Springtime in Oregon, when the evodevo is in bloom…

The University of Oregon and Indiana University have this wonderful Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship in evo-devo that was, unfortunately, established long after I graduated from the UO. I have to say that it is a great idea, and it isn't their fault I'm a superannuated anachronism. Anyway, the important thing is that they are hosting a symposium on evolution, development, and genomics: "From Patterns to Process:
Bridging Micro-and-Macroevolutionary Concepts through Evo-Devo"
on
4-6 April, in beautiful Eugene, Oregon. And look at the speakers they have lined up!

Keynote Speakers

Scheduled Speakers

A springtime meeting in Oregon in which I get to hear the latest in evo-devo from some of its biggest names and a rather significant detractor (Coyne)? Well, that settles it for me — I'm going. This sounds like spectacular fun.

Tags

More like this

So here I am at the IGERT Symposium on Evolution, Development, and Genomics, having a grand time, even if I did get called out in the very first talk. There were two keynote talks delivered this evening, both of which I was anticipating very much, and which represented the really good side of…
My brain is most wonderfully agitated, which is the good thing about going to these meetings. Scientists are perverse information junkies who love to get jarred by new ideas and strong arguments, and meetings like this are intense and challenging. I've only got a little time here before the next…
There are all these PharynguFests going on, but they all make me entirely superfluous…I may have to pout. Why isn't anyone inviting me to London or Anchorage? I know, it's because you don't need me, and you're cheap and don't want to spend the money on some distant nerd, since you've got plenty of…
Since I was sent this photo from the evo-devo conference by Kevin Emerson, I couldn't resist: this is the aftermath of two scientists duking it out in an intellectual arena. Greg Wray, left, in the blue "Exons, Schmexons" t-shirt; Jerry Coyne in the red "I'm no CIS-sy" t-shirt. Obviously, they…

I didn't realize that you were a UO alum! My wife is as well and I live in Portland - where we were saddened by the Ducks dramatic fall from #2...

I would offer a place to stay if we lived a little closer to Eugene, as it is, I will happily buy you a beer (or other beverage of your choice) if you have the chance to hang out in Portland before flying home...

cheers!

Wow, among the (linked) speakers, there is even someone, Leonie Moyle, who works on plants; woohoo!

By Shaggy Maniac (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

I should hope they'd have a plant person -- one of the goals of evo-devo as a research program is to account for diversity, and they should at least aspire to more breadth.

Anybody else going to SICB in San Antonio this January?

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

1. No representative from the DI? You mean, they have nothing to say on the hottest area in evolution research?

2. SICB in San Antonio? That's barely an hour from Austin. Won't Don McLeroy have the Texas Rangers out to arrest anyone discussing evolution within 1,000 years of any school, church, day care center, gas well, oil well or liquor store? Brave souls, those SICB folk! Parachuting right into the war zone like that . . .

I've been thinking about going to SICB...but I'm not sure. After this semester, I desperately need some downtime before I plunge into spring semester, which promises to be even worse.

You know you're finally getting somewhat serious into research when you start recognizing names of random scientists. Mike Wade gave a talk over at Purdue a couple of weeks ago, and he joined our lab group for an hour for our weekly meeting. Unfortunately, most of what he said was over my head, which still shows me what a newbie I am. Oh well.

Shall we let the creationists in on the fact that SOME SAY "evo devo" so that it is pronounced "evil devil"?
.

By Voting Present (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

Well, well...makes me proud to be associated with IU-B (uh, through dh anyway).

...a plant person...at least aspire to...

Shouldn't that be transpire? (sorry)

By Hairy Doctor P… (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

Hey, that's just down the road from me (I'm in Corvallis). But the registration page only mentions grad students, post-docs and faculty, and I'm only a community college undergrad.

These kinds of events aren't going to demand your academic credentials -- typically, anyone willing to pay the registration fee can go. However, this is also the kind of meeting where the participants aren't even going to try to address the general public; if you aren't up on the lingo and comfortable with the concepts, you're going to be completely baffled and bored for many hours.

I went to a few professional meetings as an undergraduate, and I struggled, but I learned a lot.

I've been a big fan of Fred Nijhout ever since I read his book "The Development and Evolution of Butterfly Wing Patterns." I'm convinced he's a genius.

By yukon slim (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

Ack! Why'd they have to schedule concurrent with the Fly Meeting? C'est la vie.

Springtime in Oregon, when the evodevo is in bloom...

Is this an intentional Scooter/JudyM reference?

I'll be darn. A fellow UofO graduate. How cool is that?

By Jeanette Garcia (not verified) on 06 Dec 2007 #permalink

Dude! How cool (a. graduate of UO, b. Coming to Oregon c. close to where we live).

If you feel like visiting the coast, we live in Yachats and have a guest room that is begging for a guest! I'd even (I hate to cook) go get fresh Dungeness, steamers and Mirror Pond to lure you to our abode.

Ths s sch grt rsrc tht y r prvdng nd y gv t wy fr fr. I njy sng wbsts tht ndrstnd th vl f prvdng prm rsrc fr fr. I trly lvd rdng yr pst. Thnks!

By Beverley Villena (not verified) on 01 Jan 2010 #permalink