funding." Dr. Lane also made himself available to meet privately with individuals to more specifically discuss their funding questions.
Continuing with the meeting's theme of 'raising the bar,' record-breaking sales were recorded at the always entertaining and successful Annual Auction, hosted by the ever-creative Brent Breithaupt. A cast of CMN 344, the skull of the holotype of Styracosaurus albertensis, donated by the Canadian Museum of Nature and Research Casting International, led to heated bids flying back-and-forth before the final winner, a Canadian group, claimed the cast to a roar of applause.
Capping off the week was the much-awaited Awards Banquet. A full house was present to honor fellow paleontologists and paleo artists as they were recognized for their contributions to their craft and the greater vertebrate paleontology community (view full list of award recipients).
Those with energy to spare managed to attend the After Hours Party till the wee hours of the morning to exchange final notes, emails addresses, stories, laughs and a drink or two before heading back out into the world and starting to plan for the 67 th SVP Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas in October, 2007!